Legislative news digest: LEGAL HOTLINE 29.11.2018

The Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2019” is adopted

On November 23, 2018 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2019”.
According to the Law, the living wage per person per month will be UAH 1,853 from the January 01, 2019, UAH 1,936 – from July 01, and UAH 2027 from December. The minimum monthly wage of UAH 4,173 (UAH 25,13 for an hourly payment) is settled from January 01 and up to the end of 2019).. The Law also determined the marginal amount of budget deficit – UAH 89,989,320.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine raised excise tax rates

On November 23, 2018 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Some Other Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving the Administration and Revising the Rates of Certain Taxes and Fees”.

According to this Law, excise tax rates on tobacco products, environmental taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, rent for the usage of mineral resources for oil and gas extraction and special use of forest resources would be raised. Also, control over the reasonable use of gasoline and gas will be provided.
In addition, the Law amends the Law of Ukraine “On the Regulation of Urban Development” and establishes norms, under which the customers of agricultural buildings construction, buildings and structures of food industry enterprises, silos for grain and warehouses (for storage of agricultural products) construction shall not be engaged into equity participation in the settlement infrastructure development.

If signed by the President of Ukraine , the Law will come into force from 01.01.2019.

Pre-trial investigation of certain categories of criminal offenses will be simplified

On November 22, 2018 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Simplification of Pre-trial Investigation of Certain Categories of Criminal Offenses”.

The specified Law introduces the term “criminal offense” instead of the notion of “crime”, which in turn is divided into criminal offenses and crimes. The criminal offense is stipulated by the Criminal Code of Ukraine (action or inaction), and the basic punishment is prescribed in the form of a fine in the amount not to exceed three thousand of non-taxable minimum wages of citizens or another punishment, which does not involve imprisonment.

It is established that a person who committed a criminal offense or a careless non-serious crime for the first time, except for corruption criminal offenses, shall be released from criminal liability, if such person sincerely repented after committing a criminal offense, actively contributed to the disclosure of a criminal offense and fully compensated damages caused by him, or eliminated the damage caused.

In accordance with the norms of the Law, the operation of transport vehicles in the state of alcohol, narcotic or other intoxication or under the influence of medical products that reduce attention and reaction time, as well as passing the control of the vehicle to a person in a state of such intoxication or under the influence of such medical products and other similar violations (which previously belonged to administrative offenses) are now considered as criminal offenses.
If signed by the President of Ukraine, the Law shall become effective the day following the day of its publication, and shall come into force one year after the day it becomes effective.

New rates of customs clearance of cars, which are imported in violation of customs and tax legislation are in effect

On November 22, 2018 the President of Ukraine signed the Law “On Amendments to the Customs Code of Ukraine and Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Importation of Vehicles into the Customs Territory of Ukraine” and the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine Concerning the Excise Tax on Motor Vehicles” which came into force on November 25, 2018.

In particular, the Law provides a new model of imposing the excise tax on cars and other motor vehicles intended primarily for the carriage of persons, which correspond to commodity item 8703 according to the Ukrainian Classifier of Goods in Foreign Economic Activity:

Rate = Rate (base) x K (engine) x K (age), where Rate (base) − for transport vehicles with gasoline engine up to 3,000 cubic cm – 50 euros, over 3,000 cubic cm – 100 euros; with a diesel engine of up to 3,500 cubic cm – 75 euros, and over 3,500 cubic meters. cm – 150 euro;

K (engine) is a coefficient, which is determined by dividing the cylinder volume of the internal combustion engine by 1,000 cubic cm;

K (age) is a coefficient equal to the number of full calendar years from the year following the year of the transport vehicle manufacture to the year of the tax rate determination (for new cars, and cars used up to one full calendar year, the coefficient is equal to 1, and for vehicles, used over 15 years).

On some territories of Ukraine, Martial Law come in force

On November 26, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Approval of the Decree of the President of Ukraine “On the Introduction of MartialLaw in Ukraine”(the official text as of 27.11.2018 is not available).

According to the text of the Decree of the President of Ukraine, Martial Law will be in effect in Vinnytsa, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, as well as Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson regions and internal waters of Ukraine in the Azov-Kerch water area, from 02:00 p.m., November 26, 2018 to 02:00 p.m., December 26, 2018 (30 days) In other regions of Ukraine, no Martial Law has been introduced.

The above-mentioned Law of Ukraine and the Decree of the President of Ukraine have come into force from the moment of their publication on November 28, 2018.
In general, the introduction of Martial Law in 10 regions of Ukraine and inland waters does not limit the economic activity of business entities on the territory of Ukraine in any way, but merely testifies to the right of the competent authorities, if necessary, to introduce appropriate restrictions in these areas and inland waters until December 26, 2018. These restrictions include, in particular, the introduction of labor duties; use of the capacities and labor resources of enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership, change of their work regime, other changes in production activity, as well as working conditions in accordance with labor legislation; compulsory alienation or seizure of private property; the introduction of a curfew; establishment of a special entry and exit regime, restriction of freedom of movement. A full list of possible restrictions is stipulated in Art. 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Status of Martial Law”.

The only restriction directly connected to the introduction of Martial Law on the territory of Ukraine for individuals and business entities is the prohibition of strikes, mass gatherings and actions.