The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has made changes to the rules of public procurement: the safety of bidders has been increased, opportunities for customer abuse have been reduced, and the list of grounds for procurement without open tenders has been expanded.
The Government expanded the list of grounds for procurement without using the electronic procurement system. From now on, purchases based on urgent needs for the Armed Forces, military formations, higher military educational institutions, law enforcement agencies, the State Emergency Service, as well as purchases by Ukrzaliznytsia, which are aimed at repairs and restoration of equipment, will be able to take place without the use of open tenders or an electronic catalog.
In addition, for the safety of customers, suppliers and contractors, customers are allowed not to indicate the settlement where the enterprise is located, but only, for example, the district or region. This will make it difficult for the enemy to find their location.
The Government also obliged customers to form a list of documents submitted by a participant in the procurement procedure in the form of two separate appendices to the tender documentation. Previously, such requirements could be in any part of the tender documentation, and it was difficult for bidders to find them. Such changes will make it impossible for customers to violate documentation requirements, promoting fair competition among participants in the procurement procedure, and improving the efficiency of procurement.
In addition, customers received the right to purchase goods from partner countries with which Ukraine has concluded agreements on free state procurement without a lower limit.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine the draft law "On Amendments to Section 1 of Chapter XX "Transitional Provisions" of the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the taxation of state monetary assistance (cashback) within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Economic Platform "Made in Ukraine" (reg. No. 11400 ) .
In order to ensure the implementation of Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 31/2024 of January 26, 2024 "On the All-Ukrainian Economic Platform "Made in Ukraine", the draft law proposes to amend the Tax Code and establish that the total monthly (annual) taxable income of the income tax payer natural persons do not include income in the form of funds received as part of the implementation of an experimental project on the provision of state monetary assistance (cashback) to buyers of Ukrainian-made goods within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Economic Platform "Made in Ukraine" on the terms approved by the CMU.
Corresponding changes to the Tax Code will ensure exemption from taxation of payments (cashback) to natural persons – consumers who are participants of the All-Ukrainian Economic Platform "Made in Ukraine".
The National Bank of Ukraine, by Resolution No. 84 of July 9, 2024 "On Amendments to Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 67 of May 14, 2019", revised the settlement deadlines for certain export-import transactions, taking into account Order of the Government of Ukraine No. 573-р of June 21, 2024 "On Amendments to Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 76 of February 13, 2019".
First, the National Bank of Ukraine cancels the settlement deadlines for military and dual-use goods and equipment imported by executors of state defense procurement contracts. These changes also apply to the import of relevant goods and equipment for the purpose of creating and/or expanding production facilities for the manufacture of defense goods within the scope of such contracts with government customers. It is expected that the executors of state contracts should be included in the electronic register of participants in the selection and executors of state contracts (agreements).
The National Bank expects that the relevant changes will create conditions for strengthening the stability of the national security and defense sector of Ukraine.
Secondly, taking into account consultations with representatives of agricultural sector enterprises and relevant ministries, the National Bank of Ukraine increases from 90 to 120 days the maximum settlement terms for operations on the export of certain types of agricultural products, carried out from July 12, 2024.
These are goods classified under the following codes in accordance with the UKTFEA: 1001 (wheat), 1002 (rye), 1003 (barley), 1004 (oats), 1005 (corn), 1201 (soy), 1205 (rapeseed), 1206 00 (sunflower), 1507 (soybean oil), 1512 (sunflower oil), 1514 (rapeseed oil) and 2306 (oilcake).
An increase in the settlement deadlines will make it possible to support domestic exporters of agricultural products, taking into account the existing logistical challenges. In addition, it will expand their opportunities to develop new sales markets, in particular Asia and Africa, which Ukraine needs in wartime conditions.
At the same time, the settlement terms for operations on the export of certain types of agricultural products will remain 60 days shorter than for all other domestically exported goods (180 days). This will continue to contribute to the improvement of the discipline of timely return of foreign exchange earnings to Ukraine in the agricultural sector.
The National Bank of Ukraine by Resolution No. 83 of July 9, 2024 "On Amendments to Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 18 of February 24, 2022" updated a number of currency restrictions.
