Amendments to the Provisions on State Registration during Martial Law

During the war, almost all social, political and economic life faces changes. At the beginning of the martial law, for security reasons, the possibility of state registration in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Associations and the State Register of Real Property Rights and Encumbrances was significantly limited. Subsequently, the Government started to expand such opportunities by its decisions, including the permits of the registration by state registrars of legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, state registrars of real property rights and encumbrances, officials of the Ministry of Justice, its territorial bodies included in the list of state registrars and officials approved by the Ministry of Justice (hereinafeter referred to as the “List”), for which the state ensures access to the State Register of Real Property Rights and/or the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Associations for the period of martial law (Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of March 6, 2022 No. 209).

By the Resolution of the Government of March 24, 2022 No. 364, amendments were made to the Resolution of March 6, 2022 No. 209 “Some Issues of State Registration during Martial Law and Amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of February 28, 2022 No. 164” with the following content.

1. It is possible to obtain information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Associations, including from notaries.

Information from the Unified State Register is provided exclusively by state registrars, officials included in the List, as well as notaries whose workplace (office) is located within an administrative and territorial unit that is not included in the list of administrative and territorial units where an access to register is terminated. This List is approved by the Ministry of Justice. Access to the Unified State Register for the provision of information from it is provided to such notaries upon their requests to the technical administrator of the Register in the manner prescribed by law.

It is important to note that the notary shall have the right only to provide information from the register, other actions are prohibited. If it is established the notary committed other technical actions in the Unified State Register not related to providing/receiving information from this register, the notary’s access to the register shall be terminated immediately by the technical administrator, who shall also notify this fact to the Ministry of Justice.

2. Exceptions to the payment of the administrative fee have been supplemented.

There is no administrative fee for state registration of changes to information about charitable organizations, public associations, which provide for the inclusion in the subject of their activities assistance to the Armed Forces, other military formations, law enforcement (special) bodies, civil protection bodies, voluntary formations of territorial communities, other persons providing national security and defense, repulse and deterrence of armed aggression of a foreign state, as well as persons who have suffered or may suffer from such armed aggression.

3. Requirements for the submission of information on the ultimate beneficial owner have been abolished, namely:

The requirements of the legislation on the obligation to submit/confirm information about the ultimate beneficial owner, as well as the documents required by law for the submission/confirmation of such information, do not apply, except for cases of the state registration of:

– banks, non-bank financial institutions and persons who are not financial institutions, but have the right to provide certain financial services (except for postal operators);

– legal entities, the founder (participant) and/or ultimate beneficial owner of which is or will be, due to the relevant changes, the Russian Federation, a citizen of the Russian Federation, a legal entity established and registered in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation.

4. Peculiarities of registration of encumbrances on movable property and obtaining information from the State Register of Encumbrances are established:

1) state registration of private encumbrances on movable property, information from the State Register of Eencumbrances on Movable Property, at the request of individuals and legal entities, is conducted/provided by notaries who (simultaneously):

–  have their workplace (office) located within the administrative and territorial unit, which is not included in the list of administrative and territorial units, where an access to the register is terminated,

– gained access to the State Register of Encumbrances on Movable Property in accordance with the legislation.

2) payment for making an entry in the State Register of Encumbrances on Movable Property, as well as changes and additional information to the entry, providing information from the State Register of Encumbrances on Movable Property may be confirmed by an electronic copy (including a screen copy) of the payment document. If the financial institution through which the payment was made provides an opportunity to verify the authenticity of the relevant payment document, the notary shall conduct such verification.

5. Regarding termination of access to registers:

It has been established that the access of users to the unified and state registers, held by the Ministry of Justice, within the administrative and territorial units the list of which is approved by the Ministry of Justice, shall be terminated. It is probable that this list will include areas where hostilities are taking place, and temporarily occupied territories.

Within the administrative and territorial units that are not included in such list, access to the registers shall be provided taking into account the technical characteristics (capabilities) determined by the conditions of martial law.

In case of threat of unauthorized access to registers, in particular due to temporary occupation of a certain administrative and territorial unit by the aggressor state, the administrator of such registers shall immediately terminate users’ access to them within the relevant territory and notify the Ministry of Justice within two days.