Ukrainian parliament approves bill reducing pressure on business

A total of 365 MPs voted for the bill at a parliament meeting on Tuesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

Some 304 MPs also supported halving the time needed to prepare the bill for second reading.

"The bill is aimed at eliminating the practice of applying Article 205 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine as a tool of abuse and in a way that is not consistent with the purpose of criminal liability, as well as humanizing criminal liability for tax evasion," reads the explanatory note.

The draft law proposes excluding Article 205 from the Criminal Code according to which it is a crime to create or acquire business entities (legal entities) for the purpose of covering illegal activities or activities that have been prohibited.

The bill also envisages an increase in the amount of actual non-receipt of taxes, fees and other mandatory payments to the budget in order to establish the presence of signs of criminal offenses envisaged by Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The authors of the bill are a group of MPs from the Servant of the People faction.

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