24 April 2020, 17:30
The Verkhovna Rada has passed today the following draft bills/resolutions to presently emerge as full-blown pieces of legislation:
Resolution Nо.3358 – The parliament took the resolution “On the establishment of a Verkhovna Rada temporary committee of inquiry to probe into the publicised facts of likely corrupt practices of public officials that have caused substantial damage to Ukraine’s state budget revenues”, thus enabling the outright launch of the committee.
The main objective of the newly established body is to investigate the facts of possible venal practices of public authorities, in particular, the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the State Customs Service of Ukraine, which resulted in the enormous budget revenues shortfall falling on the period from September 2019 through present. The resolution approved numerical strength and personal structure of the committee.
The paper also makes changes to Clause 5 of the Verkhovna Rada’s resolution No.366-IX of December 12, 2019 regarding the investigation of attacks on Kateryna Handziuk and other public activists.
Additionally, the resolution commissions the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine to undertake an off-schedule auditing of the activities of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine, the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the State Customs Service of Ukraine that is to cover the period from September 2019 through present. The resolution shall enter into force on the day of its adoption.
Bill No.1182-1-d – The Verkhovna Rada has passed the first reading of the draft bill “On inland waterway transport”.
The said bill defines the legal, economic and organizational principles of the inland waterway transport, the issues of state regulation in this area, the functioning and development of the inland waterway transport, its infrastructure, the carriage of goods and passengers, navigation on inland waterways and its safety. It was noted that the bill is in line with EU standards.
A wide array of Ukrainian laws is thought to be altered through this bill including the land, commercial, forest and water codes of Ukraine as well as its code of administrative offences and merchant shipping code.
Bill No.2809 – Lawgivers have endorsed the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to the Administrative Offences Code of Ukraine concerning demerit points”.
The law has been adopted in order to eliminate the negative impact of certain norms of the effective legislation to the extent of taking measures aimed at compliance with traffic safety rules by road users, as well as to ensure the accountability of persons who committed administrative offences.
The bill strikes the demerit points norm off from the code of administrative offences provided the primary traffic offence was captured automatically.
Bill No.2372 – The first reading of the draft law “On amendments to certain laws of Ukraine pertaining to the safety of nuclear energy use” was supported by MPs.
The bill aims to reinstate state oversight of nuclear energy use by economic operators. The document suggests amending the Law of Ukraine "On the fundamental principles of state oversight (control) in the field of economic activity" and the Law of Ukraine "On licensing of types of economic activity" regarding the non-application of their action to oversight of compliance with the safety requirements of nuclear energy use and licensing of activities in the field of nuclear energy use.
The draftsmen stress its taking would renew the state oversight and the licensing procedure for nuclear energy use activities as defined in the Law of Ukraine "On nuclear energy use and radiation safety" and the Law of Ukraine "On permitting activities in the field of nuclear energy use" to comply with Ukraine’s international commitments. The law shall enter into force on the day following its official promulgation.