On 20 February, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organisation of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning recommended to the Verkhovna Rada to adopt in the first reading the Government's draft law on amendments to some legislative acts due to the adoption of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Procedure for Resolving Certain Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine’ and the change in the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine No. 12447.

It is a technical draft law, the authors of which propose to amend 6 codes and 66 laws of Ukraine and align their provisions with the Law “On the Procedure for Resolving Certain Issues of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine” and other relevant legal acts on local self-government.

‘I should note that this project is not about enlarging communities, but rather about other aspects. It cleans up all Ukrainian legislation from outdated terminology, such as “cities of oblast, republican, and rayon significance”, and the like. The draft law also extends the powers of local governments in various areas to the entire territory of the community, without limiting them to the administrative centre, as is currently the case in some acts,’ commented Vitalii Bezgin, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Administrative and Territorial Structure and Local Self-Government of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organisation of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning.

Click here for the infographic ‘10 key draft laws to support and develop communities and territories’