On 20 September, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, approved a new version of the law on restoring e-declarations with an amendment stating that declarations will become publicly accessible immediately, according to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
E-declaration is one of the most important steps in Ukraine’s anti-corruption reform after the Revolution of Dignity. According to Transparency International Ukraine, only a third of all officials submitted their declarations for 2021.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, Ukraine suspended the mandatory filing of declarations in the first weeks.
In September 2022, David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People faction, introduced a bill to reintroduce mandatory declaration. The Anti-Corruption Committee approved this document on 18 October 2022.
The adoption of this law is necessary for Ukraine, in particular, to start negotiations on accession to the EU. On 30 January 2023, the ambassadors of the G7 and EU countries called on Ukraine to quickly adopt the State Anti-Corruption Program and resume e-declarations and financial reporting by political parties.
On 5 September, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 9534 on the return of e-declarations in general but needed to support amending to open the e-declaration register immediately.
On 6 September, the President published a petition on his official website demanding to veto of draft law No. 9534 and its return to Parliament to restore public access to the declaration register. The petition gained the required number of signatures within a day.
On 12 September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vetoed law No. 9534 on restoring electronic declaration. He called on MPs to vote as soon as possible to open the declaration register.
The law, which 341 MPs voted for, opens declarations immediately. Previously, they were planned to be opened in a year.
The register will not contain declarations of the military and people in temporarily occupied territories. It will make public the declarations of employees of territorial recruitment centers, military medical commissions, and rear procurement.
Draft law No. 9534 also provides for submitting declarations for 2023, 2021 and 2022. Declarants must submit them within 90 days after the law takes effect.
