Ukrainian Parliament has introduced amendments to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code, which are required for the implementation of the Ukraine-European Union action plan on the liberalization of the visa regime.

A total of 362 out of the 419 MPs registered in the session hall voted to pass this law on Thursday.

The law introduces a number of amendments to the current Ukrainian legislation. In particular, it introduces the term of "special confiscation" and defines the procedure for resolving questions about such confiscations. The term "special confiscation" is the compulsory free transfer, under a court ruling and in favor of the state, of money, valuables and other property in the event of a crime in the cases stipulated by the code.

The law determines the cases of the use of special confiscation if the money, valuables and other property that were derived as the result of a crime or are the proceeds of such a crime, if the money, valuables and other property are intended to be used to prompt a person to committing or financing a crime or providing compensation for committing such a crime, if they were the subject of a crime, except those that are returned to the owner, the rightful owner, and in the case when he is not established, they become the property of the state if they were manufactured and applied (used) as a means of crime.

The law stipulates that the money, valuables and other property transferred by the person who committed the crime to another person or legal entity are subject to special confiscation if the person who received the property knew or should have known that this property was received as the result of a crime.

The law also states that the receipt by an official of an offer or promise to provide him or a third person with an undue advantage for committing certain acts through abuse of office is punishable by a fine of 750 to 1,000 tax-free minimum incomes, or correctional labor for a term of one to two years.

In addition, the receipt by an official of an undue advantage for himself or a third party for not committing in the interests of the person who provides the undue advantage or a third party of any act through abuse of office is punishable by a fine of 1,000-1,500 tax-free minimum incomes or imprisonment of three to six months, or imprisonment for a term of two to four years with the deprivation of the right to occupy certain positions or engage in certain activities.

A significant undue advantage is the advantage 100 or more times higher than tax-free minimum income of citizens, a large undue advantage is the advantage more than 200 times higher than tax-free minimum income of citizens, and a very large undue advantage is the advantage 500 or more times higher than tax-free minimum income of citizens.