The National Association of Defense Industries of Ukraine (NAUDI) has sent an appeal to Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky calling for urgent changes to the rules for booking defense enterprise workers. The association proposes automatically extending until February 1, 2027, the validity of decisions designating critically important enterprises whose terms expire by or on December 31, 2026, as well as establishing a 100% booking rate for liable defense enterprise workers without the need for separate decisions to increase limits.
Context: Resolution No. 1328 and Peak Registry Load
NAUDI's appeal is linked to the entry into force of Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1328, which changed the procedure for booking liable workers. According to the association's assessment, the new rules create a risk of disrupting defense contracts and causing peak loads on state registries at the end of the year. NAUDI emphasizes that the simultaneous submission of a large number of documents could overload specialized ministries, the Coordination Center, the Pension Fund, and the Diia portal, threatening technical delays and the stoppage of production lines.
Three Key Proposals by the Association
The first proposal is the automatic extension until February 1, 2027, of existing deferrals for liable workers processed through the Diia portal, as well as enterprise criticality decisions expiring by the end of 2026. The second is establishing 100% booking until February 1, 2027, for defense enterprises recognized by the Ministry of Defense as critically important, without applying cancellation procedures due to quota exceedance. The third is that during a systematic update of the Booking Procedure (CMU Resolution No. 76), the validity period of criticality decisions and worker deferrals for defense enterprises should be set at least 12 months, tied to the period of state contract execution.
Risks Identified by NAUDI
The association warns that constant and unsystematic changes to booking rules slow down production processes and distract managers and engineering specialists from primary tasks. Of particular concern is the risk of engineers, designers, and complex equipment operators losing their exemptions if current deferrals expire before new decisions are made. NAUDI believes this could lead to the shutdown of defense plant production lines at the height of state order execution.
Government Position and Next Steps
NAUDI stated its support for the position of Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky, voiced on October 16, 2026, regarding the unacceptability of radical changes capable of destabilizing the work of defense enterprises. The association calls on the government to take its proposals into account and involve NAUDI representatives in working meetings to finalize regulatory acts in the booking sphere. It was previously reported that the criticality status of enterprises expiring in November-December 2026 will be automatically extended until February 1, 2027, which generally aligns with the transition period requested by the association.
