The Verkhovna Rada has adopted, in the second reading and in full, Draft Law No. 13256, which introduces amendments to the Budget Code to implement the provisions of the ratified Agreement between Ukraine and the United States regarding the creation of an investment fund for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
The main purpose of these changes is to ensure the financial implementation of the commitments set out in the Reconstruction Fund Agreement. This agreement provides for the accumulation of revenues related to the use of natural resources in a special fund of the state budget.
Specifically, the law establishes that half of the revenues from rent payments for the extraction of strategically important minerals, as well as fees for special permits for subsoil use and revenues from the sale of products under production sharing agreements, will be directed to the special fund. This applies exclusively to resources listed in Annex A of the intergovernmental Agreement and classified as “Natural Resource Assets.”
To balance the budget system, the law proposes proportionally reducing the share of such revenues allocated to the general fund of both the state and local budgets.
The law also specifies the targeted use of the newly created budget sources: funds from the special fund will be used to pay contributions to the Reconstruction Fund, which will operate on the basis of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and the Ukrainian Public-Private Partnership Agency, in the form of a limited partnership.
It is stipulated that only revenues generated from newly issued permits after the entry into force of the relevant international agreements—or from previously issued permits that had not entered into industrial production by that time—will form the revenue base of this new mechanism.
At the same time, the law does not exclude other sources of revenue: funds received from the Reconstruction Fund, as well as reparations from the Russian Federation or its representatives for damages caused by aggression, will be fully credited to the revenue part of the state budget’s general fund.
Special attention is given to the regulation of the return of mistakenly or excessively paid rent fees. If these funds have already been credited to the special fund, their return will be carried out using the current revenues of the same fund.
If the Reconstruction Fund Agreement is terminated, the procedure for settlements for the last tax period will be governed by the rules in force before its termination. This also applies to the return of overpayments.
The adopted law will come into effect once the Reconstruction Fund Agreement and the Limited Partnership Agreement enter into force for Ukraine. An exception is made for the government’s obligation to organize the contribution payment process—this provision takes effect on the date of the law’s official publication.
The government must, within one month after publication of the document, approve the procedure for paying the contribution, open a new budget program if necessary, and amend the state budget schedule accordingly.
The document also introduces new legal concepts such as “Natural Resource Assets” and “Income Agreed with Ukraine.” This establishes a regulatory framework for separating revenues associated with such assets for special accounting and transfer to the special fund.
However, some provisions remain unclear. The implementation of many norms of the Reconstruction Fund Agreement is closely tied to the provisions of another agreement—the Limited Partnership Agreement—whose text is currently unavailable to the public. This could complicate legal enforcement and lead to ambiguous interpretations.
