Ukraine's Bureau of Economic Security, State Labor Service sign cooperation memo to de-shadow labor market
The Director of the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BES) and the Head of the State Labor Service of Ukraine, Ihor Degnera, signed a memorandum on cooperation and information exchange aimed at strengthening efforts to combat informal employment and the payment of "envelope" wages.
According to a statement on the BES website, the key areas of cooperation include countering tax evasion and avoidance of the unified social security contribution. Under the memorandum, the agencies are introducing a data exchange mechanism on business entities whose activities show signs of violations of labor or tax legislation.
The parties also plan to jointly analyze risks to economic security and develop proposals for amendments to current legislation to prevent offenses. In addition to operational cooperation, the memorandum предусматривает awareness-raising efforts among employers and employees regarding the importance of complying with official employment standards.
Joint measures will be implemented at the level of the central offices of both agencies and through their territorial units. The agencies expect that such coordination will contribute to de-shadowing the labor market and increasing tax revenues to the budget by creating transparent conditions for business operations.
