IdeasFirst company together with Volia Agri-Food Park, Enzym Group and MHP invite you to the first event about ideas in Ukraine, technologies and businesses, that are changing the food market - New Food Summit (@https://www.facebook.com/NewFoodSummit). The event will take place on November 21-22 2023 year in Kyiv.

Briefly about the format of the event:

More than 45 speakers — market experts from international and Ukrainian companies.

Special blocks, dedicated to changes in retail and the development of delivery.

EXPO-zone, in which innovative solutions and technologies for Agri will be presented- and Food spheres.

Networking sessions with potential partners and investors, informal communication and exchange of experience.

More than are expected at the event 350 participants from such fields: FMCG corporations, agricultural holdings, manufacturers of food ingredients and packaging, distributors and retailers, delivery market players, investors and startups in the field of Food Tech, Bio Tech, Health Tech and more.
Details and registration: https://bit.ly/3MhrSh3

People's deputies of Ukraine

Dear MPs!

Members of the Ukrainian Business Council, which includes 110 business associations of various sectors of the economy, analyzeddraft law No. 5420 regarding the criminalization of smuggling and came to a conclusion, that in the proposed to 2 reading the editorial, this project poses significant threats to law-abiding business, since its provisions are formulated in this way, whatcontain significant corruption risks, and also pose a threat to the activity of primarily legal business and in no way contribute to solving the problem of shadow imports.

First of all, it should be emphasized, that the threshold of criminal liability under Article 201-3 of the draft law is unreasonably low. In particular, criminal liability is proposed in case of illegal movement of goods across the customs border in the amount of, with a share of more than 1,342 million. Instead, for the qualification of a criminal offense according to the article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (CCU) "Tax evasion", the threshold of criminal liability for tax evasion (which are customs payments) is 4,026 million. 

Since such changes relate specifically to responsibility for economic crimes and public danger consists precisely in non-payment of taxes and other payments, then it is advisable to be guided by those similar to the content of the article 212 KKU criteria for determining the threshold of criminal responsibility. More, the issue of the customs value of goods is often the subject of a dispute between the declarant and the customs authority, and therefore cannot act as a threshold for criminal liability.

Significant risks for honest business are also seen in the proposed version of the Notes to Art. 201 CCU, which refers to smuggling, including the submission of documents to the customs authority as a basis for the movement of goods, containing false information about the name of the goods, their weight or quantity, country of origin, sender or recipient, the number of cargo spaces, their markings and numbers, false information, necessary to determine the product code according to the Ukrainian classification of goods of foreign economic activity and its customs value, which led or could lead to an unlawful exemption from payment of customs payments or a reduction in their amount. In practice, when declaring goods, the customs authority and the declarant often have disputes regarding the determination of the customs value, product code, country of origin, scales, etc. More, proposed revision of the article 201-3 does not imply necessityproving intent to commit a criminal offense.

The full text of the statement of the Ukrainian Business Council can be found at the link: https://urb.org.ua/zakonoproєkt-pro-kriminalizacziyu-kontrabandi-nese-zagrozi-dlya-zakonosluhnyanogo-biznesu-zayava/

To the Prime Minister of Ukraine

Minister of Economy of Ukraine

Minister of Finance of Ukraine

Heads of the Committee on Finance of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, tax and customs policy

Heads of the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Economic Development

Members of the Ukrainian Business Council Coalition, which includes 105 business associations of various sectors of the economy, express their respect to you and address you as follows:

Recently published conclusions investigation of the Business Ombudsman Council regarding the operation of the SMKOR system. The key conclusions of the Council are::

• IN 4 quarters 2022 Year of blocking touched 65 tis TOV, what is 40,4% from active VAT payers.
• Time spent on unlocking PN is more 12 hours of time of the accountant/director.
• During the operation of the system, it was eliminated 2/3 gray schemes, but now the system is not working optimally - there is more manual mode, broader and less clear criteria, the mass of blockages, improper justification of DPS decisions.
• Close 95% court cases regarding blockages - taxpayers will win.

Based on the results of the investigation, the Council of the Business Ombudsman made the following proposals, to fix the system:

• Improve risk orientation, clearer criteria, more automation
• Make a real analysis of the regulatory impact of the system, real calculations (additional revenues to the state/business expenses)
• Build the system's fuses - the system must first warn the payer
• Allow admins to challenge tables
• Provide information on the risks of counterparties, remove risk "retrospectively"
• Publish more statistics on key system indicators