On 07 March 2022 two vital laws regulating tax and reporting obligations during martial law in Ukraine became effective: 

The owner’s rights are guaranteed by the Constitution. However, a person can still be restricted or stripped of enjoying its title to the property if so provided by the statutory law passed by Verkhovna Rada. Mandatory transfer of property for the needs of defence or other public emergencies is called requisition and such transfer must be subject to prior and fair compensation, except “where extraordinary circumstances require otherwise”.

On March 30, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the AMCU) adopted Recommendations on some issues related to submission and consideration of applications for permission for concerted actions, mergers of economic entities during martial law (Recommendations). 

From February 24, 2022, under martial law, the banking system operates in a special mode.

On 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched a military aggression against Ukraine. This became the basis for the imposition of the martial law in Ukraine from 24 February 2022, with further extension until 26 April 2022.

24 March 2022, Law of Ukraine "On Arrangement of Labour Relations under Martial Law" No. 2136-ІХ dated 15 March 2022 (the Law) entered into force.

Comprehensive legislative overhaul, thriving business sectors, and new opportunities for foreign investors – these are the hot topics in Ukraine right now, according to Integrites Partner Illya Tkachuk.

Integrites Partner and Head of International Arbitration Olena Perepelynska has been appointed as a Member of the Baltic Litigation Fund Advisory Committee.

Two laws of 15 July 2021 on amending transitional provisions of the Tax Code and the Customs Code of Ukraine "to promote the development of ecological transport in Ukraine" (Nos. 1660-ix, 1661-ix) will introduce some tax and customs facilitations with effect from 1 January 2022.

Like the rest of the world, the Ukrainian M&A market was dramatically hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Indeed, the number of M&A deals decreased in 2020, for the first time since 2014. However, the fourth quarter of 2020 saw a positive surge in the number of M&A deals, and although most of those deals started before the pandemic, the fact that they still happened sent a clear signal: investors are ready to buy in the new reality.

The Ukrainian legal services market has been buzzing with work in the first half of 2021. CEE Legal Matters hosted a round table conversation in which Partners at Asters, Avellum, Integrites, Kinstellar, and Sayenko Kharenko discussed the driving forces behind the workload and their outlook for the months to come.

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

The Government of Ukraine has recently implemented additional measures to prevent and counteract the legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Thus, Ukraine made one more step towards implementing 4th Money Laundering EU Directive.

11 June 2021 saw the published form of disclosing the legal entity’s ownership structure approved by Order 163 of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine dated 19.03.2021 (hereinafter – the Order) pursuant to Law of Ukraine No. 361-ІХ “On Prevention and Counteraction to Legalization (Laundering) of Proceeds of Crime or Financing of Terrorism and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction” dated 06.12.2019. New requirements to the disclosure of the legal entity's ownership structure will apply from 11 July 2021. All legal entities incorporated in Ukraine must submit their ownership structures to the state registrar till 11 October 2021 in compliance with new requirements.

The Banking & Finance practice of Integrites in Ukraine has had its hands full lately, according to Partner Igor Krasovskiy, mainly thanks to the economic impact of Covid-19, Ukraine’s energy strategy, and the country’s commitments to international financial institutions.

As the country entered the 21st century, Ukraine’s Soviet-era judicial system was widely condemned as corrupt, incompetent, and inefficient. Committed to rectifying the situation, in 2015 the Ukrainian government introduced plans to reform the entire system. That transformation, which was the focus of an August 2017 CEE Legal Matters Round Table, continues today. We reached out to several of the Ukrainian dispute resolution specialists we spoke to several years ago for an update.

In February 2019 CEE Legal Matters reported that Integrites and K&L Gates had advised Norwegian utility-scale wind power developer NBT and Paris-based renewable energy independent power producer Total Eren on their entrance into a framework agreement with a syndicate of foreign lenders, including the EBRD and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, for the construction of the Syvash wind farm – one of the largest in Europe. Redcliffe Partners and Clifford Chance advised the lenders and J.P. Morgan Securities Plc as debt coordinator.