Important Draft Laws. Issue 8: Mobilization, Self-governance of Medical Workers, and Protection of IDPs

Christmas and New Year holidays somewhat reduced the lawmakers’ activity: 37 documents (4 draft resolutions and 33 bills) were registered during the past two weeks in the Verkhovna Rada. The President of Ukraine authored five bills (four ratifications of international agreements and one withdrawal from an agreement among CIS countries), while six bills came from the Cabinet of Ministers, and people’s deputies submitted the remaining 22 draft laws. Over the two weeks, lawmakers and most of the media paid special attention to the topic of mobilization expansion, as the President previously stated that Ukraine needs to enlist 500,000 people into the army soon.

New mobilization procedure

Bill No. 10378 proposes measures to improve mobilization, military registration, and military service. To this end, it includes the strengthening of mobilization efforts. This encompasses registering citizens abroad, introducing an Electronic Register of Conscripts, as well as changes in the process of reserving personnel in government bodies: all heads of departments are interim exempted from the draft, while among department heads, divisions, and services, 50% of men are to be reserved. Additionally, the bill includes provisions for mobilizing individuals with a Group 3 disability and graduate students who previously had a deferment. According to the bill, the concept of “limited fitness” is removed from the legislation, and those previously categorized as such must undergo a re-examination by the Military Medical Commission (MMC) within six months of the law’s adoption.

The project proposes to strengthen the training process for individuals eligible for military service by increasing the duration of basic military training to 5 months and implementing a recruiting system. It is envisioned that mandatory basic military training will become a requirement for candidates applying for positions in the prosecutor’s office and the police.

As part of reinforcing military duty, there are provisions for increased accountability for its violation. Specifically, even avoiding registration and providing false information at Territorial Recruitment Centers (TRC) can lead to inclusion in the Unified Register of Debtors, which may result in travel restrictions, restrictions on using bank accounts, driving vehicles, and the transfer of property ownership. 

The bill also includes the possibility of releasing service members after 36 months of continuous service during martial law, with the option to enter into a contract for six months after this period.

Several alternative bills have already been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, specifically 10378-1 and 10378-2, as well as bills 10379 and 10379-1, which focus on strengthening the responsibility for violations of military registration rules by conscripts, those eligible for military service, and reservists. However, representatives of the parliamentary majority stated they would prepare a separate compromise version of the mobilization bill. Therefore, mobilization will soon receive much attention from MPs and the government.

Introduction of self-governance in Healthcare

Bills No. 10372 and No. 10388 aim to develop self-governing organizations in the medical field. The bills propose creating professional self-governing chambers for:

• Family medicine doctors;
• Specialist doctors;
• Dentists;
• Nurses;
• Pharmacists.

In one of our research studies, we proposed giving self-governing nurse organizations the authority to certify professionals in their respective fields. This practice is common in developed countries, including the United Kingdom, which served as an example of healthcare system reforms in Ukraine. The bill concerning self-governing medical organizations was registered in Parliament at the end of 2021 but was subsequently withdrawn from consideration.

Self-governing organizations will have the authority to: 

• Make decisions regarding admission to professional practice by issuing certificates for the right to engage in medical activities.
• Develop a Code of Ethics.
• Collect and compile information about representatives of the respective professions for health care planning.
• Approve industry standards in the healthcare sector before their endorsement by the Ministry of Health, etc.

Participants in these chambers will be required to pay a professional fee (limited to the subsistence minimum) intended exclusively to fund the chambers’ activities. 

The bill establishes grounds for the temporary suspension or termination of medical and pharmaceutical activities and outlines professional accountability for disciplinary offenses. 

The current legislation does not provide for the participation of healthcare (pharmaceutical) workers in formulating healthcare policies, as the state solely holds this right. Therefore, adopting and implementing this project will significantly increase the influence of healthcare professionals on the development of healthcare policies and provide them with tools to participate in addressing important healthcare sector issues. If adopted, the bill’s provisions would come into effect one year after the end of martial law.

Control over lobbying 

The topic of legalizing lobbying, which we discussed earlier, has seen further developments. At the end of December, the government and people’s deputies registered bills No. 10373 and No. 10373-1 regarding introducing accountability for law violations on ethical lobbying.

The lobbying bills aim to establish rules and mechanisms for interacting with officials and stakeholders (businesses, various citizen groups) and influential parties (lobbyists). Such activity exists currently but is unregulated and operates in the “shadow.” In turn, bill No. 10373 proposes introducing administrative penalties (fines) for conducting lobbying without registration, for late submission or failure to submit a lobbyist’s report, and for not filing a declaration to terminate lobbying activities. Bill No. 10373-1 only imposes fines for lobbying without registration. The proposed fines range from 50 to 2000 untaxed minimum incomes of citizens (UAH 850 – 34,000). Both projects designate the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) as the body responsible for compiling protocols for these violations, maintaining a lobbyist registry, and overseeing compliance with the lobbying law once it is enacted.

The registered lobbying bills require significant refinement, especially in clearly defining lobbying and distinguishing it from other forms of civil-political activity, including advocacy.

