Brussels, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union welcomes the new Criminal procedure Code of Ukraine and is waiting for its implementation, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule has said.

“We welcome the new Criminal Procedure Code and we’re waiting for its implementation. We hope this will set an example for further wider implementation of court reform,” he said in Brussels on Tuesday, while summing up the results of a meeting of the EU-Ukraine Cooperation Council.

According to Fule, Kyiv and Brussels have agreed to start an informal dialogue on court reform.

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Moscow, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The presidents of Ukraine and Russia, Viktor Yanukovych and Vladimir Putin, are expected to discuss the schedule of bilateral contacts in the short run during their bilateral meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Russia Volodymyr Yelchenko told to reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

“The Ukrainian-Russian interstate commission at the level of presidents has not met for almost a year, which has left some issues ‘hanging in the air.’ We understand that it is due to the elections in the Russian Federation, but this obstacle is now gone. Consequently, I think the presidents will reach an agreement, at least on the approximate schedule and on the date when such a meeting will take place,” the diplomat told Ukrainian reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

The ambassador reiterated that the mechanism governing the work of the interstate commission envisions a meeting of the committee on economic cooperation at the level of the countries’ prime ministers.

Yelchenko said a new government will be created in Russia in the nearest future, which will eliminate the obstacles to the creation of a committee on economic reform.

The ambassador said the meeting will address draft Russian-Ukrainian trade-economic agreements.

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Kyiv, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) says it is mulling measures to ease monetary policy amid low inflation in order to boost the issue of loans by the country’s banks.

“We’re not satisfied with the level of credit exposure, i.e. with the growth of credits demonstrated by the banking system today. It’s very low,” said Olena Scherbakova, the director of the NBU’s monetary and credit policy department, in a statement posted on the NBU’s Web site.

According to her, one of the levers of influence on the situation could be the lesser requirements for the formation by banks of their mandatory reserves at a separate account at the NBU, since this anti-crisis measure is losing relevance now.

“Ultimately, our goal is to make [the NBU's] discount rate work, to make it a key rate,” she said.

At the same time, she said, the lending dynamics are under a certain influence of problems in the judiciary and legislative spheres.

She also noted that the surplus of the balance of payments seen since March lets the central bank buy foreign currency on the interbank forex market.

“We’re maintaining balance on the foreign exchange market. We can buy currency – this is what we’re doing – to pay obligations without reducing [forex] reserves,” she said.

As was reported, the overall amount of credit exposure in Ukraine in April expanded by 0.5%, to UAH 794.4 billion (by 0.1% since the beginning of the year).

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Brussels, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union has published an overall assessment of the implementation of a new “more for more” approach towards its neighborhood policy, and a new Eastern Partnership Roadmap.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule presented the documents in Brussels on Tuesday.

The package of documents contains, in particular, a so-called roadmap for the Eastern Partnership Summit that will take place in Vilnius in the autumn of 2013. The European Commission for the first time indicated in the document the whole range of bilateral and multilateral events of the program.

The document confirms the general commitment of the EU and the Eastern Partnership partner-states to democratic reforms and economic transformations, as well as outlining an ambitious action plan in the light of the summit that will take place in Vilnius next year. According to the European Commission, the document will give impetus to the goals of the Eastern Partnership, speed up political association, and deepen the economic integration of the EU member-states, increasing the mobility of citizens, as well as strengthening cooperation in a wide range of areas.

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Kyiv, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has updated the procedure for collecting funds from taxpayers’ accounts by tax bodies, taking into account the requirements of the Tax Code.

The amendments to the rules of cashless payments in the national currency and on the interbank transfer of funds in Ukraine are stipulated in NBU resolution No. 122 of March 30, 2012. The document will take effect in 30 days after its official publication planned for May 21 in the Official Bulletin of Ukraine.

The rules of cashless payments in the national currency was expanded with a section according to which state tax bodies can act as collectors of the tax debt and overdue debt to the state.

According to the resolution, the collector initiates the withdrawal of funds from taxpayers’ accounts on the basis of a court ruling: the collectors are to be held responsible if the fund collection is unjustified under Ukrainian law.

It is foreseen that the bank of the payer accepts certain orders for collection within 30 calendar days from the date of their composition. The bank accepts the orders for execution, irrespective of the funds on the taxpayers’ accounts, and executes them within the sum of the available funds.

The amendments to the rules specify the order for collection notion: this is a payment document containing claims of collectors and sent to the bank of payers to collect a certain sum of funds from the payer, without the need to agree it with the payer.

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Kyiv, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Grain exports from Ukraine in the current marketing year (July 2011 through June 2012) may total 22 million tonnes, according to Agricultural Policy and Food Minister Mykola Prysiazhniuk.

