News (#09 September 2016)

Law Digest

Act on ID-Passports was signed

Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko has signed Act No.1474-VIII On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine regarding Documents Confirming Citizenship of Ukraine, Certifying Identity or Special Status Aimed at Liberalizing the Visa Regime for Ukraine by the EU.

The Act provides for a clear distinction between types of documents with a contactless chip and without it, as well as introduction of a migrant worker card as a document certifying identity of a foreigner or stateless persons who intend to do business in Ukraine, and confirming the legal basis for residence in the country.

Act No.3224 provides an opportunity for citizens to obtain ID-cards instead of the old-style internal passport (booklets), which were issued only to 16 year-old Ukrainians since January. Now the ID-card will be received at the age of 14. From that age the passport’s chip fingerprints will be digitally recorded — optional for an internal document, but when receiving external passport it will be mandatory. The first ID-card for 14-year-olds will be issued free of charge. At the beginning the new passports will be used alongside existing paper ones.

 

NBU simplified currency exchange for the population

The National Bank of Ukraine by its Decree No.364 of 2 August 2016 has simplified foreign currency exchange in cash. Appropriate changes were made to the Regulations on the organization and implementation of foreign exchange operations on the territory of Ukraine. The decision comes into force on 10 August 2016. In January — July 2016 net purchase of currency from the population by banks reached USD 1.9 billion. Given the stabilization of the situation on the foreign exchange market the NBU decided to liberalize requirements for foreign exchange transactions by individuals.

 

Ukraine and Malaysia signed anti-offshore agreement

Ukraine and Malaysia signed an agreement on avoidance of double taxation. This agreement shall apply to taxes on income imposed on behalf of the state and its administrative-territorial units and local authorities, irrespective of the manner in which they are levied. Provisions of the document determine conditions to avoid double taxation in Ukraine and Malaysia, taxation procedure for dividends, interest, royalties, income from alienation of property, etc. Individual terms of taxation of pensions, income of civil servants, artists, athletes and students are specified. More- over, an intergovernmental agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal proceedings, as well as agreement on surrender (extradition) of offenders was signed.

 

Ratification of the Paris Agreement

The President of Ukraine has signed the On Ratification of the Paris Agreement Act, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 14 July. The document was signed by 177 countries and the European Union. The agreement was concluded to replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is aimed at accelerating implementation of provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and strengthening global response to the threat of climate change in the context of sustainable development and efforts to reduce poverty.

The Paris Agreement establishes the basis of the international regime on climate change, while mechanisms, procedures and other practical issues to ensure cooperation in the framework of the Agreement shall be developed over the next four years and shall be approved by the first session of the working body of the Agreement — Conference of the Parties acting as a meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement.

It is noted that the Paris Agreement will come into force when at least 55 Parties to the Framework Convention, which accounted for at least 55% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, shall deposit their instruments of ratification, instruments of acceptance, approval or accession. As of today 19 countries have ratified the Agreement, which accounts for 0.18% of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Electronic document management for banks in cases of purchase and transfer of currency

The National Bank of Ukraine has provided banks and their customers with an opportunity to use modern communication technologies and electronic documents, copies of documents in electronic form for the purchase and transfer of foreign currency.

Authorized banks will now be able to purchase exchange and transfer foreign currency to customers on the basis of not only the original documents, as was the case before, but of their copies as well. At the same time, both original documents and copies of documents can be submitted to a bank in electronic and in paper form by customers at their own discretion.

Copies of documents in electronic form will be created by a customer by scanning the original document on paper, certifying it via an electronic digital signature and submitting it to the bank by means of software and hardware packages “client-bank”, “client-internet bank” and others.

The requirement to submit only the original documents is preserved only in respect of documents on the sources of Hryvnia for individuals who are non-residents.

Also, banks will no longer the required to stamp original documents on the basis of which foreign currency was purchased or transferred, and the copies of these documents. In their turn, banks will independently control the volume of foreign currency purchased and determine the purchase procedure.

 

Subscribe
The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law

Subscribe to The Ukrainian Journal of Business Law right now and enjoy the most relevant issues on doing business in Ukraine on your device or in print.

All this for just USD 9.99 a month.

 

Subscribe now