Today, on August 15, the Verkhovna Rada voted for draft laws No. 7363 and No. 7364, which will significantly change the conditions for volunteer activities for the better. 

Draft Law No. 7363 was supported by 276 MPs. 281 MPs voted for Draft Law No. 7464.

Both draft laws were jointly developed by Ukrainian volunteers, MPs and experts from NGOs, in particular participants of the project “Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity”.

Changes envisaged by the approved draft law:

• Assistance in overcoming the consequences of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine will be added to the list of areas for volunteering. After all, the original law “On Volunteering” (2011) did not have such a clause.
• Conditions will appear for the development and implementation of state targeted programs to support volunteers and train them.
• The draft laws will encourage volunteers and NGOs to conclude cooperation agreements.
• If a volunteer receives reimbursement for travel expenses or medical exams or vaccinations, this money will not be considered as income. Accordingly, the volunteer will not pay taxes on them: Personal Income Tax (PIT) and Unified Social Tax (UST).
• Also, there will be no tax on the costs of participation in events organized by NGOs, Charity Organizations, which is important when it comes to, for example, training volunteers (and not only) in first aid, psychological adaptation, work with PTSD. 

Lawyers of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) together with the team of the Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity, who were involved in the development of the draft laws, thank MPs for supporting important changes.

“Finally, all volunteers who suffered during their activities aimed at the defense of Ukraine will be able to count on financial assistance. No matter in what region they worked. This is stated in the volunteer draft laws. So volunteers will be able to count on state support,” said Nataliia Povtar, lawyer at the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law.

Further, the draft laws must be signed by the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, after which they will be sent to the President for signature. 

 Contacts for media comments: pr@cedem.org.ua 

This material was prepared as part of the Project Ukraine Civil Society Sectoral Support Activity implemented by the Initiative Center to Support Social Action “Ednannia” in partnership with the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research (UCIPR) and Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law (CEDEM) with the sincere support of the American people through United States Agency for International Development.