The number of complaints from business representatives regarding the actions of the Security Service of Ukraine in April-June 2017 increased by 60% along with continuous reduction in the number of complaints regarding fiscal agencies, Business Ombudsman of Ukraine Algirdas Semeta said at a roundtable devoted to the results of the Business Ombudsman Council work in Q2 2017 on Friday.

Tax issues remained the most pressing for Ukrainian business (44% of all complaints received).

"It is too early to make general conclusions regarding the operation of the State Fiscal Service. The new VAT refund system came into full force on July 1. We have first complaints regarding blocking of tax invoices. By autumn the conclusions how the new system works could be made," he said.

The business ombudsman said that the number of tax-related queries dropped by 12% since previous quarter. The number of complaints regarding actions of local councils/ municipalities and customs issues decreased by 57% and 53% respectively. However, the number of complaints regarding the actions of the State Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice increased by 60% and 38% respectively. The number of complaints regarding state regulator's actions and National Police grew by 25% and 23% respectively.

"Complaints regarding the Justice Ministry mainly concern ministry's registration services. This is partially linked to illegal seizures. We have received several complaints of illegal seizures," he said.

The Business Ombudsman Council said that in the second quarter of 2017, the business ombudsman received 237 complaints from entrepreneurs and closed 192 inquiries. The council issued 135 recommendations and since the launch of the operation in May 2015, total 803 recommendations have been issued, and 86% of them were implemented.

"In the second quarter the number of complaints lodged by industrial enterprises grew, while those filed by wholesellers fell," Semeta said.

Since the launch of operations the Business Ombudsman Council completed over 1,200 inquiries. Average time for conducting inquiries in the second quarter 2017 fell to 85 days, which is 19 days less than a year ago and 5 days less than in the previous quarter.

The business ombudsman said that small and medium-sized businesses remained the main source of complaints (63%), although the number of inquiries from large enterprises has grown by 7 percentage points in comparison to the previous quarter. Most active complainants were in the city of Kyiv (118) as well as in Kyiv (24), Odesa (14) and Dnipropetrovsk (12) regions.