Member Article

In the final 3 months of 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a great number of changes to construction laws.

The following Ukrainian laws, among others, saw some significant changes:

1) "On Architectural Activities" No. 687-XIV dated 20 May 1999. According to the amended provisions, the customer may place the obligation to perform technical inspection on a specialized organization, a technical inspection expert or a consulting engineer whose authority will be set out in a contractor agreement. Model technical inspection agreements and model consulting engineer services agreement will be approved by a central executive authority for state architecture policy. The changes became effective on 01 December 2019.

2) "On Construction Standards" No. 1704-VI dated 11 May 2009. The most important changes consist in the introduction of parametric, regulatory and targeted methods of standardization in construction. In addition, texts of the state construction standards making part of the construction standards central pool (framework) and the sectoral construction standards making part of the sectoral construction standards pools (frameworks) are to be published on the official websites of relevant construction standardization entities. The texts will be freely accessed and available to the public. The changes became effective on 19 October 2019.

3) "On Regulation of Urban Planning" No. 3038-VI dated 17 February 2011. According to the recent changes to the law, the detailed territory plan of a locality will be considered and approved by the executive authority of the village or city council within a period of 30 days after submission, or, where there is no zoning plan approved as prescribed by the Law, it will be approved by the relevant village or city council, except cases provided in the Law. The locality's detailed territory plan covering state-owned land subject to lease for PPP (public-private partnership) projects, such as concession deals, will be considered and approved by a state administration within 30 days post submission. The changes became effective on 01 December 2019.

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the following laws:

1) 20 September 2019: Law of Ukraine "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Promoting Investment Activities in Ukraine"(Draft Law No. 1059 dated 29 August 2019) was signed by the Ukrainian President on 11 October 2019 and took effect on 17 October 2019. The law has regulated in greater detail the right of trust and has changed (significantly narrowed or, in certain cases, totally abolished) the right of share participation.

2) 17 October 2019: Law of Ukraine"On Improving the Procedure for Provision of Administrative Services in Construction Industry and Introduction of Unified Electronic System"(Draft Law No. 1081) was signed by the Ukrainian President on 14 November 2019 and took effect on 01 December 2019. The Law has amended the regulation as to: 1) determining the terms of development (construction) and land use in territories surrounding airdromes; 2) introduction of user accounts in construction industry; 3) introduction of a construction activities register to include urban planning terms and restrictive guidelines, terms of reference and design specifications; information on licensing of business activities related to construction of projects with medium (CC2) or high (CC3) consequence (liability) class; information on professional certification of contractors performing specific types of works (providing specific types of services) related to creation of architectural objects, energy auditors and engineering systems survey experts; information on expert organizations carrying out examination of project documentation for the construction of objects; information on construction-in-progress and completed construction facilities; information on self-regulatory organizations engaged in architectural activities and delegation of authority thereto for conducting professional certification; information on self-regulatory organizations engaged in energy efficiency activities; reference copies of construction codes, mandatory national standards, codes of practice, other statutorily binding regulatory documents of technical nature; information on state architectural and construction supervision; and statistical data.

In addition, some changes were made to CMU Resolution No. 406 dated 07 June 2017"On Approval of the List of Construction Works Requiring no Authorization Documents or Project Acceptance for Operation upon Completion of the Works", prescribing that the construction of temporary checkpoints for entry into and exit from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine for car traffic purposes and road service zones does not require any approvals or permits.

Also, a number of new State Construction Standards (SCSs) were adopted. These include, in particular:

1) Amendments to SCSs В.2.2-20:2008 regarding hotel designing

2) Amendments to SCSs В.2.5-56:2014 regarding fire safety systems

3) New SCSs В.2.2-15:2019 regarding residential buildings

4) New SCSs Б.2.2-12:2019 regarding territory planning and development

5) Amendments to SCSs В.2.3-5:2018 "Streets and Roads in Populated Localities"