The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine welcomes the adoption by the Verkhovna Rada of the Law of Ukraine “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding protection of the rights of labour migrants and combating fraud in employment abroad”. This was announced by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, Head of the Interagency Working Group on Deregulation.

The relevant law eliminates licensing of international employment intermediary companies and replaces it with a “notification principle”. The development of the relevant regulatory act was one of the recommendations of the Interagency Working Group on Accelerated Review of State Regulatory Instruments for Economic Activity (IWG on Deregulation).

“The Government continues to cancel outdated and unnecessary regulatory instruments. For example, the rule on licensing of intermediary companies was created to protect Ukrainians, but in fact it has not been working properly for a long time. For example, in 2017, 12,400 Ukrainians went to work in Poland through such companies, although as many as 1.7 million Ukrainians were issued invitations to work in Poland. That is why we recommended removing it.

From now on, intermediary companies will notify the state of their activities, while the state control and supervision authorities will retain the right to inspect such companies,” explained Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Besides, the new law creates additional mechanisms to protect Ukrainian job seekers:

• intermediary companies are prohibited from charging job seekers for intermediary services in finding work abroad – instead, such services must be paid by the company looking for employees;
• violating companies will be fined from 3,500 to 4,000 tax-free minimum incomes (from UAH 59,500 thousand to 68,000) for charging citizens any fees, commissions, remuneration, or other types of payment for employment agency services in Ukraine or abroad.

The Government hopes that the international employment market will be gradually legalised, which will help create a fair competitive environment and ensure transparent business operations. This, in turn, will increase state budget revenues in the form of taxes and protect Ukrainians from paying money to fraudsters or unscrupulous entrepreneurs.

For reference

The Interagency Working Group on Accelerated Review of State Regulatory Instruments for Economic Activities (IWG on Deregulation) is working to reduce the number of documents regulating business activities, as well as simplify and modernise those necessary to protect society.

The group is headed by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, and Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation.