The output of the session

Second reading bills taken

On small-scale wineries: Draft bill No.6693

Through adoption of the bill, there some amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on development of terroir wines and natural honey beverages have been taken. The new law re-establishes a new procedure of approving new brands of grape wines, fruit and berry wines, as well as natural honey beverages. The law also provides that the right to approve new brands of silent wines and vintage cognacs of Ukraine is granted to enterprises and organizations that have their own stable raw material base and corresponding capacities/facilities for their production.

The law defines a legal status of small-scale productions of wines - business entities which, in the full technological cycle, without adding alcohol, produce and bottle grape wines, fruit and berry wines and/or honey drinks in a volume not exceeding 10 000 decaliters per year (i.e. 100,000 liters per year), from wine stock of only own production (not purchased), obtained by processing fruits, berries, grapes, honey of own production, too.  The law sets requirements for the material and technical base of small-scale producers of wines, a simplified procedure for licensing of production. There is no use of alcohol in the production of small-scale wineries allowed by the law.

On state protection:  Draft bill No.8155

There has been adopted a set of amendments to the law of Ukraine "On state protection of Ukrainian state authorities and officials". The law runs that in order to strengthen security measures no persons with cold or firearms, as well as persons with explosives, explosive devices, ammunition of all kinds and specimens, training or imitation ammunition, flammable liquids or flammable solids, pyrotechnic weapons etc. will be allowed to enter premises where the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet and other organs of state power work.

Int’l responsibility of Russia: Draft bill No. 5463

There has been approved and adopted the UA Parliament’s resolution "On immediate practical measures for implementation of international legal responsibility of the Russian Federation for the armed aggression against Ukraine".  By taking the bill, the Parliament is hereby sending the following recommendations to the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine:

to elaborate a unified and integrated position of Ukraine on realization of international legal responsibility of Russia for the armed aggression against Ukraine,

to establish an interagency organ responsible for the above position,

to increase effectiveness of protecting Ukraine's national interests on a more systematic institutional and international legal basis by implementing a set of urgent measures for the practical implementation of the international legal responsibility of the Russian Federation for the armed aggression against Ukraine.

First reading bills taken

Phytosanitary news: Draft bill No.6673

The draft law "On amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine on the settlement of certain phytosanitary procedures" was adopted on the first reading. The bill offers to change the law of Ukraine "On Plant Quarantine” and the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses by introducing some new definitions, clarifying powers of central executive bodies, establishing a register of authorized phytosanitary laboratories, giving the right to carry out phyto-sanitary expertise to non-state phytosanitary laboratories, etc.

Bankruptcy: Draft bill No.8060

The draft Code of Ukraine on Bankruptcy has been adopted on the first reading. The Code proposes to establish the conditions and procedure for restoring solvency of a debtor-legal entity or recognizing it as a bankrupt and applying a liquidation procedure in order to fully or partially meet the claims of creditors, as well as to restore solvency of an individual.

In its part of corporate bankruptcy reforming, the paper, among other things, proposes:

To eliminate unnecessary barriers and simplify access to the procedures, in particular, the debtor himself,

To increase opportunities for readjustment and create effective mechanisms for out-of-court settlements,

To exclude all provisions that may be considered as grounds for exemption from debts, except in cases where the creditors agree,

To merge an amicable agreement and readjustment into a single procedure,

To improve terms of participation of secured creditors in bankruptcy procedures,

 To increase level of protection of the rights of all creditors,

To shorten terms for judicial trials,

To ensure stability of the auctioned contracts.

The paper also proposes to improve the stand of secured creditors in bankruptcy procedures, in particular :

sale of bankrupt's property exclusively at an electronic auction through a clear integrated system,

obligatory negotiations with secured creditors on starting prices of the property, lots composition, auction step (step of bid), ad text, cost of retention, storage and expenses for the sale of mortgaged property,

price reduction at  the first re-auction is possible only with the consent of the secured creditor,

in case of winning an auction, the secured creditor settles accounts for the property purchased by way of a netting, paying only the difference between the price and the amount of claims, etc.

Introducing the tools for restoration of solvency of individuals, the Code proposes to create a separate regulation system for specific legal relations linked to the need of solving the problem of excessive indebtedness of an individual. According to the draft bill, cases of bankruptcy of an individual should be considered by the economic court at the place of residence of the individual, which will make it possible to provide a convenient and professional consideration of such a specific category of cases.

The Code proposes introduction of two types of the procedures - judicial and pre-trial one, which will give the participants more room to choose the best form of debt settlements.   There are two judicial procedures:  restructuring debts of debtors and satisfying claims of creditors. Amicable agreement, as per the document, is an institution of procedural law, the purpose of which is to terminate the trial by way of reaching an agreement between the parties to the case. Participation of an arbitrator in a bankruptcy proceeding is compulsory.