Almost every Ukrainian has seen the “Work Abroad” ad with offers of mediation services for job search, in particular, in EU countries. Usually, the searcher had to pay the intermediary a certain amount of money in advance for such services – but there were no guarantees that the intermediary would really find him a job, and not steal the money and disappear.
According to statistics, in 2017, 12,400 Ukrainians went to work in Poland, although invitations for employment in this country were given to as many as 1.7 million of our citizens. Accordingly, the license issued by the Ministry of Economy to intermediary companies and international employment agencies, which was created to protect Ukrainians, does not actually work properly.
On March 20, 2023, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Protection of the Rights of Labor Migrants and Combating Fraud in Employment Abroad”, which was sent to the President of Ukraine for signature.
The law removes the license for the business activity of mediation in employment abroad and replaces it with the “notifiable principle”. From now on, intermediary companies will only notify the Ministry of Economy that they plan to mediate employment abroad by submitting a declaration. At the same time, state bodies of control and supervision will retain the right to inspect such companies.
In addition, the provision of the mentioned Law creates additional mechanisms for the protection of Ukrainian job seekers:
- it is forbidden to take money for intermediation services in the search for a job abroad from job seekers – instead, such services must be paid by the company looking for employees;
- violating companies will be fined for collecting from citizens any fees, commissions, rewards, other types of payment for employment mediation services in Ukraine or abroad (from three thousand five hundred to four thousand non-taxable minimum income of citizens).
Accordingly, the international employment market will be gradually legalized, which will help create a normal competitive environment and ensure transparent business operations. And this, in turn, will increase revenues to the state budget in the form of taxes and protect Ukrainians from paying money to fraudsters or unscrupulous businessmen.
Revoking the license for intermediary companies on the international labor market was one of the recommendations of the Interagency Working Group on the Issues of Accelerated Review of the Instruments of State Regulation of Economic Activity (MRG on Deregulation). The group is headed by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko and Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. The meetings are also attended by representatives of leading analytical centres, in particular BRDO.