The draft law “On the Principles of the Administrative and Territorial Structure of Ukraine”, developed by MinRegion and approved by the Government, was registered in the Verkhovna Rada under number 8051.

Within the framework of the current Constitution, the draft law defines the principles upon which the administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine should be based, types of settlements, system of administrative-territorial units, powers of state authorities and local self-government bodies on issues of administrative and territorial structure, procedure for the formation, liquidation, establishment and changes in the boundaries of administrative-territorial units and settlements, maintenance of the State Register of administrative-territorial units and settlements of Ukraine.

In particular, the draft law specifies that the system of administrative-territorial units remains three-tiered. It is envisaged that the rayon level should be more streamlined and comply with the European standards.

In addition, the draft law more clearly defines the notion of “hromada” as an administrative-territorial unit of the basic level, which consists of one or several settlements and land outside their boundaries. The hromada “is a territorial basis for the implementation of local self-government by the residents of settlements located on the hromada’s territory, formation and activities of local self-government bodies.”