Legal Alerts. March 2020
On March 17, 2020 Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine On Amending Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Prevent the Occurrence and Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) (The Law).
Among other things, the Law supplemented the definition of force majeure (circumstances of irresistible force) contained in Part 2 of Art. 141 of the Law of Ukraine On chambers of commerce and industry in Ukraine, at which point the quarantine established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is recognized as force-majeure circumstances.
It should be mentioned, that according to the Law (Art. 14 of the Law of Ukraine On chambers of commerce and industry in Ukraine) The Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce certifies force majeure circumstances (circumstances of irresistible force), as well as trade and port customs, instituted in Ukraine, upon request of economic entities and natural persons.
For its part, Article 617 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (grounds for discharge liability for breach of obligation) establishes that a person who broke obligation shall be released from liability for breach of the obligation if that person proves that the breach occurred as a result of the casualty or irresistible force.
Besides, on March 11, 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Resolution No.211 On Prevention of Coronavirus COVID-19 spread in the Territory of Ukraine, which according to the Paragraph 1 provides for the introduction of quarantine from 12.03.2020 to 03.04.2020.
Thus, after the entering into force of the Law (enters into force on the day of its publication) quarantine is officially recognized as force majeure circumstance (circumstance of irresistible force), the influence of which is grounds for condonation for breach of obligations.
The Law also states that during the period of quarantine or restrictive measures related to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19):
- from the day of the quarantine announcement, the running of the period for applying for administrative and other services and the terms for providing these services, determined by law, are suspending. From the quarantine termination date course of these periods shall continue, considering the time elapsed before its interrupting.
- it is prohibited to carry out scheduled state supervision (control) measures by state supervision (control) authorities in the field of economic activity.
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This Legal Alert is intended as a general overview of latest changes in legislation of Ukraine and does not constitute a legal advice.
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