Yesterday, an important meeting was held involving representatives from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine. Anatoliy Kosovan, Managing Partner of Kosovan Legal Group, also participated in the discussion.
Following the meeting, we have updated the information previously published regarding the rules for obtaining status as a critically important enterprise and the employee reservation procedure. The key changes are summarized below:
Critical Enterprise Status
• All currently designated critical companies must re-apply for and obtain this status anew, effective from December 1st.
• The average gross salary per employee for the relevant quarter must be at least UAH 20,000.
• The Ministry of Economy is expected to provide clarification this week regarding the calculation methodology for the average salary.
• There must be no outstanding debt on any taxes or mandatory fees.
• The two criteria mentioned above (salary and tax compliance) are mandatory for all companies seeking the status.
• Relevant line ministries and Regional Military Administrations (RMAs) must develop new specific criteria for critical importance within their sectors/regions.
• Companies can already begin submitting applications based on non-sectoral criteria.
• Applications will be processed in the order they are received; the processing timeframe has not yet been defined.
• The same ministries will conduct quarterly reviews/verifications of designated critical enterprises going forward.
• If a company’s current critical status expires on or before November 30th, it is automatically extended until December 31st.
Employee Reservation
• All existing employee reservations will expire on February 28, 2025.
• The reservation function within the “Diya” portal will become available from December 1st, but only for companies that have successfully obtained critical enterprise status under the new criteria.
• Employees whose salary was less than UAH 20,000 in any month of the relevant reporting quarter will not be eligible for reservation.
• Currently, salary reporting is done quarterly; therefore, reservation applications based on salary criteria can likely only be processed after the end of a quarter.
• An employee’s reservation can be cancelled upon the formal request of the enterprise’s head/manager.
• The requirements for employees to have updated their military registration data and not be listed as wanted by authorities remain in effect.
• Female employees liable for military service will no longer count towards the reservation quota available for other employees.
• The number of employees on the company’s roster as of May 18, 2024, establishes the baseline for calculating the reservation quota, even if the headcount has subsequently decreased.
• Beneficial owners may be eligible for reservation if they are not registered as employees of the company (subject to specific regulations).
Important Notice: Please be aware that document submission deadlines are expected to be strict. If you are interested in legal assistance from our team regarding these processes, we strongly recommend contacting us promptly. This will allow sufficient time to prepare all necessary documentation and ensure timely submission.