NACP welcomes the adoption of a law on the restoration of electronic declarations and calls on MPs to initiate changes

21.09.2023

The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) welcomes the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the Law of Ukraine No. 3374-IX dated September 5, 2023, "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Determining the Procedure for Submitting Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Government Functions under Martial Law" (hereinafter - the Law). Today, the Law was re-considered and supported by 341 MPs, taking into account the proposals of the President of Ukraine. The NACP is ready to resume the declaration process and will provide open, round-the-clock access to the Unified State Register of Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Government Functions no later than 60 days after the Law comes into force, subject to security safeguards. Within one month of the Law's entry into force, the NACP will ensure that its acts, explanations, methodological recommendations, etc. are brought into line with the new regulations, including in terms of selecting declarations for full verification and the procedure for conducting such verifications. The declaration campaign for 2021-2022 will last until January 31, 2024. By this date, declarants must submit declarations for the reporting periods of 2021-2022, including for special audits, except for those who submitted them voluntarily earlier. The Law also stipulates that those persons who, during the martial law period before the Law came into force, had already submitted declarations for 2021-2022, have the right to submit corrected declarations for these periods. To do so, within 14 days from the date of entry into force of the Law, they will need to apply in writing to the NACP with a request to provide an opportunity to submit an amended declaration. After that, the said declarants will be able to submit corrected declarations for these periods within 30 calendar days (the countdown starts on the day following the day of receipt of the relevant application by the NACP). It is worth noting that with the resumption of the declaration, financial control mechanisms are also launched. The risk rating of each submitted declaration will be calculated using logical and arithmetic control. Declarations will be checked gradually after they are submitted, taking into account the risk assessment. At the same time, having reviewed the provisions of the already-adopted Law, the NACP draws attention to the risks that still remain in the provisions of the adopted document. To eliminate them, the NACP has proposed amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption" that will improve anti-corruption mechanisms and ensure legal certainty of legislative norms. We call on the members of the Ukrainian Parliament to use their right of legislative initiative and submit appropriate amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Prevention of Corruption". It is the proactivity of lawmakers that will reduce the time to resolve these risks, as submission of such amendments by the NACP, according to the rules of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, may take several months. We would also like to emphasize that the publicity of data is a sign of a democratic, civilized world, where it is interpreted as a manifestation of the integrity of public servants. The use of this data by the occupier may jeopardize the safety of family members of the declarants who are in the temporarily occupied territories. We recommend that declarants and their family members from the territories occupied since February 24, 2022, whose declarations may pose a danger to them, leave for the territory controlled by Ukraine as soon as possible. Letter to the President on initiating amendments to the draft law No. 9534 Comparative table to the draft law No. 9534