We invite you to familiarize yourself with a selection of key changes in legislation related to the activities of civil society organizations. In the July issue for the first half of the month, the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research has collected the main topics worth knowing about:
- Movement of draft laws on changes in the field of lobbying;
- Entry into force of changes in the field of youth policy;
- Changes in the conditions for granting state grants from the Ukrainian Veterans Fund;
- Public discussion of the criteria for the critical importance of humanitarian organizations.
Read more about these changes and find out how they will affect the work of CSOs.
Adopted legal acts
The law on improving the mechanisms of financial support for the implementation of youth policy has entered into force
What the law is about: From now on, youth and children's CSOs can expect the following changes:
- the concept of a grant in the field of youth policy has been expanded to include not only grants from the state and/or local budgets, international technical assistance (as a budgetary subsidy), but also from voluntary contributions of individuals and legal entities, including foreign ones, and other sources not prohibited by law;
- the tasks of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation are to provide grants and implement certain tasks and measures of youth policy defined by state targeted programs The Foundation will publish information on projects supported by it in the public domain;
- youth and children's CSOs may cooperate with government authorities, non-governmental organizations, youth centers and other youth institutions of foreign countries, international organizations on issues related to the scope of activities of such CSOs.
Why it is important: Changes in the legislation on youth policy open up new prospects for the development of youth NGOs. Thanks to the updated regulations, such organizations will be able to attract financial support from a wider range of sources, including charitable contributions and international technical assistance. This, in turn, will help to expand the number of youth initiatives that receive support, as well as strengthen the institutional capacity of the organizations themselves. Opportunities for international cooperation, participation in international programs and partnership initiatives are expanding. An important achievement is also the increased transparency of the Ukrainian Youth Foundation.
The Government changed the Procedure for the Use of Funds, Enterprises, Institutions and Organizations of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs
What are the changes about: The Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a number of amendments to the Procedure for the use of funds provided for enterprises, institutions and organizations subordinated to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, including the Ukrainian Veterans Fund.
Thus, grants from the UWF can now be received by public associations whose head or member of the collegial executive body is a veteran or a member of a veteran's family, provided that other conditions of paragraph 6 of item 5 of the Procedure are met.
At the same time, CSOs that have already received budget grants from the Foundation, unless they submit an application for participation in the competitive selection no earlier than three years after the Foundation approves the final report on the implementation of the budget grant agreement they received, as well as participate in the competitive selection of a project in an area not related to the area in which the project has already been implemented at the expense of a budget grant received from the Foundation, will not be able to receive a budget grant.
Why it is important: The changes directly affect the ability of veterans' NGOs to receive funding from the Ukrainian Veterans Fund and create additional conditions for participation for such organizations that should be taken into account when applying for a state grant from the UVF.
Other changes related to the legal acts
The parliamentary committees have considered the proposed amendments to the lobbying legislation
The Committee on Legal Policy considered draft laws No. 13339, 13339-1, and the Committee on Law Enforcement considered draft laws No. 13340, 13340-1.
Conclusions of the committees: Based on the results of the consideration, draft laws No. 13339 and 13340-1 were recommended to be adopted as a basis, and draft laws No. 13339-1 and 13340 were rejected.
It is worth reminding that draft law No. 13339 proposes a number of amendments to the Law on Lobbying, in particular, changes to the concept of commercial interest, exclusion from the scope of the Law of activities of representative offices or separate subdivisions of CSOs, other non-profit enterprises, institutions and organizations; it is proposed to allow foreign legal entities - lobbying entities that have the status of non-profit under the legislation of a foreign state and operate in Ukraine through their representative offices. For more details on all the proposed changes, please see our digest.
Draft Law No. 13340-1, in turn, proposes to postpone the introduction of administrative liability for violation of lobbying legislation for 12 months from the date of enactment of the Law on Lobbying.
Why it is important: The draft laws envisage a number of changes to the current lobbying legislation that are important for civil society organizations, in particular those engaged in advocacy activities. The proposed changes are aimed at clarifying the areas of responsibility, defining the boundaries of lobbying activities and introducing new formats of interaction between lobbyists and authorities. Overall, the legislative initiatives have the potential to increase transparency and streamline lobbying. At the same time, it is important for civil society to remain vigilant to ensure that the right to participate in democratic processes is not restricted under the guise of regulation.
Public discussion of legal acts
The public discussion of the Criteria and Procedure for Determining Public Associations Included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations as Critically Important is underway.
The Ministry of Social Policy is holding a public discussion of the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On Approval of the Criteria and Procedure for Determining Public Associations with the Status of a Legal Entity, Charitable Organizations, and Religious Organizations Included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations as Critical”.
What the draft resolution is about: The document proposes to grant the status of a critical organization to public associations with the status of a legal entity, charitable organizations, religious organizations included in the Register of Non-Profit Institutions and Organizations if they meet the criteria set out in the Resolution: confirmed tax reporting, paid unified social tax, submitted all monthly reports on the availability and distribution of humanitarian aid, have a public annual report, public integrity policy, an active website, and an audit report. The Ministry of Social Policy will define such organizations as critical if the volume of aid for the last 12 months before the application is at least UAH 10 million per person liable for military service, which is offered for booking for the period of mobilization and for the period of martial law in Ukraine.
Why it is important: The possibility of booking employees of humanitarian organizations for the period of martial law is intended to facilitate the smooth operation of such organizations and, accordingly, to meet the humanitarian needs of the population during the special period.
The discussion will last until July 23. To take part in the discussion, you need to log in to the website of the Ministry of Social Policy and take part in the voting by following the link.
The digest is produced by NGO “Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research” with the support of the Askold and Dir Fund as a part of the the Strong Civil Society of Ukraine - a Driver towards Reforms and Democracy project, implemented by ISAR Ednannia, funded by Norway and Sweden. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of UCIPR and can in no way be taken to reflect the views the Government of Norway, the Government of Sweden and ISAR Ednannia.
Read also: Legislative Changes for the Civic Sector: Digest for the Second Half of June 2025 from the UCIPR