Legal news in Ukraine: state budget-2020 approved as basis, beginning of abolition of land moratorium and creation of Debt Agency, conclusion of Constitutional Court on people’s bills, new filters for cassation appeal cases
The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole the state budget 2020
On November 14, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft Law «On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2020» in the second reading and as a whole.
State budget revenues for 2020 are estimated at 1,093,7 billion UAH, including general fund revenues – 974,7 billion UAH and special fund revenues – 119,0 billion UAH.
State budget expenditures for 2020 are estimated at 1 180,1 billion UAH, including general fund expenditures – 1 052,2 billion UAH and special fund expenditures – 127,9 billion UAH.
The law established in 2020 a living wage for one person per month in the amount of January 1, 2020 – 2027 UAH, from July 1 – 2118 UAH, from December 1 - 2189 UAH, and for the main social and demographic groups:
children under the age of 6 years: from January 1, 2020 – 1779 UAH, from July 1 – 1859 UAH, from December 1 – 1921 UAH;
children aged 6 to 18 years: from January 1, 2020 – 2218 UAH, from July 1 – 2318 UAH, from December 1 – 2395 UAH;
able-bodied persons: from January 1, 2020 – 2102 UAH, from July 1 – 2197 UAH, from December 1 – 2270 UAH;
persons who have lost their ability to work (minimum pension): from January 1, 2020 – 1638 UAH, from July 1 – 1712 UAH, from December 1 – 1769 UAH.
The minimum wage from January 1, 2020 will increase to 4723 UAH per month.
The following priorities are defined in the State Budget: defense and security, social protection, healthcare, education, infrastructure development.
The bill to lift the moratorium on land sales was approved as a basis
On November 13, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Bill No. 2178-10 «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Circulation of Agricultural Lands» as a Basis.
From October 1, 2020, the draft law repeals the ban on the alienation of agricultural land of all forms of ownership.
It determines who can acquire ownership of agricultural land: citizens of Ukraine, territorial communities, the state, legal entities of Ukraine and foreign citizens and stateless persons in case of acquisition by inheritance and the obligation to alienate the plot during the year.
Legal entities, the beneficial owner (controller) of which are foreigners, stateless persons, legal entities created under the legislation other than the legislation of Ukraine, foreign states cannot acquire ownership of agricultural land until January 1, 2024.
These requirements do not apply to the cases of the acquisition of land by their tenants, who are agricultural producers, if at least 3 years have passed since the state registration of the legal entity – the acquirer of ownership, as well as to the cases of the land acquisition by the said persons.
The minimum starting price for the sale of land and state and municipal property at land auctions is set at a level not lower than the regulatory monetary valuation.
It should be mention that the European Court of Human Rights in its decision of May 22, 2018 established that an absolute ban on the sale or purchase of agricultural land in Ukraine is a violation of human rights.
The Debt Agency will be set up in Ukraine
On November 14, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada, in its second reading and in general, approved the draft law «On Amendments to the Budget Code of Ukraine» (registration number 2144), including the creation of the Debt Agency of Ukraine.
Now, the powers to form and implement public debt management and government guaranteed debt are fully within the competence of the Ministry of Finance, which performs its functions within the framework of the current legislation and the Government Debt Management Strategy approved by the Government. «Such a model is effective, but its effectiveness is constrained by the need for long-term coordination of managerial decisions, the effective implementation of debt policy depends on the speed of adoption of which.
The transition to a new form of public debt management for Ukraine will allow us to achieve three goals at once. Firstly, acting as a separate central executive body, the Debt Agency will not be dependent on political factors, which is important for increasing investor confidence and predictability of long-term debt management», the Ministry of Finance explained.
A similar model of public debt management for decades has been successfully operating in such developed countries of the European Union as Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, etc.
The Constitutional Court has comments on the bill on the legislative initiative of the people
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine issued a ruling in the case on the constitutional appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the conformity of the Bill No. 1015 «On Amendments to Article 93 of the Constitution of Ukraine (on the Legislative Initiative of the People)» to the requirements of Articles 157 and 158 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The bill proposes to amend Article 93 of the Constitution of Ukraine and to state it in the following wording:
«Article 93. The right of legislative initiative in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall be vested in the people, the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the People’s Deputies of Ukraine and shall be exercised by them in the cases and in the order determined by the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine.
Bills identified by the President of Ukraine as urgent are considered by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in an extraordinary manner.
The law shall be adopted in accordance with the requirements of the legislative procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine».
The Constitutional Court found that the bill meets the requirements of Articles 157 and 158 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
At the same time, the Court observes that the provision «the right of legislative initiative in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine belongs to the people» needs to be specified on the basis that in the Constitution of Ukraine the term «people» is used in the meaning «Ukrainian people - citizens of Ukraine of all nationalities».
The Court also notes that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is a state authority exercising its powers on the basis of representation of the interests of the Ukrainian people by the People's Deputies of Ukraine. The People’s Deputies of Ukraine are the plenipotentiary representatives of the Ukrainian people in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, responsible to them and called to express and defend his interests.
Therefore, restrictions on the implementation of the right of legislative initiative by people’s deputies can lead to a restriction of their rights regarding free expression of will and unhindered exercise of their powers in the interests of all citizens of Ukraine and, as a result, to the restriction of human and civil rights and freedoms.
The text of the president’s bill on filters for cassation appeal has been published
On October 25, 2019, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the Draft Law No. 2314 «On Amendments to the Economic Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Judiciary of Ukraine on Improving the Review of Court Decisions in Appeal and Cassation».
The authors of the draft note that the procedure for admission of cassation appeals provided by the procedural law does not contribute to the Supreme Court’s fulfillment of its primary task – to ensure the consistency and unity of jurisprudence and, consequently, to observe the principle of legal certainty as an element of the principle of the rule of law.
«In this regard, we consider it appropriate to introduce a system of access and filters for cassation appeals, providing that such an appeal can take place in exceptional cases when it is necessary to resolve the issues of applying substantive and/or procedural law, rather than the possibility of conducting a «consideration for consideration», – explanatory note states.
The draft determines the grounds for cassation appeal of the decision of the court of first instance and the decision of the court of appeal:
1) if the court of appeal in the impugned court decision applied the rule of law without taking into account the conclusion on the application of the rule of law in such legal relations as set out in a previously adopted decision of the Supreme Court, except if there is a decision of the Supreme Court on assignment from such a conclusion;
2) if the complainant justifiably substantiates the need to derogate from the conclusion regarding the application of the rule of law in such legal relations, as set out in a previous decision of the Supreme Court and applied by the court of appeal in the contested court decision;
3) if there is no conclusion of the Supreme Court on the application of the rule of law in such legal relations;
4) if the judgment is appealed on the grounds provided for the mandatory annulment of the judgment;
5) in the event that the body conducting the disciplinary proceedings against the judges takes a decision on the application of disciplinary sanctions against the judges who were part of the panel of judges of the appellate instance, reviewed the case, the court decision is appealed against, by a disciplinary offense committed in connection with the consideration of such business.
