Ukrainian business calls on MPs to reboot the BES and introduce comprehensive changes to the CPC

On April 9, 2024, a conference “Interaction between Business and Law Enforcement: Key Necessary Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code to Protect Business ” was held in Kyiv with the participation of parliamentarians, the Business Ombudsman, representatives of the Business Development Council, heads of leading business associations and the legal community.

Among those present were Yaroslav Zheleznyak , First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, Halyna Yanchenko , Head of the Parliamentary Investor Protection Commission, and Business Ombudsman Roman Vashchuk.

The Council for Entrepreneurship Development was represented by Dmytro Oliynyk, Chairman of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine, and Vyacheslav Klymov, President of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs and co-founder of Nova Poshta.

Also participating in the discussion were the heads of leading business associations such as the CCI, UBA, EBA, CLUB100, UAPP, UCA, Software Ukraine, UFIB, IT Association, and UBA.

During the conference, the participants discussed proposals for amendments to the CPC that minimize the impact of law enforcement on business and are essential for the normal functioning of business. These proposals were developed by the Business Development Council and supplemented by other business associations. The proposals took into account the recent unlawful actions of law enforcement agencies and real cases faced by businesses.

Vyacheslav Klymov, representative of the Entrepreneurship Development Council, presented the developments on amendments to the CPC. In particular, these are the following important changes:

• introduction of standards of prosecutorial activity;
• limiting the powers of the National Police and the BES in terms of giving instructions to operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine;
• ensuring the possibility of appealing to the investigating judge against any actions or omissions, including decisions of the investigator, coroner, prosecutor, taken in any procedural action;
• immediate return of seized property after a court decision;
• setting a reasonable level of bail and preventive measures;
• prohibition of seizure of material assets not specified in the investigating judge’s ruling;
• assigning to investigating judges the obligation to verify that the pre-trial investigation body complies with the requirements of jurisdiction;
• return of pre-trial investigation terms and the procedure for their extension in factual criminal proceedings.

Dmytro Oliynyk emphasized the importance of amending the CPC, as well as the need to develop and implement high-quality KPIs for BES.

Galyna Yanchenko, Head of the Parliamentary Special Commission on Investor Protection, noted that the draft amendments proposed by business associations contain important points that are set out in the draft law 9211 (“stop show masks”), which was developed by the special commission together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation a year ago.

The key provisions of Draft Law 9211 include a ban on seizure of equipment if the information can be copied, a ban on seizure of property not specified in a court order, automatic lifting of the arrest and return of property in case of closure of the proceedings, etc. And most importantly, the closure of the largest corruption scheme of the security forces – the seizure of cash during searches.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak emphasized that the Committee on Law Enforcement has already recommended for the first reading the “toothless” draft law No. 10440, which contains nothing of interest to business. If the business community wants to implement the changes needed for business, it is necessary to insist on revising the Committee’s decision so that the business’s work is taken as a basis.

The participants of the meeting discussed the new draft law on rebooting the BES, which was introduced by the CMU (updated No. 10439) and discussed the day before at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy. The participants noted the positive changes to the draft law in the course of its finalization, but drew attention to its key shortcomings. The draft 10439 did not take into account important proposals from experts and business that jeopardize the reboot of this important body, in particular

• there are no detailed procedures for re-certification of all personnel that would contain key safeguards
• inclusion of international experts in the personnel commission for re-certification of employees;
• strengthening the analytical function of the Bureau by providing free access to existing state information systems;
• establishing performance criteria for the renewed Bureau of Economic Security.

Following the conference, the participants agreed to continue working together to implement the reforms discussed.