Firstly, the changes are aimed at increasing Ukraine's investment attractiveness and attracting private foreign capital. For this purpose, the NBU:
- made it possible for domestic businesses to reimburse non-residents for expenses incurred due to their participation in providing foreign credit to a Ukrainian borrower. The condition for carrying out such a transaction is that the guarantor, warrantor or insurer of the external credit must be a foreign export credit agency or a foreign state, or the guarantor or warrantor of such an obligation must be an international financial organization (IFO). Such changes will expand the opportunities of Ukrainian companies to attract new external credits and loans;
- allowed the transfer of funds in favor of foreign companies whose shareholders include a foreign state, for the payment of insurance payments under contracts providing for the coverage of military risks on the territory of Ukraine. This will be an important signal for investors and donors regarding the possibility of reducing their investment risks in Ukraine in the conditions of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation;
- provided an opportunity for residents to transfer funds based on the guarantees or sureties provided by them, which ensure the fulfillment of the obligations of resident borrowers under external credits and loans (provided that such payments by the resident borrower are permitted by Resolution No. 18). This will have a positive effect on the interest of foreign creditors in restoring credit support to private borrowers from Ukraine;
- normalized the possibility of resident borrowers to buy foreign currency for its reservation under a credit agreement with an IFO, which will increase the support of Ukrainian business from the IFO;
- introduced clarifying changes to the May liberalization package, which allowed scheduled interest payments on external corporate debt. The changes are aimed at the unification of approaches to the payment of such scheduled interest (coupons) for cases of different structuring of loans made.
Secondly, the National Bank continues to take steps to contribute to increasing Ukraine's defense capabilities and support the volunteer community. In particular:
- list of defense goods that volunteers can buy abroad is expanding. UAV components (UKTFEA codes – 8407, 8526, 8529, 8537, 8542, 8543, 8807, 9004, 9013-9015, 9027), as well as thermal blankets and heaters (UKTZED codes – 2915, 3824, 3920) will be added to the specified list.
Thirdly, the National Bank introduced other clarifying changes to support the population and business, in particular:
- granted permission to individuals to return social benefits received in a foreign country. Thanks to these changes, Ukrainians will be able to fulfill their obligations to the authorized bodies of foreign countries, which will make it possible to prevent the deterioration of the conditions for providing assistance to forced migrants;
- provided an opportunity for businesses to pay fees for actions related to the protection of rights to objects of intellectual property, including payment for services provided by patent offices of other countries and services of patent attorneys abroad.
Fourthly, the National Bank specified the norm regarding the existing limit of UAH 100,000 per day for the purchase and sale of cash foreign currency for non-cash funds in hryvnia, which corresponds to the limit for issuing cash funds from clients' current accounts. The clarification applies exclusively to non-cash funds, and therefore, Ukrainians will continue to be able to carry out currency exchange transactions with cash funds without restrictions on the amount.
In addition, the list of transactions on the account of foreign companies has been clarified. For this purpose, on July 9, 2024, the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine approved Resolution No. 82 "On Amendments to the Regulation on Protection Measures and Determination of the Procedure for Carrying out Certain Operations in Foreign Currency", which also entered into force on July 11, 2024.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made changes to the Procedure for submitting applications for compensation for damages, losses or damage caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, to the Register of losses caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, by means of the Unified State Web Portal of Electronic sSrvices (hereinafter – the Procedure).
The specified Procedure is intended to regulate the mechanism of submitting applications for compensation of losses to the Register of losses caused by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine (hereinafter – the International Register of Losses), in accordance with the rules established by the International Register of Losses.
As stated several times earlier, taking into account the significant amount of damages and the large number of applicants, due to the peculiarities of the technical implementation of the international Register of Damages, as well as depending on the availability of evidence that the applicants can provide in support of their application, the submission of applications for different categories of damages is opened in stages. Accordingly, the specified Procedure is also updated along with the opening of new technical possibilities or new categories.
Currently, the international Register of Losses is expanding the possibilities of submitting applications for all owners of damaged and destroyed property, including those who do not have an act of commission inspection of damaged and destroyed property, or have not applied for assistance under the program isRecovery and do not plan or cannot do so. those whose property for certain reasons cannot be registered in the State Register of Property Rights.
This will allow a greater number of victims to submit claims for compensation to the international Register of Losses.
In addition, such changes will allow submission of applications for real estate objects located in temporarily occupied territories or in the war zone.
