The Law (Reg. No. 0869) establishes that a party, lodging a petition for a provisional securing of a claim, by a ban on actions with State-owned property or State Corporate Rights, has to remit a guarantee payment (pledge) to the Privatisation body´s account, amounting to 100 per cent of the initial cost of the facility subject to privatisation, with regard to which the said ban is required. Otherwise Courts shall not consider the petition.
The President of Ukraine feels that these procedural provisions should be regulated not by the Law at issue, but by the Procedural Business Code of Ukraine, as was pointed out at the Committee meeting.
The claimant can be obliged by a Business Court to have his demand secured by a pledge deposited in the Court, to avoid abuse of preventive measures. The size of pledge shall be defined by the Business Court in line with the circumstances of the case, but should not exceed the amount of damages claimed. A similar mechanism to avoid abuse of preventive measures is provided for in the Procedural Civil Law.
It is also noted in the proposals that the adopted Law regulates the remittance of 10/ 50 percent of the guarantee payment (pledge) from the Privatisation Body account to the State Budget of Ukraine, in the event of partial/complete refusal by the Court to satisfy the demands of the claim. However it does not lay down a procedure for the return of the balance of the amount of the guarantee payment (pledge) to the claimant, as it does not establish any possibility of such a return.
These provisions, The President pointed out, are in conflict with the Constitutional provision on the Protection of Rights and Liberties of Man and Citizen, guaranteeing a right to appeal against decisions, actions or inactivity of State Authorities, Local Governments, Officials and Functionaries in Court, and the provision of The Constitution of Ukraine prohibiting the limiting of the content and volume of existent rights in adopting new, or amending existent Laws, and hence the principle of responsibility of the State to Man for its actions.
The outcome of this Meeting resulted in a decision recommending that The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine upholds the proposals by The President of Ukraine, and rejects the Law ‘On Amendments to Clause 30 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On Privatisation of State Property´.