The deadlines for settlements on exports and imports of goods have been changed

On June 07, 2022, the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine by Decree No. 113 amended Decree No. 18 dated February 24, 2022 “On the operation of the banking system during the introduction of martial law” (hereinafter referred to as the Decree), which changed the deadlines for settlements on foreign economic transactions.

As you know, earlier the deadlines were 365 calendar days, but due to the introduction of martial law and given the economic situation, on April 05, 2022, the deadlines were reduced to 90 calendar days.

Based on the results of the dialogue with business, the NBU decided to increase from June 08, 2022 the deadline for settlements on operations for the export and import of goods / works / services to 120 calendar days for operations carried out from April 05, 2022.

Deadlines mean that during export operations, funds must be credited to residents’ accounts in Ukrainian banks no later than 120 calendar days, even if the relevant agreement provides for a longer period. The start date for export operations is calculated for goods – from the date of customs clearance of goods for export, and for services / works – from the date of execution of a document confirming the provision of such services or works.

For import operations the delivery of goods/works/services must also be carried out within the terms specified in the contracts, but in any case no later than 120 calendar days. In this case, when importing, the calculation of the period begins from the date of the advance payment (prepayment) under the contract.

Deadlines do not apply to transactions whose amount is less than UAH 400,000, except for splitting operations for the export of goods or splitting foreign exchange transactions.

Please note that for conducting foreign economic activity, an increase in the deadline for settlements up to 120 calendar days is very important, since the deadlines set by the NBU prevail over the deadlines specified in the contracts.

Moreover, for each day of delay in the deadline set by the NBU, a penalty is charged in the amount of 0.3% of the amount of non-received funds (the cost of undelivered goods) for each day. At the same time, the maximum amount of the accrued penalty can reach up to the amount of unreceived funds under the contract (the cost of the undelivered goods).

Given the above, we recommend that you control the timing of the fulfillment of obligations under future contracts, and if there are deadlines in the current contract that do not correspond to the deadlines for settlements established by the NBU, such contracts should be considered in detail with the possible introduction of appropriate changes.