“It would be good if we manage 22 [million tonnes of grain],” he told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday while answering a question from Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that since the beginning of the current marketing year, Ukraine has already exported 18.5 million tonnes of grain. Exports in May 2012 alone were 800,000 tonnes.

“Unfortunately we’ve got 18.5 [million tonnes] as of today. In May we exported 800,000 tonnes. This is not what as we’d wish,” he added.

“We need to boost [exports]. Besides, you see that we’ve sown one million more hectares of maize than last year. We need to clear [storage] facilities,” he said.

He said the “reaction” of the foreign market to wheat was not good today. In particular, prices of wheat have dropped to the kind of lows seen two years ago.

As was reported, Ukraine in 2011 gathered 56.7 million tonnes of grain, which was 44.3% up on 2010. Domestic grain consumption is estimated by experts at 26.7 million tonnes per year.

Chamber Agricultural Committee considers Minister Prysiazhniuk’s statement as the good news for the industry. To ensure seamless grain exports and logistics, the Chamber and the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine are negotiating practical mechanisms for ensuring that the situation on the grain market remains stable and predictable in the upcoming marketing year.
To get involved into the Chamber Agricultural Committee operations and/or receive relative information updates, please contact Denys Sobolev, Chamber Policy Officer (Agricultural Issues).

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Kyiv, May 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on Tuesday adopted a bill to introduce floating rates of excise duty on oil products.

Bill No. 10379, which will amend the Tax Code, garnered 247 votes from the 321 MPs registered in the session hall.

According to the document, the current excise rates are taken as reference rates for the period until the end of 2012.

Every ten days the reference rates will be increased or decreased (depending on the average price of Brent crude oil on the ICE registered in the previous ten days) by an adjusting sum, which cannot exceed 50% of the reference rate.

Under the law, with an average price of crude oil on the stock exchange below $105 per barrel, the reference rate will be increased by an adjusting sum, which will be calculated as the difference between $105 and the price on the stock exchange (including of the U.S. dollar-euro forex rate for the corresponding ten days and the number of barrels in tonne 7.62 tonnes). In this case, the excise duty will be increased.

With an average price of crude oil on the stock exchange being between $105-125 per barrel, the reference rate will be adjusted.

With an average price of crude oil on the stock exchange exceeding $125 per barrel, the reference rate will be reduced by an adjusting sum calculated as the difference between $125 and the price on the stock exchange (including of the U.S. dollar-euro forex rate for the corresponding ten days and the number of barrels in tonne 7.62 tonnes). In this case, the excise duty will be decreased.

In keeping with the document, excise rates on aircraft gasoline, jet fuel and liquefied gas are not subject to the adjustment.

A central agency of executive power, which implements state policy in the oil and gas sector, must publish the adjusting sum and the average price of Brent oil per barrel on the ICE exchange in the previous ten days, but no later than 1300 on the first day of the current ten days.

Chamber Fuel and Energy Committee is committed to developing recommendations on the much needed legal and regulatory reforms to make energy sector of Ukraine more attractive for domestic and foreign investors. The issues of upstream production, as well as midstream and downstream regulation are in the focus of attention of the Chamber Fuel and Energy Committee. For more information on how you can get involved in the Committee’s activities, please contact Dina Narezhneva, Chamber Policy Officer (Energy Issues).

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Donetsk, May 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych believes that the Euro 2012 European Football Championship will take place in Ukraine despite the calls by European politicians to boycott it.

“I’m confident that the European Football Championship will be held. Politics is politics, and life is life. Sports fans will come, Ukraine’s friends will come. And we’re always happy to welcome them,” he told journalists in Donetsk on Monday.

According to the president, in the course of the preparations for the event, Ukraine gained huge experience and demonstrated its ability to carry out all of the work properly.

“We did not let down our partners from UEFA, who entrusted us to host Euro 2012,” Yanukovych said.

The head of state visited Donetsk on Monday. In particular, he attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a new terminal of Donetsk airport.

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Donetsk, May 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

“This morning, I signed the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine, which will now be integrated into all Ukrainian laws, and there are more than 300 of them, and it will take effect as soon as the implementation period ends,” he told journalists in Donetsk on Monday.

As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the new Criminal Procedure Code on April 13. After the law is signed by the president, it will take another six months before it enters into force.

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Kyiv, May 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, may hear a report by Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Social Policy Sergiy Tigipko on Friday during the hour of questions for the government.

“We were to hear a report by Deputy Prime Minister – Social Policy Minister Sergiy Tigipko concerning the implementation of the social initiatives last Friday,” Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn told participants of the parliament’s conciliatory council on Friday.

“Since this didn’t happen, I believe you will have no objection to hearing the minister give his report this plenary week,” the speaker said.

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