Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 28.02.2019

Public Deliberation of Draft Law on Combating Undeclared Work

The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine issued for a public deliberation draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Strengthening the Protection of Employees’ Rights and Combating Undeclared Work”.
The said draft Law, in particular, proposes to consolidate the possibility of re-qualifying any contractual relationship in employment relations, if there are three or more of the following signs that employment relations exist:

1. periodically (two or more times) a person is granted a monetary or in-kind remuneration for work performed (services rendered) in the interests of another person;
2. a personal performance by the person of work (provision of services) within a specific qualification, profession, position on behalf and under the control of the person in whose interests the work is performed (services are rendered) or a person authorized by him/her;
3. the remuneration for the work performed (services rendered) is the sole source of income of the individual or constitutes 75 and more percent of his/her income during 6 calendar months;
4. work is performed (services are rendered) in the workplace established by a certain person in whose interests the work is performed (services are rendered) or by the person authorized by him/her, observing the rules of the internal labor regulations;
5. the person performs the work (provides services) similar to the work performed by the employer’s full-time staff;
6. the organization of working conditions, in particular, the provision of means of production (equipment, tools, materials, raw materials, workplace) is provided by a person in whose interests the work is performed (services rendered) or by the person authorized by him/her;
7. the length of working time and off-work time is set by the person in whose interests the work is performed (services are rendered) or by the person authorized by him/her.

Issuance of Conclusions to Extend Settlement Deadlines for Export and Import of Goods Have Been Regulated

On 20.02.2019 the Procedure for issuing a conclusion to extend settlement deadlines for certain export and import of goods transactions established by the National Bank, and approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 104 dated 13.02.2019 (hereinafter – the Procedure) took effect.
The specified Procedure determines the issuance of conclusions to extend settlement deadlines for export and import of goods established by the NBU. The corresponding conclusion on separate transactions of export and import of goods carried out by residents is issued by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade).
In order to obtain a conclusion, the resident shall send by mail or make a personal delivery of a hard copy, or through the Uniform State Portal of Administrative Services of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade in an electronic form the application and the documents specified in the Procedure.
The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade will review the documents submitted by the resident for the receipt of the conclusion in accordance with the Procedure and within 10 business days from the date of their receipt will decide on the issue or refusal to issue a conclusion.
A List of goods for which applications for issuance of a decision on the extension of the settlement deadlines are not reviewed constitutes an Appendix to the Procedure.

Customs Storage and Customs Brokerage Activities Procedures Have Been Changed

On 22.02.2019 changes to certain Regulatory Acts of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine approved by Order No. 1142 of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated 26.12.2018 took effect.
The indicated changes simplify the procedure for issuing permits for the opening and operation of a customs warehouse, a temporary storage warehouse, as well as for customs brokerage activities.
Thus, an application for granting permission for customs brokerage activity can be filled out on A4 format paper and sent to the SFS by means of postal or electronic communication using an electronic signature.
A company that intends to obtain a permit for the opening and operation of a temporary storage warehouse or a customs warehouse has the right to submit to the customs a corresponding application both in electronic form and in a hard copy. In addition, the owner of the temporary storage warehouse should provide the customs in the area where the warehouse is located, and the relevant SFS subdivision, which has the function of monitoring, with the remote access to existing video surveillance systems (including video archives). Similar requirements are set for owners of warehouse facilities with the status of “customs warehouse”.

Risk Criteria in the Field of Residential Settlements Improvement Have Been Approved

On 19.02.2019 Criteria for assessing the degree of risk from conducting economic activity in the field of residential settlements improvement and determining the frequency of scheduled state supervision (control) measures by local state administrations approved by Resolution No. 97 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 13.02.2019, entered into force.
Specific criteria for assessing the degree of risk are as follows:

• Separation of economic entities in the field of residential settlements improvement by the type of economic activity (carrying out activities for the maintenance of territories of parks, monuments of cultural and historical heritage, adjacent territories, etc.);
• Presence of violations of the legislative requirements in the field of residential settlements improvement.

The assignment of an economic entity to a high, medium or insignificant degree of risk is carried out taking into account the amount of points accrued according to the above criteria, which affects the frequency of scheduled state supervision (control) measures.

Plans of the Ministry of Justice in the Field of State Registration for 2019

On the official website of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, plans of the Ministry for 2019 in the field of state registration are published, in particular, the following is planned:

• opening of 51 Open space offices in regional and district centers, which will enable citizens to quickly receive the necessary services;
• introduction of testing for state registrars;
• the beginning of operation of the updated Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Organizations. Its main innovation is that the Register will necessarily indicate the end beneficiaries of legal entities;
• the launch of automatic data exchange between the Registries of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Unified State Registry of Court Decisions.