Recently appointed Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Natalya Denikeeva said that the Ministry of Transformation is working on the legislative regulation of the concept of «startup», which they want to give a single definition instead of dozens of variations.
Recently appointed Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Natalya Denikeeva said that the Ministry of Transformation is working on the legislative regulation of the concept of «startup», which they want to give a single definition instead of dozens of variations.
«We are working on the possibility of establishing a single concept of 'startup' and 'innovative activity' at the legal level, because there are currently dozens of definitions. It must comply with international practice. In an optimistic scenario, this will take at least a year,» Denikeeva said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.
According to her, it is about normalizing existing concepts and «bringing them to a single lexicon.»
Currently, Ukrainian legislation does not have a clear definition of a startup, however, the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 28 of January 24, 2020 mentioned a «newly created business (startup)». It states that for such a definition, the term of registration of a business entity should not exceed 12 months.
Natalya Denikeeva also said that the state is currently seeking to create incentives that will allow startups to develop in Ukraine. «Last year, we counted the number of startups and the results were disappointing: approximately 60 startups per million population, while in Europe, on average, there are about 500,» the Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation indicated.
The war has been a boost for defense startups, but the situation with civilian startups is much worse. We are working on a set of financial and non-financial incentives to increase their number.
Recall that in July, the government appointed five new deputies to the First Deputy Prime Minister — Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov. Among them was Natalia Denikeeva, who is responsible for projects on the development of the digital economy, support for startups, and policy-making in the gambling business.
In August, the State Agency for Control of Gambling and Lottery Business PlayCity on August 8 decided to fine Dev Ukraine LLC (dev.ua) for violating the requirements of advertising legislation. The fine is 600 minimum wages, or UAH 4.8 million. dev.ua is appealing this decision in court.
«First of all, this is caused by the very fact of violating the law on advertising gambling. But these cases became a catalyst for us to start looking in that direction quite carefully. The current legislation is not ideal, to put it mildly. But it is there, we must adhere to it. There will be changes to make the law fairer,» Denikeeva answered Forbes Ukraine’s question about fines for Trukh and dev.ua.
