State administration in the field of fisheries will be relaunched.
The Parliament of Ukraine adopted in the second reading the revolutionary draft law No. 7616, which will positively affect the development of the “fish business” in Ukraine.
The document was developed by specialists of the BRDO together with the State Agency of Reclamation and Fisheries of Ukraine, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and business representatives.
What does draft law No. 7616 change?
One of the main novelties of the draft law is the introduction of transparent procedures for the distribution of aquatic biological resources, the development of conditions for preventing monopoly in the fishing industry and attracting new business entities to the market.
The document also provides the following:
- creation of the Single state electronic management system for the fishery industry and digital transformation of the procedures for issuing permit documents in the fishery industry;
- introduction of the mechanism of declaring the right to fishing in electronic form;
- legislative basis for the implementation of the system of traceability of aquatic biological resources;
- providing all fishing vessels without exception with means of remote control;
- establishment of legislative requirements for the activity of fish reception points as an important component of the system of traceability and accounting of harvested aquatic biological resources;
- settlement of lease relationships regarding the lease of hydro-technical structures for aquaculture and hydro-technical structures of technological fishery reservoirs.
The law will increase revenue to local budgets, reduce business time spent on obtaining permit documents in electronic form, and reduce the administrative burden on employees of the State Fisheries Agency. As a result, the number of new users of aquatic biological resources will increase and the quality and diversity of the industry’s products will increase.
What is e-commerce, and why is it important?
Draft law No. 7616 should also finally introduce transparent electronic auctions for the right to industrial extraction of aquatic biological resources.
These auctions are an important component of the fisheries reform in Ukraine. They were approved by Government Resolution No. 1479 as of December 30, 2022.
Currently, 255 auctions have been held in the state electronic trading system Prozorro.Sales, and more than 170 contracts have been concluded with the winners of electronic auctions.
As a result, the state has already received UAH 106 million in 2023. This figure is ten times higher than in previous years. In particular, for the whole of 2022, only UAH 10.2 million was paid for the special use of aquatic biological resources.
Law No. 7616 will make it possible to consolidate such a mechanism for the realization of rights not only as an experimental project but will make auctions a solid basis for the work of the industry.
We are grateful to the MPs for their support of the important document, and we continue to work on the reform of the fishery industry of Ukraine.