At its meeting, the Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU considered the draft Law No. 3097-2 on guarantees of correct charging to consumers of housing and communal services - the cost of natural gas, water, electricity and heat. The document proposes to abolish the accrual of penalties for late payment of utility bills; introduce the moratorium on forced evictions, forced foreclosure, suspension of providing the housing and communal services; offers to provide consumers with compensation in the amount of ten times the amount of payment, if they prove (in court or out of court) that the value specified in the settlement documents received by them is overstated, accrued in violation of the contract and (or) the Law.
According to the Committee, this draft law does not contradict Ukraine’s international legal obligations in the field of European integration.
According to the Committee, the following draft laws also do not contradict EU law:
- No. 4428 on certain issues of international judicial cooperation. The proposed changes, as indicated by the authors of the bill, are aimed at ensuring the rights and interests of litigants.
- No. 5054 on defining the concept of labor relations and signs of its existence. In order to take better account of the provisions of European Union law, the draft law needs to be revised in order to properly implement the provisions of Directive 2019/1152, Council Directive 2001/23/EU, Directive 2002/14/EU, Council Directive 89/391/EU and ILO recommendations No. 198.
- No. 5054-1 on Regulation of Certain Labor Relations Issues. The Committee concluded that the document needed to be substantially revised to bring it into the line with EU law. In particular, full consideration and proper implementation of the provisions of Directive 2019/1152, Council Directive 2001/23/EU, Directive 2002/14/EU, Council Directive 89/391/EU, as well as ILO Recommendations No. 198 and ILO Conventions No. 81, No. 129, Mo. 155.
- No. 4162 on the basic principles of tourism development. The document proposes to create a state electronic information system, which will contain information about all entities in the tourism sector, as well as create a mechanism for state strategic planning, control in the field of tourism, statistical reporting, protection of the rights and legitimate interests of tourists. According to the Committee, the draft law needs to be substantially revised to take into account the provisions of Directive 2015/2302/EU. The same conclusion was obtained by the alternative draft law No. 4162-1 on the creation of economic incentives for the development of the tourism industry.
- No. 5184 on protection of the rights of borrowers within the framework of microcredit and microloan agreements. The draft law proposes to limit interest on microloans or microloans by a triple discount rate of the National Bank. The draft law needs to be substantially revised to bring it into the line with the provisions of Directive 2008/48 and to eliminate legal uncertainty.
- No. 4469 on ensure the validity of data and information about the client. The draft law proposes to introduce a new rule that a bank may not carry out a proper audit of financial transactions of customers who make regular payments to each other and have previously been audited by the bank, or if the bank can determine the source of such income. The Bank may not properly inspect such transactions or perform it without requiring additional documents from customers and government. The document, according to the Committee, needs to be finalized to fully take into account the provisions of Regulation 2015/847.