News (#3 March 2018)

Draft

Development of liquid biofuels market

The Transport Committee of the Verkhovna Rada has unanimously approved the Draft Law On Liquid Biofuels Market Development.

The Committee recommended that the Parliament adopts in the first reading the relevant Draft Law, No.7348 On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding Development of Production of Liquid Fuel from Biomass and Implementation of Criteria for the Stability of Liquid Fuel from Biomass and Biogas Designed for Use in Transport Means.

The document was developed in compliance with Directive 2009/28/EU with the intention of  creating a regulatory and legal framework for the development of a guaranteed, transparent and competitive market for bioethanol and biodiesel in Ukraine.

In particular, it is proposed to set quotas for the mandatory content of biocomponents in the total volume of motor fuels sold in Ukraine: from 1 January 2019 — not less than 3.4% (energy ones); from 1 January 2020 — not less than 4.8%. With regard to diesel fuel — from 1 January  2019 — not less than 2.7%.

 

State supervision in economic activities field

Draft Law No. 8045 was registered with the Ukrainian Parliament on 15 February, by which the Cabinet of Ministers proposed to lift restrictions on the conduct of inspections of enterprises by the State Labor Service in compliance with labor legislation.

The explanatory note to the Draft states that following introduction of amendments to the Law On the Basic Principles of State Supervision (control) in the Sphere of Economic Activity of 3 November 2016, regulatory
authorities lost their right to conduct unimpeded inspections of enterprises.

Instead, they were ordered to give notice about their visits to enterprises in advance and to conduct inspections in the presence of the enterprise’s management.

It is also reported that legalization of restrictions when conducting inspections in the area of compliance with labor legislation makes it impossible to ensure such rights in a proper and timely manner.

The Draft Law’s objective is to restore comprehensive state supervision, including mines inspectorate, and to monitor compliance with legislation on labor, employment, labor protection, and occupational health.

It is noted that effectiveness of the State Employment Service supervision can be ensured by its unexpectedness, and by the right to stop performance of work, operation of extra hazardous equipment in case of threat to health or life of a person.

 

MPs proposed updating procedural codes

Ukrainian MPs submitted three draft laws, No. 8030, 8032 and 8031, to Parliament on the introduction of amendments to updated procedural codes.

The authors of draft laws believe that individual provisions of the new Economic Procedure Code of Ukraine, Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine and the Code of Administrative Justice may call into question the independence and impartiality of court hearings, and may consequently increase corruption risks when adopting court rulings in some proceedings. In particular, at issue is the introduction of the institution of permanent judicial panels. Thus, before adoption of new procedural legislation, all judges of the panel were appointed by an automated system, taking into account a number of criteria: being on a business trip (vacation), on sick leave, workload of a particular judge, differentiation by complexity of case, etc. Changing the procedure by which the panel is formed is unlikely to take into account all these criteria, which will cause delays in consideration of a case on the merits.

Changes to the procedural codes also established grounds for transfer by the court considering the case under cassational procedure for its further consideration, in particular, to the united chamber of the Supreme Court in case of necessity to deviate from a finding on application of a legal standard in similar legal relations established in the ruling, earlier adopted by the Supreme Court. The project’s initiators consider it unreasonable to create an intermediate link, that is, united chambers, which could only expand and complicate the Supreme Court’s structure.

Therefore, by introducing amendments to the names of the codes it is proposed to create the institution of reference for a preliminary ruling. At the same time, this institution should implement principle of procedural economy, since it will reduce risk of remitting case for a new consideration.

When considering a case in preliminary proceeding, the court checks whether there is a need to adopt a finding on application of a legal standard or to determine appropriate approach as to application of a legal standard under different practice of a cassational instance in relation to the particular situation specified in reference for a preliminary ruling. In case of confirmation of such necessity, it shall adopt a finding on application of a legal standard.

The reference for a preliminary ruling should be considered within sixty days from the date of the ruling to initiate pre-judicial proceedings.

 

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