Government officials have completed the review of regulatory instruments for business in the agricultural sector. A total of 120 instruments (permits, certificates, declarations, etc.) were analysed. As a result, almost all of them were proposed to be cancelled or updated. Only 5 (around 4%) were recommended to be retained unchanged.

For example, among the instruments that the Interagency Working Group on Deregulation (IWG) recommended to abolish are permits for the construction of land reclamation systems and certain engineering infrastructure facilities. Land reclamation systems are currently built in accordance with general construction standards and requirements. According to government officials, the restoration and construction of new land reclamation systems in the south of the country is particularly important. Therefore, unnecessary bureaucratic procedures need to be removed.

The IWG is also proposing to abolish the permission for the installation of electrical devices for heating water in livestock and poultry farms. Boilers are now used in almost every home or office and no permits are required. This instrument is therefore unnecessary.

Other unnecessary documents proposed to be abolished include a permit for the production of stamps for marking leather and fur, approval of the location of fish collection points, etc.

“Despite the war, Ukrainian agricultural products remain important for global food security. We need to create conditions for the rapid recovery and development of our agriculture. In particular, we need to clear the regulatory field of ‘weeds’ that prevent farmers from working freely on their land, costing them time and money. Unnecessary instruments should be abolished, while the rest should become convenient and easy for business,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

In total, the Interagency Working Group on Deregulation, chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, has reviewed more than 800 instruments.

The IWG, established in January 2023, includes representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Digital Transformation, Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Justice, Finance, and the Regulatory Service. Experts from the Better Regulation Delivery Office, the Centre for Economic Recovery, the Centre for Economic Strategy, EasyBusiness, the USAID Competitive Economy of Ukraine Programme, and the USAID / UK aid Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services (TAPAS) project are involved in the work of the IWG.