March 27, 2012

During the last several years Nordic Business Day has become a central event for the Nordic business community in Ukraine. This year, Alex Frishberg was invited to moderate a discussion entitled, “Business Climate in Ukraine Today: Is It Good, Bad or Ugly?”

The panel discussion included several high level diplomats, including:

- HE Michael Borg-Hansen, Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine

- HE Jon Elvedal Fredriksen, Ambassador of Norway to Ukraine

- HE Arja Makkonen, Ambassador of Finland to Ukraine

- HE Stefan Gullgren, Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine

Nordic Business Day presents a unique opportunity for Nordic businesses active in Ukraine to get updated on current political and economic developments in Ukraine, as seen from a Nordic angle, as well as to meet each other and discuss challenges and opportunities in the Ukrainian market.

See: http://www.nbnu.com.ua/en/events/id/55/

February 8, 2012

Since the arrival of the Yanukovich administration, the Ukrainian tax inspection has a new assignment: to collect as much money as possible for the state budget. And, the number of tax inspections has increased greatly with that goal in mind. As a result, numerous companies have been subjected to “surprise visits” that often result in confiscation of computers and company documents (usually financial records) with a distinct possibility of fines and even criminal charges. 

At the same time, Ukrainian courts rarely provide adequate relief in a timely fashion. In fact, the Ukrainian judiciary is notorious for un predictability and corruption. So how does a foreign company defend its interests in Ukrainian courts?   

To answer this vital question, on February 8, 2012, we held a round table together with U.S.-Ukraine Business Council before the international business and diplomatic community. The speakers included Alex Frishberg, Alexander Pavlov (head of Ukraine-Israel Business Council) as well as Sergei Vepritskiy and Anatoly Polyakh (founders of the “Ukrainian Foundation of Advocats,” an organization that consists of former litigators and prosecutors who regularly defend foreign companies in Ukrainian courts).      

Read pdf.

February 5, 2012

Dealing with Ukrainian authorities can be a frustrating experience, especially when tax inspection representatives make an unannounced visit to your office in order to inspect your company records. At this stage, the company representative (usually, the director) has two choices: (a) to comply with all requests; or (b) to invoke legal rights provided by Ukrainian legislation.

The latter option is quite important because, in fact, Ukrainian laws provide extensive limitations to conducting unannounced inspections. To familiarize our clients with their legal rights, we have drafted an article that would be useful for any company director to review.

Read pdf.

July 16, 2011

For years, the company registration process in Ukraine has been a bureaucratic nightmare due to an unnecessarily complex and archaic administrative system, which went as far as to require police permission to have a company seal. At last, someone in the government has wisely decided to bring Ukraine into compliance with modern world practices. For your review we have prepared an article that describes the latest changes that simply the company registration process. 

Read pdf.