Officials responsible for excessive pressure on businesses to face bigger fines - watchdog chief

This was announced by the head of the SRS, Oleksiy Kucher, who spoke in an interview with Ukrinform.

"We have an imbalance between responsibility for violations in state-business relations. If entrepreneurs disregard law, they face a fine of hundreds of thousands of hryvnias. If it is an official, then it’s a fine of just UAH 170–340. And this is provided that the court will bring this official to justice. We’ve decided to fix this injustice," he said.

The head of the SRS emphasized that the agency has already drafted a bill, which provides for changes to the Code of Administrative Offenses, offering to raise fines for officials guilty of excessive administrative pressure on businesses by at least 100 times – from UAH 170-340 to UAH 17,000-34,000. Discussions are currently underway regarding the final amount.

"Besides, we have a presumption of innocence for a civil servant, and the opposite for businesses. That is, an official issues a fine to a businessman, who must pay it. If they disagree, they are obliged to defend their position in court," he clarified.

The document also proposes to grant the State Regulatory Service the right to impose a fine on an official beyond litigation and, if an official disagrees, they may appeal the move.

Kucher is convinced that this is necessary in order for there to be parity of responsibility. The draft law is set to be submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval this year.

As reported, since the full-scale invasion, the State Regulatory Service has saved UAH 18.1 billion for businesses and UAH 284.3 million for the state by refusing to approve draft regulatory acts that failed to comply with Ukrainian legislation.