A bill has now been registered with the Verkhovna Rada aimed at comprehensively regulating the activities of the BEB, resolve technical inconsistencies in the legislation that arose after the bureau’s establishment, and definitively replace references to the dissolved tax police with the current agency.
Expanding Investigative Capabilities: Access to Expert Opinions
One of the important procedural changes provided for in the draft law “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of the Legal Regulation of the Activities of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine” (No. 14207) is an amendment to the Law “On Forensic Examination.”
Currently, the Economic Security Bureau conducts pretrial investigations into a number of criminal
offenses (in particular, under Articles 192, 2091, 232, and 358 of the Criminal Code). However, in the current version of Article 71 of the relevant law, the Economic Security Bureau is not included in the list of agencies authorized to request an expert opinion when investigating the circumstances of a criminal offense.
The draft law proposes replacing the outdated wording “an agency responsible for monitoring compliance with tax legislation” with “the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine.” This will provide UEB detectives with legitimate grounds to engage experts during the preliminary inquiry stage, which will enhance the effectiveness of investigations.
Access to Insurance Confidentiality
Significant changes are proposed to the Law “On Insurance.” The current version of the law, adopted in 2021, does not grant the Economic Security Bureau the right to obtain information constituting insurance secrets, although the previous version (from 1996) granted such powers to law enforcement agencies in the economic sphere.
Amendments to Article 113 of the law are proposed, specifically:
The BEB is included in the list of authorities upon whose written request insurers are required to disclose confidential information;
this right is exercised in the event of the initiation of criminal proceedings against a natural or legal person, with a mandatory reference to such proceedings.
This will enable the BEB to more effectively combat offenses that undermine the state’s economy, particularly in the insurance sector.
Cooperation with Military Administrations
Given the legal regime of martial law, the draft law establishes the obligation of military and military-civilian administrations to facilitate the activities of the BEB.
Amendments are being made to two laws:
“On Military-Civilian Administrations”: The BEB is added to the list of agencies (along with the SBU, National Police, and NABU) that are supported by the military-civilian administrations of populated areas.
“On the Legal Regime of Martial Law”: Similar amendments are made to Article 15, obligating military administrations to facilitate the activities of the BEB in the relevant territory.
This will ensure proper coordination between local self-government bodies (or their substitutes) and BEB detectives during wartime.
Parliamentary Oversight and the Final Abolition of the “Tax Police”
The draft law closes legal loopholes in the Law “On Temporary Investigative Commissions and Temporary Special Commissions of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.”
Specifically, Article 12 of this law currently refers to the possibility of involving “tax police” officers in investigations. Since this agency has been abolished, it is proposed to replace these words with “Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine.”
This will allow the Verkhovna Rada to legitimately involve UEB employees in the work of temporary investigative commissions with the consent of their superiors, ensuring the effective exercise of parliamentary oversight.
“Technical,” but Extremely Necessary
In summary, it is worth noting the main goal of the bill—“legislative cleanup.” In essence, this document is “technical” but absolutely essential for the Bureau’s proper functioning.
Outdated references to the “tax police” and tax compliance enforcement agencies are being removed from the laws and replaced with the Bureau of Economic Security; The EBS is included in the list of agencies authorized to request expert opinions when investigating the circumstances of criminal offenses, which is important for the effective investigation of minor economic crimes under the EBS’s jurisdiction, A gap in the new “Insurance” Law—which “forgot” to grant the EBS the right to access insurance secrets, a right previously held by the tax police—is being corrected. The law also establishes the obligation of military administrations and military-civilian administrations to facilitate the activities of the BEB, which will ensure legitimate cooperation between investigators and local authorities in frontline territories and in areas subject to martial law.
Author: Bogdan Zabara, Barrister
Source: https://zib.com.ua/ua/169932-zapovnennya_zakonodavchih_progalin_analiz_proektu_14207_scho.html