Even as the war continues, EU4Business initiative helps Ukraine simplify the business of doing business

There’s a good reason why Ukraine is determined to help entrepreneurs get their businesses back on their feet or even open a new company – the country needs a strong economy to win the war against Russia.

But some entrepreneurs want to go even further, combining their personal business interests with Ukraine’s current needs for defense and training troops.

One such option is to open a shooting range – from scratch.

Instructions for opening a shooting range and other businesses have now been developed with help from a European Union-funded project to help businesses operate during the war.  The Better Regulation Delivery Office or BRDO has, with support from the EU4Business project, published detailed instructions on the #StartBusinessChallenge info service.

This state information service provides would-be businesspeople with step-by-step instructions about how to obtain the permits needed to register various types of businesses in Ukraine – including shooting ranges.

To open such a business, entrepreneurs need about UAH 600,000 (around EUR 16,400), access to a plot of land with the necessary facilities and safety characteristics, as well as an armory and administrative area. Services provided could include shooting lessons or gun rental.

“Your potential clients are hunters, security companies, the military, the police, and in wartime, almost every other citizen in the country,” reads a post on the BRDO’s website.

The European Union supports the BRDO within the framework of the “FORBIZ – Creating a Better Business Environment” project and the EU4Business initiative. The office’s goal is to simplify the process of doing business and ensure there is effective state regulation in key sectors of the economy. The project thus supports Ukraine’s reform agenda and its economic recovery.

eDeclaration is another initiative that the BRDO team has developed, working together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. This is a new state service that aims to make doing business in Ukraine easier by canceling requirements to submit permit application documents during the period of martial law. Now, amid the Russian invasion, business owners only need submit a declaration on conducting economic activity online, and the whole process takes just three minutes. 

To achieve this, the team developed a package of legislative acts, including Resolution 314 on conducting economic activity during martial law, as well along with amendments to the resolution. Conducting some types of activities, including in the nuclear energy and weapons production spheres, still requires state permits, however.

Oleksii Dorogan, CEO of the Better Regulation Delivery Office for the story, explains in an article on the BRDO website the new, streamlined permit process:

“The above-mentioned amendments simplify the organizational structure for submitting such declarations,” Dorogan says. “They are submitted directly to the respective licensing bodies, permit bodies, and subjects that provide public (electronic public) services.”

BRDO experts also participated in the development of bill №7289, which was adopted in April and which liberalizes the use of land during martial law. The bill aims to simplify the provision of land for the needs of the national economy, the agricultural sector, and citizens of Ukraine in wartime. In peacetime, decision-taking on land issues can take months. But now, amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the State Land Cadastre and the State Register of Real Property Rights have suspended their work, and a simplified, backup process is needed.

Under the bill, territorial communities of villages, settlements and cities can lease agricultural land, as well their communal property, without the state registering the communal ownership of such land. This means, for example, that entrepreneurs that have evacuated from certain areas and moved their production can be provided with land plots owned by the state or local communities. The operators of technical infrastructure facilities can also have free access to land plots of all forms of ownership at the places where these facilities are located.

As part of the EU-supported EU4Business project, the BRDO team has also produced detailed infographics for people engaged in transferring humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and supplies for the Armed Forces of Ukraine across the national border.