Ukraine has radically revised the rules for exempting employees from mobilization. The government has decided to close loopholes that allowed enterprises to manipulate quotas and has tightened the requirements for obtaining 'critical' status. This was announced by the Minister of Economy, Alexey Sobolev, in the Verkhovna Rada.

According to the minister, revising the rules became a necessity. The last time the approaches to exemption were systematically changed was in December 2023. Given the full-scale war, the significant increase in the number of exempted citizens, and the critical need of the Armed Forces for personnel, this period was deemed too long.

The formula for a critical enterprise

The essence of the new system is that to obtain the status of a critical enterprise, a company must meet at least three criteria. Two of them are mandatory for everyone, while the third is optional.

Mandatory conditions include financial discipline and wage levels:

  • No tax arrears.
  • An average salary of at least 26,000 hryvnias (for enterprises in frontline territories, the threshold is lower — 21,600 hryvnias).

The business chooses the third criterion independently. This can be a basic indicator from the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution, the amount of taxes paid (over 1.5 million hryvnias per year), or annual foreign currency revenue (more than 32 million euros). There are also sectoral and regional criteria established by relevant ministries and regional administrations.

A strict stress test

The main goal of the updates is to leave only those companies in the critical status whose work is truly important for the economy and defense. Quantitative thresholds have been significantly raised.

As an example, the minister cited the situation with prosthetics manufacturers. Previously, to obtain exemption, it was enough for a company to provide prosthetics to 50 people per year under the state program. Under the new rules, this threshold has risen to 300 people.

In total, the system includes several hundred different criteria. Currently, 15 orders from relevant ministries have already been published, and the rest will appear by the end of this week.

The end of the era of 'double' exemption

One of the most painful changes is the tightening of rules for accounting related employees. Previously, employees could be counted in the exemption quota simultaneously at several enterprises. This created grounds for manipulation: companies artificially inflated their staff to increase the exemption limit (50% of which goes towards protection from mobilization).

Sobolev called such a practice unfair. Now, an employee is counted in the quota at only one place of work.

What business should do

Preliminary calculations suggest that the update of criteria will affect about 20% of enterprises. These companies will receive a notification this week and will need to submit a package of documents for a re-check of criticality.

For the vast majority of businesses whose indicators have not changed, a simplified confirmation procedure is introduced. By August 10, such companies need to provide only two documents:

  • A certificate of the average salary of employees for the last month.
  • A tax calculation.

The authorities emphasize that the changes are aimed at a balanced approach that takes into account both the needs of the economy and the interests of the Armed Forces.