The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the list of military and political risks, as well as the terms and conditions of insurance (reinsurance) of military and political risks during the activities of the Export Credit Agency (ECA). The relevant decision was adopted at a meeting of the Government on April 9, 2024.
The increase in instruments for insurance of military and political risks during the war in Ukraine should contribute to the attraction of investments in the Ukrainian economy right now. The adoption of the government resolution is aimed at this. It will allow to improve the legal regulation of the list of military and political risks, conditions and procedures for insurance or reinsurance of military and political risks in the implementation of activities of the Export Credit Agency. The ECA will be able to insure and reinsure against military and/or political risks investment loans of Ukrainian banks for Ukrainian exporters, as well as direct investments. This will provide support for Ukraine's economy, stimulate the recovery of industrial production, create new jobs, fill budgets at all levels with funds from tax payments, and strengthen the state's defense capabilities.
This mechanism will make it possible to eliminate the gaps that limit the possibility of insuring domestic ECA investments, including in the conditions of military actions and post-war reconstruction.
In particular, the following insurance risks, which are widespread in international practice and may arise on the territory of Ukraine, are classified as military risks:
- military conflict, including war or armed conflict, armed aggression, hostilities, mass riots;
- violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order or seizure of state power;
- acts of terrorism and/or sabotage;
- occupation, annexation.
The following insurance risks are classified as political risks:
- forced alienation of property/removal of property of a business entity carried out by the state authorities of Ukraine (deprivation of property ownership);
- groundless (illegal) revocation of the license by the market regulator or forced termination (suspension) of the business entity's activity by state authorities, established by a court decision that has entered into force, except for cases when such termination of activity is caused by the business entity's failure to comply with the requirements of the law;
- non-fulfillment or refusal of the state to fulfill obligations defined by legislation, strategic or program documents approved in accordance with the procedure established by law, and/or an investment agreement, provided that the economic entity has the right to demand the fulfillment of such obligations;
- introduction by the state of a ban (payment embargo, moratorium) on making settlements;
- impossibility of currency conversion or currency transfer abroad by a business entity, except for cases provided for by law.
The State Tax Service of Ukraine has published information letter No. 2/2024, which is dedicated to some innovations introduced by Law of Ukraine No. 3603-IX of February 23, 2024 "On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine on Improving Online Communication with Taxpayers and Clarification of Certain Provisions of the Legislation". They are also aimed at improving the interaction of taxpayers with controlling bodies through means of remote communication, as well as clarifying certain provisions of tax legislation.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine has approved the procedures for state registration of facilities and keeping a register of market operators. Order No. 431 of February 15, 2024of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy has approved the following:
- The procedure for state registration of facilities, which defines the procedure for state registration of facilities for the production and/or circulation of food products, for which obtaining an operational permit is not required;
- The procedure for maintaining the state register of market operators and their facilities, which determines the procedure for maintaining the specified register.
Procedure for state registration of facilities determines the procedure for state registration of facilities for the production and/or circulation of food products, which do not require an operating permit.
Each individual facility of the market operator is subject to state registration, including a vehicle used as facility for the sale of food products to end consumers.
Vehicles used by the market operator exclusively for the transportation of food products, which is not related to the operation of the registered facility or the facility for which an operating permit has been issued, are subject to cumulative state registration, for which one application is submitted (regardless of the number of relevant vehicles ) and based on the results of which one personal registration number is assigned.
A vehicle used by a market operator in connection with the operation of another registered facility or a facility for which an operating permit has been issued is not subject to state registration as a separate facility.
The location (for a legal entity) or the declared/registered place of residence (stay) (for an individual) of the market operator under whose control such facility is considered the address of the facility that is a vehicle or other movable property.
Procedure for maintaining the state register of market operators and their facilities regulates the procedure for maintaining the state register of market operators and their facilities. The State Production and Consumer Service is the holder and administrator of the Register.
