With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, our country has secured the support of partners who provide their material and non-material assistance through charitable foundations, organizations, and often directly to partner companies. The receipt of such assistance must be appropriately documented and accounted for, which also includes timely reporting on the distribution of what has beeen received. How to do this in a timely and correct manner – read below.
Legal aspects of receiving humanitarian aid
According to Article 1 of Law of Ukraine No. 1192-XIV of October 22, 1999 "On Humanitarian Aid" (hereinafter – Law No. 1192), humanitarian aid is targeted, free assistance in cash or in kind, in the form of non-refundable financial assistance or voluntary donations, or assistance in the form of work or services provided by foreign and domestic donors for humanitarian reasons to recipients of humanitarian aid in Ukraine or abroad who need assistance due to social insecurity, material insecurity, difficult financial situation, the introduction of a state of war or emergency, the occurrence of an emergency situation or a serious illness of a specific individual, as well as for preparation for armed defense of the state and its defense in the event of armed aggression or armed conflict.
Article 2 of Law No. 1192 stipulates that the legislation of Ukraine on humanitarian aid consists of Law of Ukraine No. 5073-VI of dated July 5, 2012 "On Charity and Charitable Organizations", Law No. 1192, other regulatory legal acts, international treaties, the binding consent of which has been granted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Relations regarding the adoption, entry into force, administrative appeal, execution, termination of administrative acts in the field of receipt, provision, registration, distribution and control over the targeted use of humanitarian aid are regulated by the Law of Ukraine No. 2073-IX of February 17, 2022 "On Administrative Procedure", taking into account the features established by Law No. 1192.
Monitoring the use of humanitarian aid
According to Part 2 of Article 11 of Law No. 1192, control over the use of humanitarian aid for its intended purpose is carried out by the relevant specially authorized state bodies for humanitarian aid and tax authorities.
Item 7 of the Procedure for the Use of Humanitarian Aid in the Form of Foreign Currency Funds from Foreign Currency Accounts of Humanitarian Aid Recipients, approved by Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 542 of March 22, 2000, establishes that the recipient, after the full use of humanitarian aid in the form of foreign currency, is obliged, within five working days, to submit a report on the targeted use of humanitarian aid in the form of foreign currency to the Ministry of Social Policy and the territorial body of the State Tax Service at their location.
The recipient submits a report on the availability and distribution of humanitarian aid in foreign currency to the Ministry of Social Policy and the territorial body of the State Tax Service at their location by the 5th of each month until the entire amount of humanitarian aid received is fully used.
Procedure for submitting reports on the availability and distribution of humanitarian aid
The procedure for submitting reports is established by the Ministry of Social Policy .
Order of the Ministry of Social Policy No. 539 of July 31, 2020 “On Approval of Forms of Reports on Availability and Distribution of Humanitarian Aid and Instructions for Filling Them Out” approved:
- Report form No. 1 “Report on the availability and distribution of humanitarian aid” (hereinafter – the Report Form No. 1);
- Report form No. 2 “Summary report on the availability and distribution of humanitarian aid by recipients of humanitarian aid” (hereinafter – the Report Form No. 2);
- Instructions for filling out report form No. 1 and report form No. 2 (hereinafter – the Instructions).
In accordance with item 2, section I of the Instructions, the Report form No. 1 is submitted by recipients of humanitarian aid and legal entities - recipients of humanitarian aid to the regional, Kyiv city state administrations (hereinafter – local state administrations ) of the relevant region at the place of state registration of recipients of humanitarian aid every month by the 5th day of the month following the reporting, cumulative total separately for each cargo/amount, including in foreign currency, recognized as humanitarian aid, until the full distribution of the entire amount of aid.
Report Form No. 2 is submitted by local state administrations to the Ministry of Social Policy every month by the 20th of the month following the reporting month, with a cumulative total taking into account the recipients of humanitarian aid in the relevant region (item 3, section I of the Instructions).
