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ATTENTION! ALL THOSE INVOLVED IN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE

INSTRUCTION ON THE PROVISION AND RECEIPT OF HUMANITARIAN AID DURING THE INTRODUCTION OF MARTIAL LAW IN UKRAINE

In connection with the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, on the basis of the proposal of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, in accordance with paragraph 20 of part one of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial State” by Decree No. 64/2022 of February 24, 2022, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky introduced martial law in Ukraine from February 24, 2022.

The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, as a specially authorized central executive body for ensuring equal rights and opportunities for women and men, providing humanitarian assistance, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Humanitarian Aid”, recognizes cargoes, funds, including in foreign currency, work performed, provided with humanitarian assistance services; monitors the transportation, receipt, preservation, protection, storage, distribution, targeted use, accounting for humanitarian aid, preparation of relevant statistical reports; exercises, within the limits of the powers provided for by law, control over the activities of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional, Kiev and Sevastopol city state administrations; maintains the Unified Register of Recipients of Humanitarian Assistance.

This has led to the fact that humanitarian supplies can be received on the territory of Ukraine only by organizations that are defined in the Unified Register of Recipients of Humanitarian Assistance. That is, in order to avoid misunderstandings that arise during the receipt and distribution of humanitarian supplies, it is necessary to involve charitable foundations and volunteer organizations that are in the Unified Register of Recipients of Humanitarian Aid in this work. Otherwise, there are no guarantees of receipt of the declared humanitarian cargo.

Humanitarian cargo, if it is not targeted targeted assistance (as determined by the donor), is usually unloaded at the military administrations of Lviv, Transcarpathian, Chernivtsi, Volyn and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

To receive the declared humanitarian cargo, it is necessary:

1. It is necessary to submit an application either to a donor known to you, or to a charitable foundation or volunteer organization known to you, which is recognized by the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine as one that can receive humanitarian goods.
   The application is written in any form with the obligatory indication:
   – the full name and postal details of the recipient of humanitarian cargo (preferably on letterhead);
   – the list (nomenclature) of the required with the definition of the number (units);
   – the address of the train, where the cargo should be received (if by rail – the number of the railway station and the name of the Ukrzaliznytsia branch, and if by car – then the address of the train);
2. In the application, indicate the availability of own vehicles and its carrying capacity (minibuses up to 3 tons, 10-ton trucks or trailers – 20-25 tons).
3. In the absence of your own road transport, it is necessary to indicate the guarantee of payment for fuel, providing the appropriate bank details. If the cargo is delivered by the donor independently, the responsible person who receives the cargo is indicated in the application.
4. In the absence of an unloading warehouse, this must be indicated in the application. In this case, the cargo will go to the nearest warehouse of a charitable or volunteer organization at the customer’s location, which is defined in the Unified Register of Recipients of Humanitarian Aid.

Attention!

In connection with the publication by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of Resolution No. 153 “On the List of Critical Import Goods” dated February 24, 2022, which approved the list of critical import goods in accordance with the annex and recommended the National Bank to ensure the implementation of cross-border foreign exchange payments for import operations of goods specified in the list approved by this Resolution, there were many misunderstandings regarding the definition as humanitarian aid,  the list of goods defined in the said Resolution.

In the future, this list of goods was changed several times by the relevant resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (№. 161 of 02.26.2022; №. 167 of 02.28.2022; №. 173 of 03.01.2022; №. 191 of 03.04.2022; №. 211 of 03.06.2022; №. 219 of 03.07.2022; №. 226 of 03.08.2022; №. 244 of 03.10.2022), which led to misunderstandings about the absence of previously defined goods as goods of critical import.

However, the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 20, 2022 No. 329 approved “Amendments to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 1, 2022 No. 174”, which set out paragraph 1 of the said resolution as follows: “To establish that for the period of martial law, the passage of humanitarian aid from donors across the customs border of Ukraine (within the meaning of the Law of Ukraine “On Humanitarian Aid”) is carried out at the place of crossing the customs border of Ukraine by  submission of a declaration filled in by the person who transports the relevant goods in the form according to the annex without applying measures of non-tariff regulation of foreign economic activity. “

Thus, the declaration (see Appendix No. 1) must be filled in by the donor, or the carrier of the goods, if the donor uses hired transport, and in a copy provided to the recipient of the humanitarian cargo, who must accept this cargo.

It is desirable to accept the goods by the recipient at the place of crossing the customs border of Ukraine in order to avoid undesirable inconveniences.

Thus, the arrival of humanitarian aid to Ukraine is simplified.

The definition of the concepts of “donors” and “recipients of humanitarian aid” is contained in Art. 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Humanitarian Aid”.