Since the imposition of the martial law in Ukraine on February 24, the Ukrainian Government has introduced a number of complex changes to the legislation and state programs aimed at supporting the Ukrainian economy and business in general. In particular, laws and decrees in various law fields came into force in April, including:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW
The Law of Ukraine № 2174-IX, which came into force on April 13, 2022, the purpose of which is to strengthen protection of the interests of persons in the sphere of intellectual property during the period of the martial law, in particular:
- suspension of the period of time related to protection of intellectual property rights;
- suspension of procedures for obtaining intellectual rights;
- exemption from payment of fees, if authorized persons are able to submit the necessary documents within 90 days, from the date of cancellation of the martial law, for renewal, extension or continue of the relevant terms.
TRANSPORT LAW
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decree №434 on April 12, 2022 introduced a simplified procedure of temporary registration of agricultural vehicles (machinery) during the period of the martial law, which provides:
- simplification of the list of documents for registration of machines to the minimum required:
1) a copy of the document confirming the right of ownership;
2) the document certifying the representative of the owner of the machine and his authority (if necessary);
3) a copy of the document certifying the car owner;
- inspection of vehicles during registration will be carried out by state inspectors, if it possible;
- acceptance of applications for registration of vehicles by the main departments of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, on the principle of exterritoriality;
- received certificate on temporary registration of vehicles will be valid for the whole period of the martial law and within 6 months after its termination.
LAND LAW
The Law №2145-IX of April 7, 2022 provides an automatic renewal for one year without the will of the parties of the lease agreements, and the term of use of which has ended after the introduction of the martial law. This procedure is going without the introduction of information to the State Register of Real property rights or to the State Land Cadastre during the formation of land in case of its transfer. The law prohibits during the martial law on the free transfer of state and communal lands to private ownership, and the issuance of permits for the development of land management documentation for the purpose of free transfer. The simplified procedure for the lease of agricultural production provides for:
- decisions on transfer are made by executive bodies, local self-government bodies;
- the amount of rent may not exceed 8 percent of the normative monetary valuation of the land, which is determined from the average normative monetary valuation of the unit of the area of the land in the region;
- the formation of the land, which is leased, is carried out on the basis of technical documentation with the land administration concerning land inventory. Such technical documentation on land inventory cannot provide for division, unification of land plots;
- the land lease agreement, as well as changes to it, the agreement on termination of such lease agreement is subject to state registration. State registration of land lease agreement is carried out by district military administration;
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy prepared an information letter-explanation on the application of the Law and actual questions-answers.
FINANCIAL LAW
The NBU imposes restrictions on cross-border operations of citizens in order to prevent the inefficient outflow of capital from the country in the context of the martial law. The relevant changes were made by the decree of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 78 of April 20, 2022 "on amending the resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 18 of February 24, 2022".
Thus, individuals will be able to buy assets that are directly converted (exchanged) to cash and belong to the "quasi cash" operations, using only their own foreign currency, within the limit of 100 thousand UAH per month (equivalent). The relevant limit is also applicable to cross-border P2P transfers. "Quasi cash" operations include: replenishment of electronic wallets, brokerage or forex accounts, payment of road checks, purchase of virtual assets, etc.
TAX LAW
The Law of Ukraine 2142-IX of 05.04.2022 provides for a number of changes, in particular:
- exemption from import duties, excise duties and VAT on the import of vehicles by individuals;
- exemption from custom duties, VAT duties on the import of goods by "singletaxed" I-III groups (at a rate of 2% at the time of martial law);
- abolition of mandatory submission of permits for import of special groups of goods defined by the Cabinet of Ministers (sanitary, environmental and others). Information about them must be entered directly into the customs declaration;
- from 2021 and 2022 years, no tax is paid on residential real estate located in war-torn and occupied territories. (from March 1 to December 31 of the year in which the martial law will be terminated, no tax is paid on non-residential real estate located in combat areas);
- extension from three to six months of the period during which taxpayers who have not been able to file tax returns must comply with the obligation to file in full after the end of the special period;
The State Tax Service has prepared an urgent questions and answers on the transition to the simplified system of the third group at the rate of 2%.
