UNBA representatives will be involved in the draft law work of the Verkhovna Rada Legal Policy Committee - Valery Bozhyk

The sitting of the Bar Council of Ukraine on September 10, 2021, which is being held in Chernivtsi city, was attended by the People's Deputy of Ukraine, Deputy Head of the Committee on Legal Policy of the Verkhovna Rada Valeriy Bozhyk.

He congratulated the members of the BCU on the start of work and told about the legislative initiatives related to the bar.

In particular, he expressed the belief that there is no threat of the adoption of the bill №1013 on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the abolition of the lawyer's monopoly). As you know, this bill was introduced in 2019 as the urgent one, received an opinion of the Constitutional Court and is currently being considered by the relevant Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. At the same time, the legal community was very active in defending the position that this document contradicts both European standards and the rights of citizens of Ukraine and insisted on preserving the exclusive constitutional right of the bar to representation.

"At the beginning of our term, there was a threat of abolishing the lawyer's monopoly. Now I will say that there is no such threat. Maybe I`m predicting wrong, but it is unlikely that this issue will be raised in the near future, " Valeriy Bozhyk said.

In addition, the People's Deputy stressed that the parliament supports the UNBA in the issue of simplifying the taxation of attorneys.

"We had a meeting of the Committee, before the meeting the consultations were held. All agreed that there is an urgent need to resolve the issue of reaching the understanding with the NACP, namely the declaration of members of the bar self-government. In addition, our Committee is in active dialogue with the Customs Policy Committee concerning the taxation of attorneys, namely the possibility of usage of a single tax and a simplified taxation system. I personally argue that this would be positive for both attorneys and the state, because in this case it is possible to declare absolutely everything. It would be useful for everyone and the possibility of a certain system in the country, "Valeriy Bozhyk said.

He also notified that in the framework of cooperation between the UNBA and the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, attorneys will be widely involved in all working groups.

"We have constant contact with the National Bar Association, and we have agreed that we will widely involve attorneys in all working groups, especially to those issues that will relate to the bar," Valeriy Bozhyk said.

We will remind, that the UNBA addressed Parliament in July, 2021 concerning modification of the Tax code. In particular, the UNBA initiates amendments to the tax legislation in terms of eliminating discrimination, which is currently established concerning the attorneys in comparison with individuals. Namely - to allow attorneys to use a simplified system of taxation without registration as an individual entrepreneur.