While the Dealer’s Choice Conference in London could not be organized this year in a safe manner due to current events, on July 20, 2021, CEE Legal Matters sat down with several of the event’s sponsors to take a closer look at the Deals of the Year award winners this year.

On 1 June 2021, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted at its first reading the draft law improving Ukrainian mining laws (No. 4187). The draft law is aimed at, among other things, attracting and simplifying investments by improving the current laws.

On May 17, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Asters had advised Elementum Energy Ltd. on the acquisition of a majority stake in the Dnistrovska wind park in the Odessa region of Ukraine. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Victoria Pysmenna, Head of Legal at Elementum Energy to learn more about the deal.

On June 1, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Vasil Kisil and Partners has successfully represented commercial audio content provider PressCom and its clients in a lawsuit brought against them by the Ukrainian League of Copyright and Related Rights for lost profits allegedly arising from their use of PressCom sourced music in their restaurants. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Denys Kukharenko Co-Founder and CEO of PressCom to learn more about the matter.

EY Law’s Bogdan Malniev Interviews the Head of the PPP Unit of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Taras Boichuk, on the 2020 Deal of the Year in Ukraine. 

Asters has appointed Counsel Anzhelika Livitska to head the Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development practice.

On April 16, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that KPD Consulting had successfully represented the community of the Vozdvyzhenka neighborhood in Kyiv in a dispute with the developer of the Podol Grad Vintage residential complex. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Tatiana Maksymenko, Project Manager of Development of the Communal Reform at Vozdvyzhenka Street Committee, to learn more about the dispute.

According to Avellum Partner Maksym Maksymenko, the key developments in the country’s economy revolve around infrastructure projects, agricultural land regime liberalization, and large-scale privatization of certain state-owned companies. Maksymenko also reports several updates in legislation, primarily in the areas of zoning and city planning, and capital markets.

The fundamental goal of each company is to increase sales. For this purpose, players that operate in the Ukrainian pharma market utilize a wide range of promotional activities. However, Ukrainian laws on health protection allow very few of them when it comes to prescription (or “Rx”) pharmaceuticals.

Despite the recent escalation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine and its negative impact on business in the country, Anastasiya Bolkhovitinova, Counsel at Kinstellar, says that telecommunications and IT have been on the rise, and significant legal changes were introduced on tech incentives, foreign direct investment, capital markets, and agricultural land.

On 15 July 2021, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted at its first reading the draft law introducing the new tax framework for the gaming industry (No. 2713-д). This is one of the key steps towards the full-fledged relaunch of Ukraine’s gaming market following its ban in 2009.

On 21 July 2021, Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine on Stimulating De-Shadowing of Income and Improving Tax Culture of Citizens by Introducing One-Time (Special) Voluntary Disclosure by Individuals of Their Assets and Payment to Budget of One-Time Duty” No. 1539-IX, dated 15 June 2021 (“Tax Amnesty Law”), entered into force.

CMS' Malgorzata Surdek-Janicka has been appointed as Vice-President of the International Court of Arbitration at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Aside from Surdek-Janicka, 33 lawyers from CEE were appointed as members and alternate members of the court.

For several decades, it was prohibited in Ukraine to alienate, or change the designated use of, certain types of the privately owned agricultural land plots used for the farming and commercial agricultural production, which impaired the rights of private landowners and affected the efficiency, liquidity and transparency of the market.

On 2 July 2021, Law of Ukraine “On Amending the Tax Code of Ukraine on Abolition of Taxation of Income Received by Non-Residents in the Form of Payment for Production and/or Distribution of Advertisements and Improvement of Value-Added Taxation of Transactions Involving the Supply of Electronic Services by Non-Residents to Individuals” No. 1525-ІХ (the “Law”) entered into force. The Law introduces VAT on digital services supplied by non-residents to Ukrainian individual customers and abolishes 20% withholding tax on advertising services.

The Government of Ukraine has recently implemented additional measures to prevent and counteract the legalization (laundering) of proceeds of crime, terrorist financing and financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Thus, Ukraine made one more step towards implementing 4th Money Laundering EU Directive.

For the purposes of this review below we assume a hypothetical scenario whereas a company is illegally deprived of assets or investments in Ukraine.

Deputy Director of JSC Ukrainian Railway’s Legal Affairs branch, Oleksandr Diuhovskyi, has moved to BGS Rail as Head of Legal Department.