In total, the opportunity to submit applications will be available for more than 40 categories of losses after the approval of the relevant documents by the Conference of Participants of the International Register of Losses.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution that provides for amendments to the Procedures for organizing and maintaining military records of draftees, conscripts and reservists.
The changes postpone the submission of military registration documents of persons who live only in temporarily occupied territories, as well as persons who left these territories and territories of active hostilities and moved abroad.
Such citizens must submit military registration documents at the place of study within seven days after the end of martial law.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine expanded the possibilities of the state program "Affordable loans 5-7-9%". Now, with its funds, Associations of co-owners of multi-apartment buildings and housing and construction condominiums will be able to purchase and arrange generating units that produce electrical energy from alternative sources, as well as electrical energy storage units and auxiliary equipment. The Government adopted the relevant resolution at a meeting on July 5, 2024.
The program will work in combination with the "GreenDIM" program. Associations and condominiums within the framework of this program will be able to receive up to 70% of the cost of the project after its arrangement.
In order to use the state preferential lending program "Affordable loans 5-7-9", the management of a condominium or residential complex must submit an application to one of the 46 banks that cooperate with the state under the program "Affordable loans 5-7-9" and provide a package of necessary documents established by the bank.
The preferential lending program for associations and condominiums will start on July 20.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine determined the list of cases in which state and communal health care institutions can provide paid medical and additional services to patients not covered by the medical guarantee program.
The relevant resolution "Some Issues of Providing Medical Services to the Population for a Fee from Legal Entities and Individuals" was adopted at today's meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, but will enter into force on January 1, 2025.
In which cases patients or other physical and legal entities will pay for medical services in full:
- patient referral without a doctor's referral, except when referral is not required by law;
- provision of medical services by health care institutions under contracts with legal entities;
- provision of medical services in health care facilities of the security and defense sector and the State Administration of Affairs to patients who do not belong to the attached contingent;
- provision of medical services that are not covered by the program of state guarantees of medical care for the population.
Thus, the adopted resolution will make it possible to clearly define which medical services are covered by the medical guarantee program and which are not. In particular, the document specifies that medical interventions that are not in the table of comparison of medical services with the codes of the national classifier NC 025:2021 "Classifier of diseases and related health care problems" and/or the national classifier NC 026:2021 "Classifier of medical interventions", approved by Order Ministry of Health No. 773 of April 3, 2020, are not covered under the medical guarantee program and can be provided for a fee by legal entities and individuals. By the time the decree enters into force, the Ministry of Health plans to revise the comparison table so that the medical guarantee program clearly defines the list of services guaranteed to each patient, while other medical services can be provided for a fee.
The resolution also defines cases in which patients will pay only for additional services, the cost of the medical service itself will be covered by the medical guarantee program. It is about:
- provision of medical services at the place of residence (at home) or the patient's stay, provided that this is the patient's wish and not due to medical condition;
- opportunity to independently choose a treating doctor when receiving specialized medical care in a planned manner in hospital conditions;
- staying in a ward with an increased level of comfort and service at the patient's request.
In addition, all state and communally owned health care institutions must publish on their official websites and place on information stands in hospital premises complete information with a list of paid medical services with an indication of their cost, as well as a complete list of free medical services provided within the framework of the program of public service guarantees.
The provision of paid medical services must be completed with appropriate supporting documents and entered into the electronic health care system with an indication of the source of payment, and the payment is made exclusively in non-cash form. Healthcare institutions will be able to independently determine the cost of paid medical services.
Those medical institutions operating in the form of an institution will be able to carry out additional economic activity, in accordance with their statutes, independently setting a fee for it.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted amendments to Resolution No. 256 of March 24, 2023, which provide for the improvement of the procurement procedure for unmanned systems.
Main changes:
- The State Special Communications Service will be able to purchase UAVs of domestic production through the Prozoro electronic procurement system.
- The protection of the executors of state contracts (agreements), sensitive information about them will be hidden.
The Government's decision will allow the use of electronic procurement tools for domestically produced UAVs, which will contribute to procurement transparency and increase the level of protection of domestic manufacturers.
Previously, using the Prozoro electronic procurement system, it was possible to purchase only some categories of foreign-made UAVs .
We will remind you that in March 2023, the Government introduced an experimental mechanism for defense procurement of unmanned systems by Resolution No. 256. It gave an opportunity to manufacturers of UAVs to develop more actively and scale production tenfold.
