President of Ukraine
Prime Minister of Ukraine
People’s deputies of Ukraine
Members of the Ukrainian Business Council, which includes 113 business associations of various sectors of the economy, whose members are 28,000 enterprises, analyzed draft law No. 10449 on amendments to some legislative acts of Ukraine regarding certain issues of military service, mobilization and military accounting and note the following :
The draft law partially takes into account the proposals and comments of business, due to which the Government draft law No. 10378 was withdrawn, but the updated No. 10449 still contains part of the norms that require comprehensive revision, due to significant risks for business and citizens, and which raise doubts about their expediency:
1. Citizens of Ukraine: The procedure for registering a conscript’s electronic account will become mandatory, and the TCC will be able to send summonses to him electronically. The obligation to register an electronic account and update your credentials also applies to those Ukrainians who are abroad. In case of violation of this new obligation (as well as the obligation to appear after receiving a summons to the TCC), the draft law provides for a separate punishment mechanism. If the violator is not detained and brought to the Military Committee by the National Police within 15 days, the head of the TCC will send him a demand in his electronic office or by letter within 5 days, which will be considered served, even if the violator did not receive it in person.
This norm is counterproductive and harmful. Sending any information to the electronic account of a conscript cannot be considered a fact of receipt of such information by a person.
2. Change in the order of reservation of employees: Changes are proposed regarding the order of reservation of employees – the Cabinet of Ministers must review it within a month after the adoption of this law. On the one hand, the bill itself extends the reservation to beneficial owners of critical enterprises. On the other hand, it is not yet known what changes the reservation mechanism may undergo in general.
The review of the booking procedure should also include the announced e-Booking mechanisms, which will allow specialists to be booked during the day. In addition, we offer to consider the possibility of extending the period of reservation of specialists for the period of validity of the Decision on confirmation of the status of a critical enterprise for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period.
We consider it necessary to provide for the possibility of 100% reservation of employees for enterprises that supply goods/products/services for the benefit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Security Service of Ukraine, and other bodies that carry out tasks for the protection of the state during martial law in Ukraine , other military formations, their units, military units formed in accordance with the laws of Ukraine.
It is appropriate to provide for the possibility of booking employees of international and Ukrainian non-governmental organizations that implement humanitarian projects at the expense of international partners, determined to be critically important for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period in accordance with Resolution No. 76 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated January 27, 2023.
In addition, it is proposed to provide in the legislation the possibility of obtaining a deferment from mobilization for sappers and deminers during training and work in humanitarian demining.
3. Duties of enterprises, institutions and organizations regarding mobilization preparation and mobilization: The draft law updates the norms of free involvement, seizure and forced alienation of vehicles and equipment for the period of mobilization, as well as changes this mechanism. If it is approved, data on vehicles and business equipment will be transferred to the TCC by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (motor vehicles), the Ministry of Infrastructure (water vehicles) and the State Production and Consumer Service (agricultural machinery). At the same time, it will be more difficult to protect transport and equipment that will be registered with the TCC from seizure. It will be prohibited to send it to other regions or outside Ukraine, to sell or lease it, to use it as collateral, as well as “to take other actions that make it impossible to transfer such vehicles to military formations.” Enterprises and organizations will be obliged to ensure, in the event of mobilization, the delivery of vehicles and equipment to assembly points and military units within a specified period.
The approach proposed in project #10449 threatens to stop business. A balanced approach is needed to prevent the company from stopping due to the following reasons: the lack of vehicles for carrying out activities or in cases of using transport that is complex and technologically equipped for a specialized purpose, which ensures the main activity of the company and its main specialization.
4. The project proposes to restrict persons staying abroad in receiving consular services in the absence of military registration documents.
This can lead to problems at the diplomatic level due to the violation of consular functions in accordance with international consular conventions and agreements with partner countries of Ukraine and many other countries. This norm violates the principle of equality of rights and freedoms of all citizens of Ukraine, including in terms of obtaining guaranteed state services, which cannot be limited to any citizen, regardless of his place of stay, and even to those brought to any administrative or criminal liability .