We believe it is essential to incentivize lobbyists to work openly and report on their activities. Currently, it is unclear from the draft laws why those engaged in “informal” lobbying would want to come “out of the shadows.” At the same time, civil organizations and activists engaged in advocacy may become the first subjects of regulation and control. Until these issues are resolved, lobbying legislation will continue to pose risks to civil organizations and bring little change to “shadow” lobbyists. 

Improving Tax Legislation in favor of Taxpayers

Project No. 10381 aims to improve and simplify specific provisions of tax legislation. It includes the following:

• Abolishing liability for the taxpayer’s incorrect specification of the recipient’s budget account in payment documents, provided that taxes are paid on time.
• Allowing organizations to obtain non-profit status not only during registration, as currently, but also during its renewal in case of losses or changes in its activities. A civil organization may lose its non-profit status if it engages in activities not provided for in its Charter. Loss of non-profit status means that an 18% income tax will be imposed on any receipts, such as grants from foreign donors. Currently, neither the Tax Code nor the Order for including organizations in the Register of Non-profit Organizations provides for the procedure for renewing non-profit status.
• Tax exemptions for land and property tax are introduced when a decision has been made to evacuate the population from a populated area where the enterprise is located.

Social Protection of IDPs

No. 332No. 709Bill No. 10382 aims to improve the living conditions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) by extending their housing assistance. Currently, the amount of this assistance is determined by government resolutions No. 332 and No. 709 and amounts to UAH 3,000 for disabled individuals and children and UAH 2,000 UAH for other individuals.

The project proposes to secure housing assistance payments for the entire period of martial law and, after its conclusion, conduct an assessment of the needs of IDPs and possibly revise the amount of housing aid. The bill suggests removing the limitation of a 6-month period for assistance, which the government introduced on August 1, 2023. 

Why did the government introduce such limitations? Starting in December 2022, checks began to be conducted on the residents of IDPs who receive housing assistance based on their place of registration. These checks revealed that housing assistance was received unlawfully in approximately 30% of cases. Similar checks were conducted in August 2023.

Resolutions No. 332 and No. 709 outline an exhaustive list of grounds for terminating housing assistance to IDPs. These include expensive purchases (such as cars, real estate, securities, currency) totaling more than UAH 100,000, a deposit bank account for the same amount, owning a residence in an area without active hostilities, staying abroad for more than 30 days, etc. The same grounds are provided in the bill, supplemented by a provision related to compensation for damaged or destroyed property according to the law. The bill’s authors argue that its implementation will not require additional budget expenditures because the termination of assistance to IDPs who work or can work, possess deposit accounts, and so on will result in a 30-40% reduction in the number of assistance recipients among IDPs. 

Social responsibility of wholesale pharmaceutical distributors

Bill No. 10384 proposes identifying among large companies engaged in wholesale drug distribution (supplying medicines to pharmacies and medical facilities in all regions and having warehouses in at least half of the areas) those that will become “national wholesale drug distributors.” The State Drugs and Medications Control Service will maintain the list, and distributors will be added to it voluntarily. These distributors will have the obligation to ensure a constant supply of a MoH-defined minimum assortment of (socially oriented) medicines in pharmacies.

At the same time, manufacturers and importers of medicines will be required to sell their manufactured medicines and those imported into Ukraine to these distributors on equal terms. This means that a manufacturer or importer of drug A must sell their product to all national distributors at the same price. Despite the draft law’s declared goal to increase the affordability of medicines and promote competition, it may lead to opposite results in practice. 

For example, an importer purchases a certain medication for UAH 100 and sells it to one of the distributors for UAH 110. Within a few weeks, due to changes in market conditions (such as exchange rate fluctuations), the price of the medication increases to UAH 120. In this case, the importer would be forced to either sell the medicines at a loss or not import them. Therefore, the next time (e.g., when selling a different medication), the importer would set a higher (expected) price for this drug from the beginning. Thus, the bill needs further refinement – at the very least, it should specify the duration for which “equal” terms can apply and under what conditions they can change.

Enhancing human rights protection during the enforcement of decisions

Government bill No. 10389 proposes that individuals who are debtors and have a freeze placed on their accounts will still have the right to use them. They will be able to make expenditures (purchase and pay for goods and services) from these accounts up to double the minimum wage amount (UAH 14,200 before April 1, or UAH 16,000 from April onwards until the end of 2024). These accounts can also be used for receiving wages, pensions, scholarships, and other social payments, which serve as the sole source of income for the individual. Therefore, if a debtor has a payroll card with a minimum wage of UAH 7,100 and a social card with child support, one of these cards will be blocked.

In addition, the government bill proposes the participation of representatives of the guardianship and custodianship authority (employees of local authorities, social service centers, or child welfare services) in implementing decisions related to children’s matters.

Finally, the draft law suggests introducing electronic enforcement documents and resuming scheduled and ad hoc inspections of private enforcers (individuals who perform state functions related to the enforcement of court decisions) by the Ministry of Justice, which have not been conducted since the onset of martial law.