On July 04 Committee on Transport Matters of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has recommended for consideration and adoption the Draft Law No. 7385 ‘On Amending Some Legal Acts of Ukraine Concerning Promotion of Marine Industry Development’, with remarks voiced by MPs in the course of the Committee’s meeting.
As per the Committee’s Vice Chairman Borys Kozyr, the bill’s authors are 11 members of the body. “The bill is aimed at implementation of international law, improvement of the marine sector’s investment rating, creation of conditions for prospective investors”, as noted the MP.
This draft law envisages changes in 10 laws in force, namely Water Code of Ukraine, and the Laws ‘On Sea Ports’, ‘On Transport’, ‘On Border Control’, ‘On Environmental Impact Assessment’, etc.
Borys Kozyr as a co-author of the draft has also noted that there are novelties worth to be mentioned as follows: facilitation of operational dredging procedures in sea ports and inland waterways, facilitation of investments into infrastructure objects, monopolization of pilotage services, implementation of EC Directives regarding ‘single maritime window’, etc.
These novelties were greeted by business representatives, first of all regarding regular dredging, e.g. Olga Kopeyka from EBA observed: “Design depths must be maintained continuously, but approval of financial plans and all bureaucratic procedures take a lot of time, as a result the regular dredging is not provided in time and ports cannot develop”.
As for the lease of assets, she reminded that the corresponding Law of Ukraine already enables public companies to lend public assets up to the limit of 200 sq. m, so the berths also can be leased, only detailed procedures are required for USPA to provide it.
The bill as well states that only state enterprises and organisations may render such services as: vessel traffic separation, navigational and hydrographical support of shipping, cartographic support, and pilotage. The last item is a point of discontent from the EBA, as well as some issues concerning the sea ports register keeping, USPA actions in emergencies, purposeful use of port dues, all subject to consideration between the first and second readings.
And also, it is suggested to amend Article 1 of the Law On Sea Ports about USPA, removing the clause necessitating establishment of separate USPA branches in each port.
Sources: https://cfts.org.ua/news/2018/07/04/parlamentu_rekomenduyut_prinyat_zakonoproekt_napravlennyy_na_razvitie_morekhozyaystvennogo_kompleksa_48128
https://cfts.org.ua/news/2018/07/05/biznes_podderzhivaet_zakonoproekt_7385_kasayuschiysya_razvitiya_morekhozyaystvennogo_kompleksa_48131