One of Ukraine’s legal responses to Russia’s full-scale aggression was a legislative initiative aimed to confiscate the property of the aggressor state. On 3 March, the Ukrainian Parliament put this initiative into practice by adopting the Law of Ukraine “On Basic Principles of Confiscation of Property Held in Ukraine by the Russian Federation and its Residents” (“Law”), and on 10 March, the Law was signed by the President.

On March 16, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its order on Ukraine’s request for indication of provisional measures against Russia. 

On March 7, or the 12th day of Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held the first hearing in the “Ukraine v. Russian Federation” case.

On 24 February 2022, Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, being part of its aggression against our country commenced in 2014. Europe has not seen armed conflicts of such scale and brutality for decades. Reliable evidence confirms that Russian troops are making indiscriminate attacks including air raids, ballistic missile strikes and bombings. Residential housing, utilities, critical infrastructure are being destroyed all over Ukraine. The United Nations reports at least 240 civilian casualties and 64 deaths in Ukraine as of 26 February 2022. Apart from that, hundreds of thousands of peaceful Ukrainians had to flee violence to Western Ukraine and neighboring countries.

On 24 November 2021, Ukraine launched a new law enforcement authority – the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (“BES”). BES will focus on analytical activities aimed at early detection of risks in the economy, as well as pre-trial investigation of certain criminal offences.

On 15 December 2021 the Law of Ukraine “On Mediation” No. 1875-IX (“Law”) entered into force. The Law introduced mediation as a voluntary alternative dispute resolution method for the first time at the legislative level.

The capital markets in Ukraine have been a sleeping topic until recently. On June 19, 2020, the Ukrainian Parliament has restated the Law of Ukraine on Capital Markets and Organized Commodity Markets (Law). The restated Law became effective in July 2021, introducing a whole new framework for the issue of securities in Ukraine. It implements the most important EU capital markets regulations, including MiFID II, MiFIR, and CRD IV.

Head of Avellum's Competition practice Mykyta Nota has been promoted to Partner, as of January 1, 2022.

On 11 August 2021, the President of Ukraine signed Law of Ukraine “On Stimulating the Development of the Digital Economy in Ukraine” No. 1667-IX (“Law”). Most of its provisions became effective on 14 August 2021, introducing Diia City, a special legal regime for IT companies, and bringing changes beyond the IT industry.

As a rule, transactions with securities, including shares in joint stock companies, require the engagement of an investment firm, in particular a securities broker. At the same time, the Law of Ukraine “On Capital Markets and Organised Commodity Markets”, which entered into force on 1 July 2021, provides for several exceptions to this rule. Indeed, an investment firm engagement is not required for the transactions made outside of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Government has pledged to bring economic opportunities for foreign investors by digitalising the country and liberalising business laws. A big part of this promise comes with a new law “On Stimulating Development of Digital Economy in Ukraine” (“Law”). Most provisions of the Law came into force on 14 August 2021, but the Law will be operative in 2022 once all regulations are in place.

AVELLUM for the second time researched how the coronavirus outbreak affected the plans of businesses to purchase or sell assets or companies in Ukraine in the next 6 to 12 months. We surveyed over 90 owners, top managers, and heads of legal departments of Ukrainian and international companies in 2021.

Over the past year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has been closely scrutinizing business structures involving corporate investment funds during the review of merger control notifications. In particular, the regulator is interested in relations of control among asset management companies, corporate investment funds, and their shareholders. Depending on the regulator’s position, the list of parties to a concentration can be significantly wider than one may probably realize.

Over the past year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has been closely scrutinizing business structures involving corporate investment funds during the review of merger control notifications. In particular, the regulator is interested in relations of control among asset management companies, corporate investment funds, and their shareholders. Depending on the regulator’s position, the list of parties to a concentration can be significantly wider than one may probably realize.

Contributed by Avellum.

Over the past years, Ukraine expressed its intention to step on the energy transition pathway, develop energy efficiency measures, phase out fossil fuels, and switch to renewable energy sources (RES). The development of green hydrogen production (based on electrolysis of water using renewable electricity) is part of the chosen direction. Therefore, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and more than 20 Ukrainian companies have joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance to coordinate efforts to develop hydrogen energy.

Let me start with a provocative statement: it is really easy and safe to do business in Ukraine today. As discussed in the article below, this is not a naive view of a Ukrainian lawyer but pure facts and statistics. Moreover, if you compare Ukraine with its neighbors, the contrast is startling: information transparency of companies coupled with super-fast registration procedures and special regime for IT companies are astonishing.

The Ukrainian legal services market has been buzzing with work in the first half of 2021. CEE Legal Matters hosted a round table conversation in which Partners at Asters, Avellum, Integrites, Kinstellar, and Sayenko Kharenko discussed the driving forces behind the workload and their outlook for the months to come.