25 April 2014 the acting president ofUkraine, Oleksandr Turchinov, signed the Law of Ukraine "On AmendingCertain Legislative Acts of Ukraine with Respect to Reduction of the Number ofPermitting Documents" (Law No. 1193-VII dated 9 April 2014), hereinafter –the “Deregulation Law”. The Deregulation Law provides for the repeal of a greatnumber of permitting (licensing) documents, including the long-awaitedabolishment of the mandatory certification in respect of grain operations. 

The international agribusiness communityshould welcome the Deregulation Law, as it not only helps to liberalise thegrain market, but also to improve its efficiency. The repeal of such permitting(licensing) documents as: 

(i)     a certificate of compliance for grain andgrain processing product storage services; and

(ii)    a quality certificate for grain and grainprocessing products, is a much-needed initial step toward changing the statepolicy of near-total influence over the grain market. 

This positive move will reduce the number ofpermits that are required for conducting agribusiness activities in Ukraine. Inaddition, the non-mandatory certification of grain operations corresponds toglobal best agribusiness practices. 

Repeal of these certificates means that:

-        grain warehouses in the territory of Ukraineshall no longer be obliged to undergo certification procedures (previously,unless certification was attained, a warehouse should not have (officially)accepted grain for storage);

-        export and import operations, as well asdomestic grain shipments, may be performed without the grain and its processingproducts quality certificates (previously these were necessary for any suchoperations, except for transit operations within the territory of Ukraine andtransportation of seed grain); and

-        any provisions and articles relating to theprocedures for the issuance, termination, or revocation of certificates, orresponsibility for non-compliance with certification requirements, etc. shallbe removed from the Law “On Grain and the Grain Market in Ukraine”. 

The Deregulation Law became effective on 26April 2014. 

Law: theLaw of Ukraine "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine withRespect to Reduction of Permitting Document Number" No 1193-VII dated 9April 2014 

Authors:

Daniel Bilak, Managing Partner, daniel.bilak@cms-cmck.com

VictoriaKaplan, Senior Associate, victoria.kaplan@cms-cmck.com

InnaAntipova, Lawyer, inna.antipova@cms-cmck.com