"The state will no longer come without warning: what the new law on business inspections changes"
The Verkhovna Rada has passed a law that replaces a 15-year "come and fine" model with voluntary audits that give businesses a chance to correct violations before inspection. However, a key question remains unanswered: the law defers to subordinate regulations the crucial issue of who will accredit independent auditors and how the accreditation process will work.
By Oleg Bazylewicz
April 8, 2026 · 2 min read
On April 8, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 14030 in second reading with 238 votes — a new law on the basic principles of state supervision (control). It replaces a document that had been in effect for over 15 years and which business had long called an instrument of pressure rather than regulation.
What changes in practice
The central innovation is voluntary audit: a business can itself initiate an inspection of its activities before controllers arrive. If the audit is successful and violations are eliminated, a planned inspection either is not conducted or is postponed. For businesses with low risk, the interval between inspections increases to five years. According to the Ministry of Economy's calculations, the total number of planned inspections should be reduced by 30%, and the time for business to respond to remarks should be cut in half.
Audits can be conducted either by specialists of the state supervision body itself, or by independent accredited organizations — private structures authorized in the respective field. This opens a new market for services, but also raises a new question: who will control the quality of such auditors and whether "independent audit" will become a paid indulgence.
Context: why now
The law is part of the Ukraine Facility package — conditions that Ukraine undertook to meet in exchange for financing from the EU. In parallel, in July 2025, the National Security and Defense Council through Presidential Decree No. 538/2025 introduced a moratorium on "unfounded inspections," which lawyers characterized as largely declarative: without changes to basic legislation, it did not create clear protection mechanisms. Law No. 14030 is intended to fill precisely this gap.
"Inspections must cease to be an instrument of pressure on business and become an instrument of assistance and development"
Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, explanatory materials for No. 14030
What remains unanswered
The law introduces mandatory audio and video recording of all inspections — this is a concrete anti-corruption mechanism. Equally concrete is the provision that stopping production or product sales can only be done by a controller through court in expedited proceedings, not by their own decision on the spot — something business has been demanding for years.
At the same time, the risk-oriented model works only insofar as the business is honestly classified by risk category. The government approved the criteria for determining risks back in September 2025, but the mechanism for appealing an assigned category is outlined in the law only in general terms.
Testing the real effectiveness of the reform will not occur on the day the law is signed, but when the first registry of accredited auditors appears and it becomes clear whether small businesses can afford their services — or whether voluntary audit remains a privilege of large companies.
