Report by Chairman of DPR’s People’s Council for period from November 19, 2018, to December 20, 2019

Dear Denis Vladimirovich, colleagues and invited guests! I am presenting the results of parliamentary work since the oath-taking by deputies of the second parliament.

I would like to start my report by presenting quantitative indicators of the People’s Council’s work. The results of legislative work, first of all, characterize the activity of a legislative body. In total, 188 draft laws were registered in the People’s Council during the reporting period, 43 plenary sessions were held (of which 35 were regular and 8 – extraordinary), during which 82 laws and 214 decrees were adopted.

Also, the most important area of deputies’ activity is work with the population. Considerable attention is paid to front-line areas, as well as settlements located far from the capital. About 3.5 thousand receptions were held as part of the work in the districts, public reception offices, as well as at enterprises from December 10, 2018, to December 20, 2019, that is, since the date of deputies’ assignment to districts and solving various organizational issues. As part of this format of communication with citizens, deputies considered more than 10 thousand appeals, of which about 40 per cent were related to housing and communal services. Based on the nature of the appeals, comprehensive explanations were provided by the deputies for more than half of the appeals received, while the rest were sent to the relevant bodies for additional measures. Moreover, the deputies regularly communicate with residents within the framework of citizens’ meetings and meetings with labour collectives. During the year, more than 600 assemblies and over a thousand of such meetings were held, the total number of participants exceeded 35 thousand people.

The number of receptions, meetings, gatherings and other forms of work with the population is increasing with each quarter, thus reducing a level of social tension.

However, I would like to focus on qualitative, not quantitative indicators of performance in my report. Simply put, what do 82 adopted laws, 214 decrees and 10 thousand appeals give the country and people?

A DPR’s law “On amendments to Article 72 and Law 199 ʺOn tax systemʺ” regulates the stabilization of prices for socially important food products, such as bread.

A DPR’s law “On notaries” has brought an institution of a private notary back to an institution of a public notary.

A DPR’s law “On amendments to a Law ʺOn state decorationsʺ” introduces a new state decoration – a medal “For dedication to duty and service to the Motherland”, which recognizes service contributions made by Afghanistan veterans.

Due to the adoption of a Law “On amendments to Article 304 and 436 of a Law ʺOn customs regulation in the DPRʺ”, payment of customs duty for the temporary importation of cars from the territories of Eurasian Economic Union states (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia and Russia) has been eliminated, as well as import from other territories has been significantly simplified.

A DPR’s law “On amendments to a DPR’s Law ʺOn basics of state regulations of trade activities, food service industry and consumer servicesʺ” has extended a period of bringing catering facilities with the number of seats over 50 and a total area of more than 250 square meters, which are located in residential building, into line with requirements to January 1, 2030.

A number of the adopted laws amending the Criminal Code of the Donetsk People’s Republic, made it possible to establish responsibility for stealing car licence plates; to establish liability for persons, who incite children to commit suicide or harm their health – that is, liability for the actions of so-called ‘death groups’. Accordingly, we have taken measures to prevent these actions at the legislative level.

A DPR’s law “On the Public Chamber of the Donetsk People’s Republic” regulates its activities, which are designed to ensure the coordination of socially significant interests of citizens and authorities to address the most important issues of socio-economic and cultural development of the state, protection of rights and freedoms of citizens, constitutional order of the Republic and democratic principles of social development.

A DPR’s law “On the state border of the Donetsk People’s Republic” defines the borders of our state, which will facilitate the adoption of regulations in various areas of state activity.

A DPR’s law “On amendments to a DRP’s Law ʺOn public private and municipal private partnershipʺ” details procedures for submitting project proposals by a potential private partner and their consideration, which will contribute to the development of investment activity in the Republic. 

The Civil Code, which was adopted on December 13 and consists four books: the first book embodies general principles of the civil law, the second one introduces general provisions of the rules, which concern certain types of contractual obligations; the third one regulates legal relations in the field of inheritance rights; the fourth book is aimed at creating a comprehensive and transparent mechanism for establishing intellectual rights, is of particular importance.

Also, I would like to draw your attention to the laws, the adoption of which was the result of close communication of deputies with citizens within the framework of meetings, round tables and other kinds of work:

• A DPR’s Law “On amendments to a Law ʺOn donation of blood and its componentsʺ”, which establishes a pension bonus for honorary donors of the Donetsk People’s Republic;
• A DPR’s Law “On amendments to a DPR’s Law ʺOn safety and quality of foodʺ”, which replaced the piece-by-piece marking of goods with lot marking and simplified the work of entrepreneurs and helped to reduce the cost of piece goods;
• A DPR’s Law “On amendments to a DPR’s Law ʺOn road transportʺ”, which cancelled the issuance of motor vehicle trip tickets to taxi drivers.

