Do candidates for local councils have to file a declaration?

The National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) has clarified whether candidates for deputies to the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and local councils, as well as persons running for village, town and city mayors and those elected to these positions, must file declarations.

Thus, candidates running for deputies of local councils and the Verkhovna Rada of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and for the positions of heads of local authorities do not have to file declarations.

However, a person must file a candidate's declaration for the previous year, if applicable:

• Elected as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of the AR of Crimea or a local council. The declaration must be submitted within 15 calendar days from the date of opening of the first session of the council;
• Elected as a village, town or city mayor. The declaration must be submitted within 15 calendar days after taking the oath at the plenary session of the relevant council, at which the territorial election commission announces the decision on the election and registration of the person.

If a person has already filed a declaration for the previous year, he or she does not need to file a declaration again.

The NACP explains that acandidate's declaration is a declaration submitted in accordance with Part 3 of Article 45 of the Law "On Prevention of Corruption" (hereinafter referred to as the Law) and covers the reporting period from January 1 to December 31 inclusive, preceding the year in which the person applied for the position, unless otherwise provided by law and, as a general rule, contains information as of December 31 of the reporting year.

As a rule, such a declaration is submitted after the person is determined to be the winner of the competition, before the day of appointment or election of the person to the position. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to the requirements of special laws.

Thus, a person wishing to participate in a competition for a category A civil service position must submit to the competition commission a confirmation of the previous year's declaration (clause 8, part 1, Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine "On Civil Service").

If a person wins a competition for several positions in one body and has not previously submitted a declaration for the previous year, he or she submits one declaration of a candidate for a position, indicating the position to which he or she intends to be appointed.

If the person who is obliged to file a candidate's declaration, regardless of the circumstances, has already filed an annual declaration (with any mark) for the previous year, the candidate's declaration for this period is not filed.

At the same time, if the submitted declaration of a candidate for office covered the previous reporting year, and the person has an obligation to submit an annual declaration for the same reporting period, the person is obliged to submit an annual declaration.

Persons referred to in clause "c" of clause 2 of part 1 of Article 3 of the Law, in case of membership in the relevant commission, the Public Integrity Council, shall submit a candidate's declaration for the previous year within 10 calendar days after joining (inclusion, involvement, election, appointment) to the commission, the Public Integrity Council.

Theday of entry (inclusion, involvement, election, appointment) of a person into the relevant commission, Public Integrity Council shall be the day of issuance (adoption) of the document on the basis of which the person entered (was included, involved, elected, appointed) to the relevant commission, Public Integrity Council.

The persons referred to in clause "d" of clause 2 of part 1 of Article 3 of the Law shall submit a candidate's declaration for the previous year in case of their inclusion in the Register of persons with significant economic and political influence in public life (oligarchs) - within 10 calendar days from the date of inclusion in the Register (clause 4 of part 3 of Article 45 of the Law). The functioning and updating of the above Register is scheduled to start three months after the termination or lifting of martial law.

That is, the deadline for filing a declaration by such persons starts at 00 hours 00 minutes of the day following the day of entry (inclusion, involvement, election, appointment) of the person into the relevant commission, the Public Integrity Council, and their inclusion in the Register of persons with significant economic and political weight in public life (oligarchs).
The persons referred to in clause "g" of clause 2 of part 1 of Article 3 of the Law shall submit a candidate's declaration for the previous year within 10 calendar days from the date of inclusion in the relevant commission.

Candidates applying for the position of a judge, if included in the reserve for vacant positions of local court judges in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On the Judicial System and Status of Judges", submit a declaration of a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local self-government for the previous year every year during the period of stay in the reserve.

The specifics of indicating information in the declaration are determined by Procedure No. 449/21.

Ігор Льов