The inspection system in Ukraine is transforming towards a risk-oriented approach. Inspection authorities from now on will focus on a transparent assessment of business entities and risk prevention. At the same time, business owners will be better informed on the timing and purpose of the inspection.
An integrated portal www.inspections.gov.ua with a range of instruments for transparent and predictable online state-business interaction has already been launched. 26 of 33 inspection agencies have already joined the portal and published information about their inspections. As of October 2018, almost 250 thousand plans and about 48 thousand results of inspections have been published in this single system. New risk criteria are in the process of approval, and this will allow to plan control measures in a more effective way.
On October 17, the Better Regulation Delivery Office (BRDO) with the support of the EU4Business|FORBIZ project presented the first results of the Inspection Reform, as well as, further steps of its implementation at the Inspection Forum #PEREVIROK.NET, which took place in Kyiv as part of the “European Entrepreneurship Week”.
“The Government took number of necessary steps, required to launch a new risk management system. It should be noted that the majority of regulatory authorities have already joined this effort. Our goal is to fully implement the risk-oriented system of inspections starting from the beginning of 2019. Therefore, I insist that all inspection authorities should approve the risk criteria in their areas and join the single portal of inspections by the end of this year,” noted Volodymyr Groysman, the Prime Minister of Ukraine.
Hugues Mingarelli, the EU Ambassador to Ukraine, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine stressed the importance of developing a transparent inspection system for further implementation of reforms in Ukraine. “The institutional capacity, including a transparent, effective control system, is a necessary component of a favorable business climate. Business is developing when there are clear and predictable rules in the market. As a result of Inspection Reform, entrepreneurs can better plan their activities, achieve better results, enter international markets and contribute to the development of the country’s economy as a whole,” he said.
In the spring, the Government approved a new risk management methodology, and the task of inspections is to identify a list of hazards for each area of control and develop a combination of criteria for identifying risks and planning inspections efficiently. At the moment, the most progress in adopting the new, transparent system has been made by regulatory authorities in charge of fire, technological safety, security and tourism.
“The new system is aimed at risk management, rather than an ineffective documentation of violations that are identified today in 99% of inspections. We create the integrated Big Data portal with a whole array of data and the possibility of their qualitative analysis. From now on the businesses will have a clear and comprehensive information about inspection requirements and opportunity to reduce the risks of their activities. This will significantly reduce instances of abuse and make the system more effective and predictable,” the BRDO Head Oleksiy Honcharuk said.
This new system will allow to rate business entities and facilities in terms of risk points in each area in order to focus on the prevention of hazards that are of the highest risk.
The event was also attended by Kseniya Lyapina, Head of the State Regulatory Service, Maksym Nefyodov, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Oleksiy Kudryavtsev, Head of the State Architectural and Construction Inspectorate, Volodymyr Lapa, Head of the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service, Roman Chernega, Head of the State Labor Service, Oleksandr Vlasov, Acting Head of the State Fiscal Service, Kateryna Hlazkova, Executive Director of the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs, Anna Derevyanko, Executive Director of the European Business Association, Tetyana Prokopchuk, Vice President at American Chamber of Commerce as well as numerous business representatives and members of the public.
The Inspection Portal instruments are already available in their test mode at www.inspections.gov.ua. They will be fully operational from 1 January 2019. For this purpose, inspection agencies were tasked to approve new forms of inspection acts and publish the information on inspections by the end of this year. In November, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine supported by USAID / UK aid project “Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services / TAPAS” will begin working on upgrades to the Inspection Portal.