Draft of the New Civil Code Passed the First Reading.

On 28 April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading, as a basis (taking into account the Committee’s proposals), the draft Civil Code of Ukraine (No. 15150).

The purpose of the document is to recodify and comprehensively modernize private (civil) law through the adoption of a new Civil Code as an integrated codified act.

Key innovations include:

1. “Boni Mores” Principle: Private legal relations will be governed taking into account moral norms and standards of ethical conduct established in society.
2. Digital Assets: The Code introduces and recognizes “digital objects,” including virtual assets, domain names, and user accounts.
3. Pre-Contractual Liability: The draft introduces an obligation to compensate actual damages caused by bad-faith negotiations or abrupt termination of negotiations (culpa in contrahendo).
4. Protection of Rights: The concept of judicial penalty payments (astreinte) is introduced — a monetary penalty imposed for each day of non-compliance with a court decision in non-pecuniary disputes.
5. Interpretation of Contracts: The draft establishes the contra proferentem principle, according to which unclear contractual provisions shall be interpreted against the party that proposed them.