The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, approved on September 1, 2021 the draft Law of Ukraine “On Official Statistics” developed by the State Statistics Committee. The document creates conditions for the activities of the bodies of the national system of state statistics in accordance with the generally accepted principles of world and European statistical practice, in particular the principle of professional independence.
The law defines the organizational principles and functioning of the national statistical system, the rights and functions of state statistics bodies, regulates legal relations in the field of official statistics in order to obtain unbiased and objective official state statistical information on economic, social, demographic, environmental and other situation in Ukraine and its regions and providing it to the state and society.
Among the important provisions of the draft are the following:
- reduction of the reporting burden on respondents by expanding the access of state statistics bodies to the data of other state bodies;
- strengthening guarantees of state statistics bodies to ensure the confidentiality of statistical information;
- providing access to microdata for research purposes.
The law is developed taking into account Ukraine’s international obligations and is based on the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, taking into account the EU acquis in the field of statistics, in particular the European Statistics Code of Practice to harmonize national statistics with EU norms and standards.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has published the draft National Strategy to reduce the gender pay gap until 2023 and the action plan for its implementation, as well as the relevant order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The documents are posted on the official website for public discussion.
It will be recalled that at the initiative of First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, Ukraine joined two leading international initiatives in 2020, the statutory goal of which is to reduce the gender pay gap – the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality and the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC).
In particular, to achieve the main goal – equal pay for women and men for work of equal value – the Ministry of Economy proposes the implementation of the following measures in cooperation with social partners (unions and employers’ associations), relevant international, public and scientific organizations:
- improvement of laws on transparency of remuneration information (publication of reports on gender pay ratio);
- development of the draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value”, as well as methods of gender-neutral evaluation of work based on the relevant recommendations of the International Labor Organization;
- integration into domestic legislation of the Recommendations of the Council of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 2013 on gender equality in education, employment and entrepreneurship, as well as 2015 - on gender equality in public life;
- systematic consultations with employers and trade unions to ensure equal pay for women and men for work of equal value;
- development and implementation of evaluation methods and publication of the rating of companies that provide equal pay for women and men for work of equal value;
- regular training of labor inspectors, heads of enterprises/personnel departments on the use of gender-neutral labor evaluation;
- popularization among girls and women of education and professions in STEM-specializations (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), which have the highest level of wages;
- launching Internet sites to cover issues of gender equality, certain issues of equal pay for women and men, as well as tools to ensure it (including the above-mentioned gender-neutral assessment of work) using cloud technologies, etc.
The Ministry of Health postponed the date of full transition to electronic sick leaves by order No. 1836 of August 28, 2021.
The order postponed the obligation for all health care institutions to form medical reports on temporary incapacity for work in the electronic health care system from September 1 to October 1, 2021. Thus, until October 1, medical institutions have the right to issue sick leaves in paper form.
This is due to the unpreparedness of a third of medical institutions in Ukraine to switch to e-sick leaves.
In addition, the order stipulates that until October 1, 2021, the certificate of incapacity for work is considered to have been issued five days after the date of closing the certificate of incapacity for work.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has developed a draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Strengthening the Protection of Employees’ Claims for Payment of Salary Arrears in the Event of Employer’s Insolvency.”
The draft provides for the strengthening of protection of employees’ rights in case of violation of the terms of payment of salaries, in particular by paying compensation to the employee in the amount of average monthly salary for three months preceding the month in which the case of bankruptcy or termination of employment contract in case of dismissal of the employee before the initiation of the specified case.
The project provides for the payment of compensation to the employee in case of insolvency of the employer only for new debts declared in the business process and after filing an application to the State Labor Service.
The maximum amount of compensation may not exceed the amount of three average salaries of the employee for the 12 months preceding the month in which the bankruptcy case was initiated or the employment contract was terminated in case of dismissal of the employee before the initiation of this case. At the same time, the maximum amount of compensation may not exceed 12 minimum salaries as of January 1 of the respective year. The State Labor Service will be given the right to make recourse claims against debtors for reimbursement of funds aimed at compensation of wages, other payments in case of insolvency of the debtor and their satisfaction as a matter of priority, which in the future will partially return the money spent.
The adoption of the draft will help ensure constitutional guarantees of the right of employees to receive their due remuneration and will comply with Part III of the International Labor Organization Convention No. 173 “Protection of Worker’s Claims (Employer’s insolvency)”.
Implementation of the draft will require additional expenditures from the State Budget of Ukraine.
The norms of the draft law provide, in particular, for the allocation at the first stages of the formation of a system of guaranteeing amounts for the formation of an appropriate guarantee institution. The source of formation of such a fund is proposed to determine the part of the single social contribution to the obligatory state social insurance (hereinafter – SSC). This amount will be determined by the Government in the framework of the decision on the distribution of SSC by areas.
It should be noted that another additional source of revenue to meet debt repayment obligations is proposed to determine penalties under Article 265 of the Labor Code.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has developed a draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Strengthening the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights”. Adoption of the draft Law will contribute to achieving the European level of protection of intellectual property rights and improving the investment climate in Ukraine. We invite you to discuss the draft law.
At present, the legislation of Ukraine in the field of intellectual (industrial) property has already been brought into line with the standards of legal protection provided by the Association Agreement in order to fulfill its obligations under this Agreement. The next step in the implementation of the Agreement is the introduction of effective mechanisms for the protection of intellectual property rights.
The draft Law provides for the implementation of the following provisions of the Association Agreement into the legislation of Ukraine:
- Article 235 “Right to information” (on the possibility of the court to request information on the origin and distribution of goods or services that infringe intellectual property rights);
- Article 236 “Provisional and precautional measures” (on the application of interlocutory injunctions against intermediaries whose services are used by the defendant in infringement of intellectual property rights);
- Article 238 “Injunctions” (concerning injunctions against intermediaries whose services are used by the defendant in infringement of intellectual property rights);
- Article 239 “Alternative measures” (on the possibility of applying a one-time penalty instead of methods of protection);
- Article 240 “Damages” (on the principles of compensation to the right holder for damages, including lost profits, or recovery of income received by the infringer, or payment of compensation);
- Article 242 “Publication of judicial decisions” (on the possibility of bringing to the public information on infringement of intellectual property rights and the content of the court decision);
- the relevant provisions of Directive 2004/48/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the protection of intellectual property rights.
To achieve this goal, the draft Law provides for amendments to the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Commercial Procedural Code of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine “On protection of rights to industrial designs”, “On protection of rights to marks for goods and services”, “On protection rights to inventions and utility models”, “On protection of rights to the layout of semiconductor products”.
