Businesses ask to extend reservation of critical employees during suspension of reservation in Diia – EBA

Member companies of the European Business Association (EBA) propose to consider the possibility of automatically extending existing reservations in the Oberih register for 60 days for critical employees of companies for the duration of the suspension of the reservation procedure through the Diia portal, EBA reported on its website on Monday.

"Earlier, a government protocol decision was made to conduct an audit of enterprises deemed critical for the economy and essential for the livelihood of the population during the special period and to suspend the issuance of orders granting the status of critical enterprises until at least November 15 this year," the report says.

"On October 20, the procedure for electronic reservation of critical company personnel via the Diia portal was abruptly halted. Additionally, according to available information, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine has suspended the issuance of orders for reservations for companies that applied through the paper-based version of the procedure," it reads.

"Businesses are extremely concerned about the current state of affairs, particularly the lack of official communication from the authorities. At present, businesses, which are the primary source of defense funding for the state, are unclear about how the reservation procedure will be conducted and how to plan their operational activities going forward. Besides its destructive impact on domestic business, this situation sends negative signals to our international partners, investors, and clients. The sudden increase in taxes on compliant businesses, followed by this “pause” in staff reservations, undermines the confidence of foreign partners in the ability of Ukrainian businesses to fulfil contract obligations, jeopardizing future orders and cooperation," the EBA said.

"There are also questions regarding the legality of suspending the reservation procedure for the audit, as this is not provided for in the relevant law on mobilization training and mobilization or the aforementioned government decision," it added.

"As a possible temporary solution, businesses propose the option of automatically extending the validity of existing reservations in the Oberih register for 60 calendar days for all critical company employees whose reservations are due to expire during the audit period plus three days (since Diia processes applications within 72 hours), i.e., from October 17 to November 18," reads the report.

"The European Business Association also hopes to resume dialogue with the authorities regarding the reservation processes and to have business feedback considered when making such important decisions," it said.