The Ministry of Defense has initiated an audit of critical enterprises, the companies point to the destabilization of work
Ukrainian businesses are concerned about the lack of communication regarding employee booking and potential changes in the procedure. This is stated in the article by Forbes Ukraine.
Currently, only employees of enterprises that are critical to the economy can get a reservation. To do this, they must meet three of the seven criteria set out in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 76, but one of them can be set by territorial communities (regional military administration, OVA).
The European Business Association, five companies and an association representing the interests of IT business have already reported problems with obtaining the status of a critical enterprise.
“The decision to re-confirm the status of a critical enterprise is simply “hanging” in the relevant authorities,” the EBA said in a statement.
In particular, enterprises belonging to the Metinvest Group have been waiting for more than a month to receive critical infrastructure status.
“Unfortunately, with the statutory deadline of 10 days, more than a month has passed, and the Ministry of Economy has not reviewed the submitted documents,” the company’s press service said in a commentary.
The reason for this, according to Forbes’ interlocutors in the Defense Ministry and the government, is an audit of companies that already have reservations initiated by the Defense Ministry at the request of the president and the military. The Ministry of Economy is not the only government agency that can recognize an enterprise as critical. Other ministries, executive agencies, etc. have the same powers.
“All bodies, including ministries, do not make decisions on the criticality of enterprises until the audit is completed,” the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs said in a response.
This is confirmed by the publication’s sources in the Presidential Administration and the Cabinet of Ministers.
Businesses are most concerned about potential changes to the booking procedure. According to the Interpipe press service, this issue is the most important for business after security. The more frequent the changes, the more unpredictable the work. The company notes that all of its enterprises have the status of critical to the economy and are ready to confirm it if necessary.
“If the government reduces the criteria for booking employees or the percentage of those who can be subject to it, it will affect the production process and professions that are exclusively male,” said a top manager of one of the largest grocery chains on condition of anonymity.
Metinvest also complains that some local TCCs ignore the Cabinet of Ministers’ Resolution No. 516 on the automatic three-month extension of the deferral from mobilization, which was valid as of May 7, 2024.
Further mobilization of high-level specialists will sooner or later lead to a loss of ability not only to support the regions of presence and fill the state budget with tax revenues, but also to a decrease in charitable assistance to the Defense Forces, the company’s press service noted.
The EBA believes that business needs a predictable booking mechanism. Recently, the EBA has been receiving more frequent requests from companies that cannot reconfirm their criticality status, and given the dynamics of requests, the problem is becoming systemic.
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