Law of Ukraine No. 1022-VIII “On Introduction of Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Specifics of Filing by Officials of Property, Income, Expenses, and Financial Obligations Declarations in 2016”, dated 15 March 2016, (“Law”) entered into effect on 18 March 2016. The Law establishes a procedure for filing of electronic declarations by public officials and strengthens liability for violation of this procedure. Below we describe key amendments introduced by the Law.

Deadlines and Declarants

The Law defines a list of persons, who must file the declaration for 2015 in accordance with the new Law, irrespective of whether they have previously filed such declaration under previous legislation. The declarants must file their declarations within 60 days after the electronic system of filing and disclosure of declarations starts operating, which is expected in the next few months.

The President of Ukraine, members of parliament of Ukraine, members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, judges and prosecutors are among the persons, who must submit the electronic declarations for 2015 in accordance with the Law.

At the same time, other persons (except for those listed above) will file their declarations for 2015 in accordance with the laws previously in effect.

Scope of Information Expanded

Electronic declaration requires disclosure of a rather wide scope of information. In particular, the following must be specified:

·         valuable assets owned by the declarant or members of his family, value of which exceeds UAH137,800.00 (appr. USD5,300) (instead of UAH68,900.00 (appr. USD2,700) as had been specified in the previous version of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corrupt Practices”)

·         real estate property owned by the declarant or his family members based on the ownership right, leasehold interest or another right of use

·         securities and other corporate rights of the declarant or his family members. Furthermore, all legal entities, in which the declarant or his family members are beneficial owners must be disclosed. This implies that companies, which are owned through nominal shareholders and companies transferred into trust, are also subject to declaration

·         received (accrued) income

Legal Liability for Breaching the Procedure for Filing of Declarations Strengthened

The Law strengthens the liability of public officials for the submission of false information or wilful omission to file a declaration. Sanctions for such violations vary from a simple fine to potential imprisonment for a term of up to two years.