Important Draft Laws. Issue 21: Deferment from Mobilization for Individuals up to 25 Years Old (Confirmed) and Penalties for Loss of Personnel

During this period, 38 legislative bills were registered: one from the President, six from the Cabinet of Ministers, and 31 from people’s deputies. The mobilization and the protection of rights for service members and veterans are again at the forefront of legislative attention. This time, MPs have focused on gaps in legislation that allow the mobilization of individuals up to 25 years old and are attempting to prohibit this practice. Other bills propose introducing accountability for actions resulting in personnel and military equipment losses. Another urgent issue lawmakers are addressing is the energy crisis: MPs are suggesting tax incentives for importing energy equipment into Ukraine. For more on these and other topics, read our overview.

Cancellation of import duties and VAT on energy equipment

Bills 11343-1 and 11344-1 authors propose stimulating tax and customs privileges until the end of martial law (but by the end of 2025) to facilitate the rapid restoration of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Imported equipment for generating electricity—such as wind turbines, hydroelectric stations, solar panels, thermal power plants, gas piston engines, and gas turbines—would be exempted from import duties and value-added tax. 

Similar exemptions are proposed for goods purchased through the Energy Community Secretariat, provided the suppliers hold licenses for activities in the electricity and natural gas markets.  

Social protection guarantees for employees affected by rocket attacks in the workplace

Bill 11367 proposes granting war participant or war-related disability status to employees who became disabled or partially lost their ability to work due to injuries sustained during shelling or combat actions at their workplace. Families of those who died at work due to combat actions would receive the status of families of deceased war veterans. Currently, the protection for this population does not provide opportunities for adequate medical treatment, health recovery, and restoration of workability.

New labor guarantees for veterans

The Labor Code (Article 119) requires employers to reserve the job and average salary for employees performing state (including military) duties. However, these provisions do not provide labor guarantees for those who work under contract while serving in the military. Therefore, employees who worked under contract and were mobilized may lose their jobs if their contract expires during military service. Bill 11390 introduces a new provision to the Labor Code stating that time spent on military service will not count towards the contract term. This also applies to time spent by service members on treatment or rehabilitation. 

This bill aims to help employees who were mobilized or entered into a contract for military service retain their jobs. 

Imprisonment for unjustified losses of personnel and military equipment

Bill 11381 proposes amendments to the Law “On Defense of Ukraine,” increasing the powers of the Military Law-Enforcement Service (VSP). It would investigate the causes of losses exceeding 30% of personnel in military formations or the destruction of military equipment or property worth more than 500,000 non-taxable minimum incomes (approximately UAH 8.5 million). Additionally, the VSP would have the right to involve law enforcement agencies in pre-trial investigations. A separate structural unit within the VSP would be established that is specifically responsible for investigating combat actions.

Bill 11382 complements the previous one and proposes adding responsibility to the Criminal Code for the actions described above. Unjustified irreversible personnel losses due to improper performance of duties by a commander would result in imprisonment of the commander for 5-8 years and 8-12 years for intentional actions.

Unjustified irreversible losses of military equipment amounting to five hundred thousand non-taxable minimum incomes (approximately UAH 8.5 million) are proposed to be punishable by imprisonment for 3 to 7 years. For losses exceeding one million non-taxable minimum incomes (approximately UAH 17 million), the proposed sentence is 7 to 10 years.

The bill’s authors believe these changes will increase the effectiveness of combat operations planning and minimize personnel losses. However, the criteria for determining the justification of losses remain a matter of question. 

The right to deferment for all men up to 25 years old 

A group of people’s deputies has initiated a bill that addresses legal inconsistency, allowing the mobilization of men under 25 years old who were previously deemed unfit during peacetime and conditionally fit during wartime. Now, such men would also receive a deferral until they reach the age of 25.

In contrast to the principal Bill 11379, which specifies categories of citizens who cannot be mobilized (citizens under 25 years old who were deemed unfit during peacetime and conditionally fit during wartime), alternative projects 11379-1 and 11379-2 offer a more straightforward approach to solving this issue. They propose that all citizens under 25 should not be subject to military service mobilization. Their mobilization would only be possible with their consent. 

In addition, these projects aim to address the issue of deferments from mobilization. Specifically, they propose that if the territorial recruitment and social support centers determine that the provided documents do not contain sufficient grounds for granting a deferral, the citizen must be informed of this decision in writing, specifying the reasons for refusal. The refusal letter must also include a comprehensive list of documents required for deferment.

New regulations for the market of food additives in Ukraine

Government Bill No. 11389 aims to improve the regulation of the dietary supplement market in Ukraine, considering the experience of EU countries. The goal is effective state control over the circulation of food supplements. Currently, there are significant gaps in legislation that allow dishonest manufacturers to deceive consumers by:

• Adding active pharmaceutical ingredients to dietary supplements that should only be used in medicinal products.
• Not including declared nutrients in the composition.
• Allowing mismatches in labeling according to established requirements, including misleading claims about therapeutic effects.

The bill proposes replacing the term “dietary supplement” with “food supplement.” The definition of a food supplement includes the following characteristics:

• It is a product intended to be consumed in small, defined quantities as a supplement to the usual diet.
• It is a concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and substances with a nutritional or physiological effect.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) would be responsible for approving:

• Procedures and methodologies for assessing the impact of substances in food supplements on human health.
• List of substances permitted for use in food supplements and their maximum doses.

The draft law stipulates that manufacturers and sellers of food supplements must notify the State Consumer Service (Derzhprodspozhyvsluzhba) by ten working days before introducing a food supplement into circulation for the first time. The notification should include information about the supplement’s name, manufacturer, form, list of ingredients, and other details. Supplements can only be circulated after this information is published on the Service’s website.

Only substances on the approved list by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine can be used to produce food supplements. 

The legislative draft proposes significant fines for violations of these rules. For instance, failure to comply with consumer information requirements may result in penalties of 55 minimum wages (UAH 440,000) for enterprises and 45 minimum wages (UAH 360,000) for individual entrepreneurs.

Adopting Bill 11389 would ensure stricter control over the market of food supplements and enhance product safety and quality for consumers.

Changes in the sphere of state secrets

Bill 11395 provides that specific deadlines defined by the Law on State Secrets can be suspended under particular conditions (martial law or state of emergency). This applies, for example, to the classification periods for information as state secrets, which are currently 30 years for “top secret” documents, 10 years for “secret” documents, and five years for “confidential” documents.

The bill requires that the people’s deputies participating in the Verkhovna Rada oversight committees undergo a security clearance process (including confirmation of mental health stability) to gain access to state secrets. 

The bill also grants the Security Service of Ukraine the authority to revoke or suspend permits related to activities concerning state secrets if violations are detected (such as information leaks or inaccurate information provided by individuals accessing state secrets). This measure ensures additional protection for classified information and increases the accountability of organizations handling such information.

Another project in this area (Bill 11394) proposes classifying information about protecting critical infrastructure objects and material and technical reserves for crisis response as state secrets.