The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has approved Law on e-declaration No. 9534 of July 26, 2023, taking into account the veto of the President of Ukraine. Electronic declarations will be opened.
Electronic declaration for officials was canceled after the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now they decided to return the norm. The Verkhovna Rada adopted the relevant law, but without an important amendment regarding the immediate opening of the register of declarations.
After that, Ukrainians created a petition calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to put a veto on the law. The head of state imposed the veto and also called on the parliamentarians to adopt the law taking into account the rule on the open register.
On September 18, the Rada’s anti-corruption committee supported the President's proposals, in particular regarding the immediate opening of declarations.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved the Resolution ‘On approval of the Methodology for determining the legal entity’s ultimate beneficial owner’. The methodology is a regulatory and legal document, the comprehensive analogue of which is absent in the world. The decision of the Government is one of the key indicators in the creation of a comprehensive system of verification of information on the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO).
The purpose of the Methodology for determining the ultimate beneficial owner is to establish a unified approach at the country level, how to determine the real owners of companies.
The need to develop the rules for determining the UBO (as well as to inform about the beneficiaries) arose due to the requirements of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the implementation into the legislation of Ukraine of the International Financial Monitoring Standards from the FATF.
During the development of the Methodology, the Ministry of Finance fully implemented the Guidelines on the CBV, published by the FATF in March of this year.
Verification of information about the UBO will ensure the availability of adequate, accurate and up-to-date information about the beneficial ownership of legal entities, to which the competent authorities will always have full and timely access.
The document enshrines the mechanisms for researching information about natural persons who exercise control and decisive influence over the activity of a legal entity.
In order to determine the UBO, the Methodology establishes:
- methods, ways of finding out information about the presence of signs of decisive influence on the activity of a legal entity;
- principles of the process of identification of UBO by a legal entity, monitoring and actualizing (updating) of information about a legal entity.
Norms of the Methodology also provide for the specifics of defining UBO for:
- non-profit organizations;
- institutions of joint investment – corporate, share investment and non-state pension fund;
- partnership created in accordance with the legislation of a foreign jurisdiction on the basis of or in accordance with an agreement to conduct activities for the purpose of obtaining profit or achieving another common goal;
- unlimited and limited company.
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, by Order No. 3265/5 of September 14, 2023, approved the Procedure for checking information provided by a legal entity in the explanation and documents to confirm information about the ultimate beneficial owner and/or ownership structure of the legal entity.
The state registrar begins checking information about the final beneficial owner (hereinafter – the UBO) and/or the ownership structure within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the relevant documents from the legal entity, sent in accordance with the Procedure for providing explanations and/or documents by the legal entity to confirm information about the final beneficiary the owner and/or the ownership structure of the legal entity, as well as the procedure for their consideration, approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 2211/5 of June 14, 2023.
The state registrar has the right to demand from individuals and legal entities the provision of information (including explanations) necessary for the establishment of the UBO, provision of copies of documents, demand access to the premises of the legal entity, inspection of things and documents at the location of the legal entity.
Verification of information about the UBO and/or the ownership structure is carried out within 10 working days after its start.
In the event that the state registrar needs to obtain additional information, the verification period is extended for the period from the day the state registrar sends the relevant request until the day the registrar receives the requested information.
During the verification of information about the UBO and/or the ownership structure, the state registrar checks for the presence/absence in the information about the UBO and/or the ownership structure provided by the legal entity of contradictions with the information sent by the Ministry of Justice in accordance with the Procedure approved by Order of the Ministry of Justice No. 2542/5 of July 12, 2023, information available in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs, and Public Organizations (hereinafter – the Unified State Register), as well as received in the course of such verification.
The state registrar's request to a legal entity or individual to provide additional explanations and/or information (documents) (hereinafter – the request) is sent in one of the following ways:
- through the system of electronic interaction of executive authorities;
- to the e-mail address specified in the Unified State Register;
- by registered mail with notice of delivery to the location (place of residence) specified in the Unified State Register.
A legal entity is obliged to comprehensively assist the state registrar in establishing reliable data about the UBO and/or the ownership structure during the inspection, in particular:
- to provide the requested information and/or documents within 7 working days from the date of receipt of the request;
- to provide the state registrar with access to the premises of the legal entity, inspection of things and documents.
In the case of providing incomplete, contradictory information at the request of the state registrar or the need to clarify additional circumstances, the state registrar has the right to contact the legal entity with relevant additional requirements.
Changes have also been made to some normative legal acts of the Ministry of Justice.
Order No. 3265/5 states that it will enter into force on October 1, 2023, but not earlier than the day of its official publication.
The National Bank of Ukraine by Resolution No. 115 of September 15, 2023 ‘On Amendments to Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 18 of February 24, 2022’ eased a number of currency restrictions with the aim of improving the operation of the cash segment of the foreign exchange market, increasing opportunities to receive modern types of rehabilitation abroad for soldiers who defend our state, victims of hostilities and other categories of the population, as well as creating conditions for the restructuring of external loans by state-owned companies.
Thus, from September 16, 2023, changes have been made regarding certain issues.
- Increasing the supply of cash foreign currency
Opportunities for banks and non-bank financial institutions to carry out cash foreign currency sales operations have been expanded.
Thus, from September 16, when calculating the amount of cash foreign currency that a bank or non-bank financial institution can sell on the foreign exchange market, the balance of cash foreign currency that was recorded in the cash register of these institutions as of April 13, 2022 will be taken into account.
Therefore, the authorized institutions will carry out transactions for the sale of foreign currency to customers in cash within the amount defined as the sum of the following components:
- amount of foreign currency cash balances as of April 13, 2022;
- amount of excess purchase of cash foreign currency over the amount of its sale in all foreign currencies, which is calculated starting from April 13, 2022 and during the following operating/working days;
- 120% of the volume of purchase of non-cash foreign currency from individuals in all foreign currencies, which is calculated starting from April 13, 2022 and during the following operational/working days.
The sum of the components is calculated in the dollar equivalent, which is calculated on the basis of the official exchange rate of the hryvnia to foreign currencies established by the National Bank of Ukraine on the date of such calculation.
- Expansion of the list of medical services for which the population can make cross-border transfers
Taking into account the proposals of public organizations and banks, the National Bank is expanding the list of medical services for the payment of which individuals can transfer funds abroad. Thus, rehabilitation services, as well as services for the purchase of prostheses and their components, installation, service maintenance and repair of prostheses have been added to the relevant list.
This is important for restoring the health of people with disabilities, including combatants who need prosthetics.
- Unblocking payments for external debts restructured with the approval of the Government of Ukraine
The National Bank enabled state-owned enterprises and business associations (100% of whose shares belong to the state) to transfer funds abroad in order to fulfill obligations to a non-resident under a credit or loan that were restructured on the terms agreed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. In addition, other payments related to the servicing of such restructured obligations are permitted.
Such changes will contribute to the proper completion of the restructuring of external debt by state institutions.
