Historically, at the end of the year, municipalities work on a draft decision on the budget for the next year. Under martial law, municipalities and military administrations have certain restrictions on the publication of a finalised budget decision, but the situation is changing now. Maryna Honcharenko, Adviser on Local Finance and Management at the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Kharkiv Oblast, talked about this during consultations for finance professionals from municipalities of the Kharkiv Oblast.
Legal framework.
The obligation to publish the decision on the local budget is set forth in Part 5 of Article 28 of the Budget Code of Ukraine which states that the decision on the local budget is subject to mandatory publication, within 10 days upon adoption, in newspapers determined by the local council.
The Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” also stipulates the publication of the decision. Namely, according to Part 2 of Article 15, the decision on the local budget must be made public immediately, but in any case within five banking days from the date of approval of the document.
If the information processor has an official website, the information must be published on the website, indicating the date of publication of the document and the date of updating the information.
Furthermore, note that the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” sets forth requirements for the publication of draft decisions. Pursuant to Part 4 of Article 15, drafts of laws, regulations and decisions of local self-government bodies, developed by the competent processors, must be made public by the processors at least 10 banking days before the date of their review for the purpose of adoption.
Current requirements for the publication of budget information.
Local self-government bodies must ensure the publication of information on local budgets, including decisions on the local budget and quarterly reports on their implementation.
Pursuant to Part 4 of Article 28 of the Budget Code of Ukraine, the executive bodies of the competent local councils shall ensure publication of the following on their official websites or otherwise in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”:
- local budget forecast: within five days upon approval (although medium-term budget planning was suspended under martial law, it is expected to resume in 2024);
- draft decision on the local budget: within three banking days upon submission to the competent local council;
- decision on the local budget: within ten days upon adoption;
- information on the implementation of the local budget: based on the results of the month, quarter, year.
What are the restrictions on the disclosure of information under martial law?
Restricted access applies to the information that meets the requirements provided for in Part 2 of Article 6 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information” rather than to the entire document. If the document contains restricted information, only the public information should be released.
Note that information on expenditures for territorial defence activities and efforts must not be made public, since, according to Part 4 of Article 23 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Foundations of National Resistance”, the procurement of goods, works and services to meet the needs of the resistance movement constitutes a state secret and must be conducted according to the defence procurement procedures established by law.
Specific features of the publication of budget information by military administrations.
An important point for the municipalities where military administrations are established is that the Amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 252 dated 11 March 2022, which were introduced on 28 April 2023, deleted paragraph 8 of Clause 2. According to this paragraph, military administrations were to manage the funds of local budgets without making laws, regulations and other documents used during the budget process public. Indeed, when forming budgets for 2023, military administrations were not allowed to make budget information public. However, as of today, military administrations must make budget documents, including draft decisions and decisions on local budgets, public on a general basis.
Where can the budget decision be published if access to the official website of the municipality is lost?
How to provide municipalities with access to information? What resources should be used for this? The answer to these questions can be found in Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”.
The Law stipulates that access to information must be ensured by its regular and prompt publication in official printed media; on official websites on the Internet; on the unified state web portal of open data; at information stands; otherwise. The Law also requires local self-government bodies to provide clarifications to requests for information.