Businesses initiate bill on state support to enterprises that lost assets in Crimea, Donbas

The Ukrainian Business Association is forming an initiative group on the development of a draft law on state support for enterprises that lost their assets in Crimea and Donbas.

According to a press release from the association, this initiative was supported by participants of the round table talk entitled "State policy for the support of Ukrainian businesses that lost assets in Crimea and in the east: what the business wants and power is capable of," held at the parliamentary committee on industrial policy and entrepreneurship in late October.

Currently, the initiative group includes representatives of the Ukrainian Business Association, the Business newspaper, Lauffer Group (Odesa Karavai), Chemical Elements Ukraine (Chemical Elements of Ukraine LLC) and other businesses that lost assets as a result of the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of the eastern part of Ukraine, as well as professional experts.

"The purpose of the initiative group is the legislative regulation of systemic problems that Ukrainian businesses face due to the events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Business representatives insist on the necessity of forming a comprehensive state policy for enterprises affected by the events in the east and in Crimea, and, first of all, seeking effective and unburdensome [sic] mechanisms for recovery of production at the enterprises that were forced to transfer their business from the conflict zone," reads the document.

According to Odesa Karavai (Lauffer Group) CEO Stanyslav Stepchenko, now "the annexation of business in Crimea and occupation in the east are not perceived by state authorities and courts as extraordinary circumstances."

"Courts ignore force majeure and make unjust and often custom-made rulings. All this creates additional risks and barriers for business development and does not serve to strengthen the economy which the country needs. All the sensitive issues that arise today are to be addressed at the legislative level," he said.

The Ukrainian Business Association called on the companies that lost their assets, as well as public organizations and business associations to join the initiative, the association said.

As reported, during the round table held on October 28 business representatives expressed concern about a lack of attention on the part of authorities to the problems of Ukrainian enterprises whose assets are located in the temporarily occupied territories of the eastern regions of Ukraine and Crimea. Among the main problems such businesses face, according to the experts, are fulfillment of financial obligations to banks on loans and tax obligations if there is no profit. In addition, the companies are deprived of the possibility of managing these assets even in case of their physical safety.

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