Law on ARMA reform officially published.

On July 29, the Holos Ukrainy newspaper officially published Law No. 4503-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Strengthen the Institutional Capacity of the National Agency of Ukraine for Detection, Investigation, and Asset Management Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes, and to Improve Asset Management Mechanisms,” which fundamentally changes the system for managing seized assets.

The law enters into force and becomes effective the day after its publication, except for paragraph 19 of Section I, which will take effect six months after the law’s entry into force.

According to the press service of the Verkhovna Rada Secretariat, the law aims to create conditions for economically efficient and corruption-resistant management of seized assets and to address existing institutional shortcomings that hinder the National Agency’s ability to fulfill its functions of detecting, tracing, and managing assets obtained from corruption and other crimes.

Key innovations of the ARMA reform include the introduction of an independent audit of the National Agency, a new competitive procedure for selecting the Agency’s head with the participation of international experts, and improvements to seized asset management processes.

In particular, the law updates the procedure for selecting candidates for the positions of Head and staff of the National Agency. It introduces best practices for involving international partners in the selection commission for the position of the Agency’s Head.

The approaches to selecting managers for seized assets and managing such assets are also changing. The new approach provides for the division of assets into simple and complex categories, asset identification procedures, and audits of the efficiency of seized asset management.