5. The implementation of the norms of project No. 10379 will automatically make all conscripts who do not appear at the TCC on time to update their data – such citizens will have their bank accounts blocked, property transactions prohibited, and driver’s licenses revoked.
The rules on blocking bank accounts are unconstitutional and counterproductive, such restrictions will negatively affect the country’s economy, because it will significantly reduce the turnover of non-cash transactions, lead to an outflow of deposits, reduce the liquidity and stability of the banking system, and lead to the cashing of the economy. In addition, such restrictions are unconstitutional, incompatible and disproportionate to offenses in the field of military duty.
6. The draft law excludes from the number of persons who are not subject to conscription for military service during mobilization for a special period, post-graduate students who obtain a level of education at the expense of individuals or legal entities under the terms of a contract.
Such norms are violated:
a) the integrity of the education system in Ukraine;
b) constitutional guarantee of equality of all forms of ownership and all citizens within the framework of one or another sphere of public life.
We propose to eliminate the discriminatory rule regarding the exclusion of post-graduate contract students from the list of persons not subject to conscription for military service during mobilization, for a special period.
7. The draft law requires the carrying of military registration documents. Similarly, crossing the border only based on the presence of such documents, even if a person has documents that classify him as a person not subject to mobilization. Currently, there is a shortage of paper forms and there are no such documents in the Diya application that make it impossible to fulfill this requirement.
Such norms violate the rights of individuals and do not aim at any element of control, but create additional corruption risks, when document forms will be “adhered to” to create artificially inflated demand.
We propose to eliminate discrimination and, thanks to the introduction of the electronic register of conscripts, continue to determine that sufficient persons have documents that identify them.
Also extremely important is the addition to the second reading of project #10449:
- Along with the revised draft law #10449, we consider it important to adopt project #9585, which was developed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and creates conditions for attracting foreigners to the Armed Forces (or the implementation of the norms of project #9585 to the draft law on improving certain issues of mobilization).
- It is important to provide a legislative opportunity for citizens who have reached the age limit to mobilize at their will and physical fitness, as well as to expand the opportunities for other citizens to mobilize at their will.
- It is appropriate to provide for mobilization for citizens who retired at the age of 40-45, provided they are physically able.
- It is necessary to finalize the bureaucratic current several-month booking procedure and introduce e-booking within a few days. In addition, it is considered expedient to increase the term of booking a specialist with reference to the validity period of the Decision on confirmation of the status of a critical enterprise for the functioning of the economy and ensuring the livelihood of the population in a special period.
- It is also necessary to additionally provide for the reservation of employees at enterprises that do not belong to critical enterprises, but are critically important employees for the continuity of the enterprises’ performance of their functions, in particular, enterprise managers and their key employees. For such enterprises, you can set a different reservation percentage from the total number of employees, for example, 20%.
- It is also proposed to provide in the legislation the possibility of receiving a deferment from mobilization for sappers and deminers during training and work in humanitarian demining.
- It is important to expand the staff of the VSP, create a public council from among lawyers, public figures, etc., which will provide assistance to the military. It is also proposed to create a hotline on the basis of the VSP, which will register appeals and advise the military.
- It is expedient to create a mobilization resource at the expense of persons who do not have or have lost a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. For this purpose, it is proposed to create a register of the specified persons, which will be maintained by the national police authorities, to provide the national police authorities with the opportunity, on the basis of the created registration card, to apply to the State Security Service authorities to obtain a passport of a citizen of Ukraine and, in the future, send the information to the TCC at the place of registration of the national police authority to issue the appropriate persons for military registration and determination of their suitability for a special period.
- It is important to establish the constancy of the State Security Service, which will enable conscripts to have confidence in their service.
- It is also necessary to settle other issues, in particular regarding clear terms of postponements for each of the items, the electronic office of the military, regarding the disabled.
Draft Law No. 10449 – requires comprehensive revision and elimination of norms that can negatively affect the functioning of business, which is currently in the “survival” mode, and negatively affect the general indicators of the economy. We call on government representatives to involve leading business associations and analytical centers in the inclusive discussion and finalization of these projects, taking into account what is stated in the appeal, to ensure the balance of the interests of the state-society-business and achieve the common goal of defeating the enemy.
Best regards
Members of the Ukrainian Business Council