On 26 February 2025, the President signed the Law on Peculiarities of Regulation of Entrepreneurial Activity of Certain Types of Legal Entities and Their Associations in the Transition Period (Draft Law No. 6013).

This Law, in particular, prohibits the creation of new utility companies in communities. They are to be replaced by private business companies.

MP Vitalii Bezgin once noted that the Law does not contain an imperative to liquidate existing utility companies, but it can cause some difficulties for communities.

‘Firstly, business may not come to remote and depressed areas. Secondly, communities will not have the opportunity to create new joint utility companies through cooperation. This problem is especially acute for small communities, and also for those who planned to attract foreign investment through cooperation,’ Vitalii Bezgin said then.

The MP also claimed that if the law entered into force, it would be promptly amended.

Notably, local government associations have not supported this provision of the law either, arguing that it could lead to a “collapse in the provision of public services at the local level”.