The main tasks of functioning of the Register are:
1) keeping records of market operators and their facilities;
2) creation, collection, receipt, storage, use, disposition, dissemination, protection, protection of information in the field of legislation on safety and individual quality indicators of food products in order to protect life, health and interests of consumers;
3) provision of electronic interaction between natural and legal entities, natural persons – entrepreneurs, state authorities, local self-government bodies for the purpose of fulfilling the tasks defined by legislation related to the implementation of state control over the activities of market operators who produce and/or store food products of animal origin, production and/or circulation of food products;
4) creation of an information base to identify market operators who produce and/or store food products of animal origin using facilities that do not have an operating permit, or produce and/or distribute food products using unregistered facilities, if required the obligation to obtain an operational permit or their registration is established by the Law;
5) provision of information to determine the periodicity of implementation of planned measures of state control based on a risk-oriented approach regarding the compliance of market operators' activities with the requirements of the legislation on safety and individual indicators of the quality of food products, which are carried out by the State Production and Consumer Service;
6) receipt, review and processing of electronic documents submitted by applicants, with automatic recording of the time of sending and receiving, ensuring the integrity and authenticity of electronic documents;
7) systematization and generalization of information, transforming it into a format suitable for further analysis;
8) ensurance of the availability of information contained in the Register for persons with disabilities in accordance with the requirements of DSTU EN 301549:2022 (EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03), IDT) "Information technologies. Requirements for the availability of ICT products and services";
9) preservation, automatic backup and recovery of information entered in the Register, provision of uninterrupted access to the Register.
In addition, following orders of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine were declared invalid:
- No. 38 of February 10, 2016 "On Approval of the Procedure for Approving Export Facilities, Entering and Excluding Them from the Register of Approved Export Facilities";
- No. 39 of February 10, 2016 "On Approval of the Procedure for State Registration of Facilities, Maintenance of the State Register of Facilities of Market Operators and Provision of Information from it to Interested Entities";
- No. 40 of February 10, 2016 "On Approval of the Procedure for Maintaining the Register of Market Operators and Facilities for which an Operating Permit has been Issued."
Order No. 431 enters into force on July 24, 2024, but not earlier than the day of its official publication. On the day of preparation of the material, the document was not officially published.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has canceled the register of software producers and distributors, which until today was maintained by the Ministry of Economy. The decision to enter the register and the relevant certificates issued to the business represented in the register also become invalid.
With this decision, the Cabinet of Ministers has canceled the norm, according to which the Ministry of Economy, with the participation of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, was identified as the main executors of work on the legalization of software in government bodies and combating its illegal use. The norm was adopted in the early 2000s and has now lost its relevance.
The Government abolished outdated and ineffective norms and procedures in the field of state regulation of economic activity, which only burdened the work of business. Since their adoption, the legal framework governing the IT sphere has been significantly improved. Today, there are more effective and efficient mechanisms in the field of informatization, cyber security and information protection tools, which are taken care of by the authorized bodies - the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the State Special Communications Service and others. The Ministry of Economy is not a specialized body in this field, so it is logical that non-specialized functions should be removed from the Ministry .
According to the decision of the Government, the information contained in the register will be archived and saved.
The National Bank of Ukraine, in view of the opening of the land market for legal entities in Ukraine and the start of activity of the Fund for Partial Guarantee of Credits in Agriculture, by Resolution No. 39 of April 6, 2024 , amended the Regulation on determination by banks of Ukraine of the amount of credit risk for active banking operations.
The specified changes are aimed at the implementation of updated legislation of Ukraine in this area, create positive prerequisites for wider use of land as liquid security for bank loans and increase credit support for agricultural producers.
Thus, the National Bank has expanded the list of acceptable security, the value of which is taken into account when calculating credit risk, by including in the list guarantees of the Fund for Partial Guarantee of Loans in Agriculture.
The liquidity coefficients of certain types of collateral have also been increased, in particular for agricultural land.
Taking into account the update of legislation in the field of insurance, the National Bank extended until March 31, 2025, the right of banks to take into account the value of acceptable collateral when calculating credit risk without an insurance contract for the subject of collateral.
Changes were also made to the Regulation on the organization of the process of managing problem assets in banks of Ukraine, which strengthened the control of the bank's supervisory board in the case of delegation of powers to subordinate the non-performing asset division to the chief risk manager.
The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, by Order No. 133 of March 18, 2024, made changes to the Procedure for exchanging electronic documents with regulatory bodies.
The order brings the provisions of the Procedure into line with Law of Ukraine No. 2801-ХХ of December 1, 2022 "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Ensuring the Conclusion of an Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on Mutual Recognition of Qualified Electronic Trust Services and Implementation of European Union Legislation in in the field of electronic identification".
The changes, in particular, clarified that in case of creation of an electronic document using more than one electronic signature and/or more than one electronic seal, its creation is completed by the imposition of an electronic signature or electronic seal by the last signatory or creator of the electronic seal in accordance with the technology for creating such an electronic document.
