Parliament Supports Decriminalization of Humanitarian Aid Use by Utilities

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted in the first reading a bill that decriminalizes criminal liability for officials in the event of the sale or use of humanitarian aid in the implementation of vital functions. This was reported by UNN with reference to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak and the card of the bill No. 12250.

Details

"No. 12250 - improving liability for the illegal use of humanitarian aid by state and municipal enterprises. As a basis (259)," Zheleznyak said.

According to the draft law, officials or employees of state-owned and municipal enterprises will not be criminally liable in case of sale or use of humanitarian aid, charitable donations or free assistance for profit in the course of implementation by such enterprises of vital functions or services defined by the Law "On Critical Infrastructure".

The explanatory note states that as a result of Russia's armed aggression, critical infrastructure facilities, including fleets of automotive and specialized state and municipal equipment used by state-owned enterprises and communities to ensure the performance of vital functions and provide services to the civilian population, have unfortunately suffered significant damage.

The MPs cite the example that during the occupation of the Kherson city territorial community by Russian military forces and after the de-occupation, during massive shelling of civilian infrastructure, about 90% of the equipment of communal enterprises used in the course of their statutory activities was destroyed, stolen and damaged.

"In the context of the ongoing aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, given the deficit of state and local budgets, the use of humanitarian aid is almost the only way to properly organize the life of cities and communities and provide vital services," the note says.

It is also noted that humanitarian and charitable aid provided by international organizations to the territorial community to improve the provision of public services, for example, to provide passenger transportation, cannot always be fully used for its intended purpose.

The municipal enterprise provides passenger transportation at established tariffs, which include the company's profit, and therefore has no right to use the vehicles that were donated as humanitarian aid. This leads to the impossibility of improving the level of passenger transportation services in the community, and at the same time, to unnecessary costs associated with the preservation and maintenance of these vehicles.

Another example cited by the MPs is the situation in Kharkiv, where in recent years it has received buses, trams, trolleybuses, etc. from European partner cities, but the city is unable to fully provide services to the civilian population using this equipment.

Recall

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted as a basis a draft law that allows utilities to use equipment donated by international partners as aid.