The Law Enforcement Committee Left a Loophole for Evading Criminal Liability in Draft Law No. 12439

At today’s meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Law Enforcement Committee, members of parliament revisited the decision of August 27, 2025, on draft law No. 12439. There is a high likelihood that the previously identified flaws have not been corrected. The committee recommended that parliament pass this draft law at second reading and in full.

Although the draft law is presented as “protecting business”, in substance, it contains provisions that would only create additional obstacles for law enforcement investigations, including by opening the door to corruption that undermines the normal development of business. 

Since the committee meeting was not broadcast, we can assume that the harmful provisions introduced in August 2025 were not removed. They include:

• Treating actions taken on the basis of government clarifications as non-criminal. Proposed Article 41-1 sets out no criteria whatsoever for assessing the lawfulness of such clarifications. Instead, it grants immunity for any actions taken “on the basis of clarifications,” even where that clarification contradicts the law or is clearly unlawful. This creates far broader opportunities for abuse.
• Allowing investigators’ decisions refusing access to materials to be challenged before an investigating judge, even where disclosure at that stage could harm the pretrial investigation. In practice, this could force investigators, during court hearings, to disclose information protected by the secrecy of the pretrial investigation, since no special procedure has been established for reviewing such complaints.
• Narrowing the list of criminal offenses for which urgent searches may be conducted. As a result, this investigative tool would become almost unavailable for uncovering corruption, except in cases of passive bribery under Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

We discussed these concerns in more detail in a separate article.

In this way, parliament is poised to do business yet another disservice. Instead of adopting sound legislation that minimizes the risks of inconsistent interpretation and pressure on business, it is creating additional opportunities for the shadow economy. As a result, dishonest businesses will only strengthen their position in the market, while these amendments will make competition harder for legitimate businesses and create even more obstacles for the NABU and the SAPO in investigating corruption.

Until it is clear that all harmful provisions have been removed from the draft law, Members of Parliament should refrain from voting for it.