Comments on the Bill №7279-d ‘On introduction of alterations to some legislative acts of Ukraine regard to simplification of prejudicial inquiry of individual categories of criminal violations’

Illya Kostin, partner at Legal Alliance Company

Maryna Mkrtycheva, paralegal at Legal Alliance Company

What happened

The bill №7279-d ‘On introduction of alterations to some legislative acts of Ukraine regard to simplification of prejudicial inquiry of individual categories of criminal violations’ was recently passed as a base in the first reading. According to the bill, it is proposed to introduct alterations to criminal legislation up to classification of offences and reduction of amenability in respect of a crime that does not pose any social danger due to being insignificant. The aim of the project is to define the action that is more complex than administrative violation and less social dangerous than criminal offence.

What is being changed

In American law such type of malefaction is called ‘misdemeanor’. By reason of some definite malefactions a delinquent could take punishment as an arrest from five days to one year of deprivation/ restraint of liberty or other close types of punishment. In Ukrainian law it is proposed to apply the following types of punishment: fine, public works and/ or restraint of liberty, taking into consideration the fact that the person, having committed criminal offence, would not be considered the one with previous convictions. Thus, in case a person committed a crime for the first time and confessed, actively assisted its clearance and absolutely indemnified or removed the harm, he could be absolved.

Legislative alterations could concern the following punishable offences defined as offences in Criminal Code of Ukraine: violation of labour legislation (article 172, part 1), cheat (article 190, part 1), theft offence (article 185, part 1), opposition to legal economic activity (article 206, part 1), tax/ compulsory payment evasion (article 212, parts 1-3), illegal manufacture, counterfeit, use or sale of illegally manufactured, found or fake control marks (article 216), bringing to bankruptcy (article 219), breaking the procedure of depositor database maintenance or procedure of accounting formation (article 220-1, parts 1-3), bankroll fraud (article 222, part 1), illegal use of insider information (article 232-1, part 1), concealment of information about issue action (article 232-2, part 1), illegal writing out a prescription for procurement of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances (article 319), coercion to fulfilment or neglect of civil obligations (article 355, part 1), arbitrariness (article 356), stealing documents, stamps, prints, prehension of them by means of fraud or abuse of official position or endamagement of them (article 357, part 1), forgery of documents, stamps, prints and forms, market or use of forged papers, prints, stamps (article 358), range of offences related to use of electronic computers, automated systems, computer and telecommunication networks.

Why it is important

In case of entry into force the alterations to criminal legislation due to criminal violations, unfair ‘law-enforcement authorities’ lose impact lever in form of criminal proceeding on the articles of Criminal code of Ukraine, that provide punishment as for criminal offence, that is stiffer and with full spectrum of operating actions. It is first of all applied to officials, subjects of management. It will be better to live!

Contact with the author: Illya Kostin, partner at Legal Alliance Company, kostin@l-a.com.ua, Marina Mkrtycheva, paralegal at Legal Alliance Company, mkrtycheva@l-a.com.ua