The Law on the Restoration of E-Declaration entered into force on 12 October 2023, giving rise to numerous requests for clarification of legal changes to the local Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe among the municipalities of the Kherson Oblast. Among the most common questions is whether employees of the local self-government should include real estate located in temporarily occupied territories in their declarations.
Viktoriia Kopchak, Adviser on Decentralisation and Local Self-Government a the Regional Office, reported that due to the full-scale invasion, 32 municipalities of the Kherson Oblast on the left bank of the Dnipro River were temporarily occupied. As of the end of last year, declarations are once again required to be filed, so local self-government officials and military administration employees naturally had questions about the procedure for declaring real estate located in temporarily occupied municipalities.
According to the Clarifications of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention on Financial Integrity No. 4 dated 13 November 2023, the declaration filer must declare information about any real estate privately owned by them and their family members or to which they and their family have the right of ownership or use, including any real estate located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Pursuant to Article Article 4, 11 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine”, the temporarily occupied territories are subject to a special legal regime regarding transactions as well as exercising and ensuring human and citizen rights and freedoms:
“The National Agency emphasises that Individuals, companies, institutions, organisations retain ownership and other property rights to property. That is why real estate in the temporarily occupied territories is subject to declaration. The legal basis for this is the requirement to declare any property acquired in accordance with the laws of Ukraine (Part 3, Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine”),” said Viktoriia Kopchak.
Furthermore, according to the adviser, the ownership of real estate located in the temporarily occupied territories can be acquired and terminated in accordance with the laws of Ukraine outside the temporarily occupied territories. However, any real estate transaction, including land plots, executed in the temporarily occupied territories in violation of the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” or other laws of Ukraine is considered null and void upon execution and is not binding except in relation to its invalidity.
Another important point is that the funds received as a result of a transaction in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are to be declared in Section 11 “Income, including gifts” of the declaration. In case of a transaction related to property located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine that is executed in compliance with the Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and the Legal Regime in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine” and other laws of Ukraine, information about the transaction must be declared in Section 14 “Expenses and transactions of the declaration filer” of the declaration (subject to the rules for displaying information in this Section).
The declaration campaign for the 2023 reporting period is currently ongoing and declaration filers have until 31 March 2024 inclusive, although, naturally, we recommend against leaving the submission of declarations until the last days. If the declaration filer made a mistake, a corrected declaration can be submitted within 30 days after the declaration was submitted. The correction can be made personally by the declaration filer in their personal electronic account.
Check out up-to-date clarifications of the NACP regarding declaration here.