Speaking of decrees, most of them touched upon aspects of the organization of internal functioning of the parliament. I would like to focus attention on those decisions, which related to national matters:

• A Decree “On the establishment of the Youth Parliament”, thanks to which our state has an absolutely new platform for young opinion leaders to discuss proposals for legislative regulation of youth policy in the Republic;
• A Decree “On ensuring the security of the Donetsk People’s Republic at the sites of separation of forces and means”, which determines that units of the DPR’s Ministry of Internal Affairs will be deployed symmetrically in the area of separation of forces and means in case of entering a demilitarized zone near Petrovskoye by national police and national guard of Ukraine.

Regarding the reception of citizens the assistance of deputies is not limited to the provision of advice and clarifications on legislation or the drafting of parliamentary appeals. Most often, the lion’s share of problems, which are addressed by residents during receptions, is solved directly on the spot. However, not all issues can be solved in a flash, as they require the use of additional resources and search for effective mechanisms of solution. An example of how to solve such problems is provided:

• provision of gas supply to a multiple children family in Snezhnoye;
• assistance in organizing a heart surgery for an honoured cultural worker;
• addressing the issue of compensation to the families of deceased employees of “Voda Donbassa” municipal service in Yenakiyevo;
• assistance in solving problems related to unsatisfactory performance of utility service providers;
• organization of participation of Republican young sportsmen in international competitions and many other things.

Parliamentarians are constantly keeping track of events that worry the people of the state. Each deputy meets with citizens in person at least three times a week, which makes it possible to form a complete picture of problems in their constituency to provide necessary assistance to people. It is easy to contact a deputy: the official website of the People’s Council has an interactive map with a schedule of receptions in the assigned districts.

In addition, you can address your question via an electronic form also available on the Parliament’s official website in the Contacts section. You can learn more about the reception of deputies in public reception offices of the chairman of the “Donetsk Republic” public movement on the website of the movement.

Returning to law-making, I want to briefly highlight our plans for the near future. As of today, committees are working on 243 draft laws. The following ones are of special importance for the state and society:

• Draft laws “On amendments to Article 10 of the Constitution of the Donetsk People’s Republic” and “On amendments to a DPR’s Law “On education”, which will reinforce the status of Russian as the only state language in the Donetsk People’s Republic;
• A draft law “On finance lease”, the adopting of which will allow developing the economic and investment sphere in the state, in addition, the concept of a draft law “On investment activity” is being developed;
• A draft law “On internally displaced persons”, which proposes to consolidate the foundations of state policy in the area of ensuring the rights and freedoms of certain categories of persons affected by hostilities;
• A draft law “On amendments to a DPR’s Law ʺOn social protection of disabled peopleʺ”, which provides for administrative liability of officials and legal entities for evading the creation of conditions for disabled people to access infrastructure facilities;
• A draft law “On veterans”, which determines their status in various categories, including the status of a militiaman and regulates their social welfare and protection;
• A number of draft law, which are aimed to make amendments to a DPR’s Law “On tax system”, in particular, to reduce tax pressure on mining companies, agricultural producers that operate in crop production and animal husbandry, to provide social security to miners, who work full-time and engaged in underground work, which will increase the prestige of mining work as a whole;
• A draft law “On licensing certain types of activity” with a new concept, which provides for a significant reduction of the tax burden by reducing the list of activities to be licensed.

Speaking of the first results of the second parliament’s work, I cannot fail to mention that the establishment of new inter-parliamentary relations and the development of international cooperation. Thus, agreements on inter-parliamentary cooperation were signed with the State Council of the Republic of Crimea, as well as with the Parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia during the reporting period. The establishment of relations at such a high level has helped to build an effective system of interaction between the parliaments in order to exchange experience and apply best practices of lawmaking, certainly taking into account the unique specifics of each region.

The international activities of the People’s Council do not extend only to the states with which agreements have already been signed at the level of parliaments. As part of the exchange of experience and establishment of socio-cultural relations in the reporting period, deputies took part in a number of meetings with representatives of the authorities and public figures that took place in the Russian Federation, Republic of South Ossetia, Republic of Abkhazia and Lugansk People’s Republic.

Representatives of the Donetsk People’s Republic three times acted as international observers in elections in 2019: at the election of the Parliament of the Republic of South Ossetia and in both rounds of elections of the President of the Republic of Abkhazia.

To summarize, I would like to say that the People’s Council has done a serious job, which, however, we will not limit ourselves to. Next year, a main focus of the People’s Council’s work will be placed on the codification of legislation. We have already implemented the first step in this direction – the adoption of the Civil Code. The nearest plans include the adoption of the Civil Procedure Code, Arbitration Procedure Code, Labour Code and Family Code.

Our state is developing and growing, so it is always necessary to do more, anticipate the demands of society even before they become a necessity. We have sworn an oath of loyalty to the people of the Donetsk People’s Republic and will always stand on guard of their interests.