Legal news in Ukraine: 15th January - 20th January 2018
The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on reintegration of Donbas
The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the peculiarities of the state policy on ensuring Ukraine's state sovereignty over temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Before the decision was passed, the secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security and defense, Ivan Vinnyk, read out a number of amendments to the text of the bill. In addition, according to him, the committee proposed returning to a number of amendments that had not previously been supported by lawmakers.
Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy put the bill to the vote, taking into account the announced proposals, and the deputies supported the document.
The preamble to the law states that "the Russian Federation commits a crime of aggression against Ukraine and carries out temporary occupation of part of its territory with the help of armed units of the Russian Federation."
At the same time, the preamble notes that the date of the beginning of occupation of part of Ukraine, in particular, Crimea and Sevastopol, is determined by the law on ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens and the legal regime in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine. According to this law, the date of the beginning of temporary occupation is February 20, 2014.
The law on Donbas reintegration outlines the peculiarities of the state policy on securing Ukraine's state sovereignty in temporarily occupied territories in Donbas.
It is envisaged that the boundaries and the list of districts, towns, villages and settlements, parts of their territories temporarily occupied in Donetsk and Luhansk regions are determined by the president under a motion from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, prepared on the basis of proposals from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
According to the law, responsibility for financial or moral damage done to Ukraine as a result of Russian aggression is placed on Russia in accordance with generally accepted principles and norms of international law.
In addition, MPs established that persons involved in Russia's armed aggression or involved in the Russian occupation administration are held criminally liable for violating Ukrainian legislation and norms of international humanitarian law.
The parliament also defined a system of distribution of powers for national security measures.
The Law on the installation of gas meters up to 2021 came into force
On January 20, the Law "On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine" On Securing Commercial Gas Metering "entered into force regarding the procedure for the establishment of meters for natural gas consumers.
The law improves the principles of commercial gas accounting, regulates separate issues of its facilities, in particular, in multi-apartment buildings.
In particular, the Law extended the period for the installation of individual gas meters from 1 January 2018 to 1 January 2021.
The law also establishes that economic entities that carry out the distribution of natural gas in the respective territory are obliged to ensure the establishment of individual gas meters, not public buildings.
A general gas meter can be installed only with the consent of the co-owners of the multi-apartment building and provide that the installation of individual gas meters can be carried out on the basis of co-financing of household consumers and business entities that carry out the distribution of natural gas in the respective territory at the expense of the tariff for distribution of natural gas.
In Ukraine access to free legal aid has been expanded
Access to free secondary legal aid for people affected by domestic violence or gender-based violence has been expanded in Ukraine. This is stipulated by the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention and Counteraction to Domestic Violence", which entered into force on January 7 and amended by the Law "On Free Legal Aid".
According to the law, a person who has suffered from domestic violence is any person who has suffered domestic violence in any form.
At the same time, the Regional Centers received new responsibilities for working with this category.
They consist in providing free legal assistance to the victims, including on the basis of general and special support services for the victims; interaction with other actors involved in the prevention and counteraction to domestic violence and reporting on the results of exercising powers in the area of prevention and counteraction to domestic violence.
In addition, the mentioned legislative changes extended the category of children as subjects of the law on CVD. Nowadays, it is possible not only to receive orphans, children deprived of parental care, children in difficult circumstances, children who have suffered as a result of hostilities and armed conflicts (as was the case before), but all children.
New requirements for the assessment of the work of the police investigators
The work of investigators will be evaluated by the number of cases that sent to the court.
According to the Deputy Head of the National Police - Chief of the Main Investigation Department Vitaliy Nevgad, in 2018, investigators will work according to new requirements.
"Already changed requirements for the work of local investigators. We move away from the old bureaucratic methods, when a real investigation is replaced by paper document circulation. Instead, thorough work with information, as it is now organized in the Main Investigation Department, gives its positive results, "the GSU head said, adding that due to such an organization law enforcement detained members of serious criminal groups.
At the same time, Nevgad informed that over 2017 investigators were investigating more than 2.5 million criminal proceedings. Of this amount, the investigation was completed in 875 thousand criminal proceedings.
The government has established the procedure for the appointment of social assistance to pensioners
The Government has established the procedure for the appointment of temporary state social assistance to the unemployed person who has reached the general retirement age but has not acquired the right to a pension payment.
According to changes to the pension legislation, such payments will be made from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020.
These are persons who have reached the retirement age but have not acquired the right to a pension payment in the absence of insurance experience, provided they have at least 15 years of insurance experience.
Temporary assistance will be transferred to a person every six months, taking into account changes in her property status and average monthly gross income, and will be paid until the person reaches the age from which she becomes entitled to a retirement benefit.
A person's case, in which the documents necessary for the appointment of temporary assistance, as well as the calculation of its amount, are kept for each person to whom the temporary assistance is assigned.
Temporary assistance will not be granted if, in particular:
the average monthly total income per family per person over the previous six months exceeds 100 per cent of the subsistence minimum for people who have lost their ability to work;
a person receives a pension or state social assistance, which is appointed in accordance with the Laws of Ukraine "On State Social Assistance to the Disabled from the Childhood and Children with Disabled Persons" or "On State Social Assistance to Persons not entitled to Retirement and Persons with Disabilities";
the person or members of his family for 12 months before the application for the provision of temporary assistance made a purchase of a land plot, apartment (house), car, other vehicle, construction materials, other durable goods or paid services (one time) for construction, repair of an apartment (house) or a car, another vehicle, telephone (including mobile) communication, in addition to housing and communal services within the social housing and social standards of the user tion of housing and communal services and medical services related to the provision of life, an amount on the date of purchase exceeds 50 thousand. UAH;
a person works, conducts other activities related to the receipt of income;
according to the results of a sample survey of household living conditions, it has been found that a person has additional sources of living not specified in the income and property declaration (renting a building (house) or its part, one or more family members work without registration of labor relations in the established manner, there is a possibility of obtaining income from the maintenance of livestock, poultry, other animals, income from folk crafts, the use of existing agricultural machinery, trucks, minibuses etc.);
property of the person or members of his family has a second apartment (house), provided that the total area more than 21 square meters per family member and an additional 10.5 square meters for a family, or more than one car, another vehicle.
