Government approves draft law abolishing mandatory use of seals in certain areas

On July 31, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a draft law that finalizes the transition to voluntary use of seals, which began back in 2014.

“Today we proposed removing outdated requirements for the mandatory use of seals in two more laws. If Parliament supports this decision, entrepreneurs will no longer be obliged to use seals — only if they choose to do so. This next stage of deregulation will complete a reform that has been ongoing for over 10 years,” explained Oleksii Sobolev, Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.

The draft law proposes amendments to the current laws “On Employers’ Organizations, Their Associations, Rights, and Guarantees of Their Activity” and “On Capital Markets and Organized Commodity Markets.”

If the draft is approved by Parliament, the mandatory use of seals will be abolished for:

• Employers’ organizations — on minutes of meetings or conferences at which employer associations were created;
• Banks — on bank savings certificates.

Background: The transition to voluntary use of seals began in 2014 with the adoption of the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Simplify the Procedure for Starting a Business.” Since then, the regulatory framework, with few exceptions, has been freed from rules mandating the use of seals and stamps.