Half-year results of the Economic Security Bureau: a dialogue with business

03/ 03/ 2026

Listen to online Stop   Experts from the European Business Association took part in a conference dedicated to six months of cooperation between the renewed Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine and bona fide businesses, in order to exchange assessments and proposals. Business representatives emphasised the importance of systematic engagement between the ESBU and business associations, as well as improved coordination and interaction between the tax authorities, customs authorities and the ESBU. This is essential to ensure that compliant businesses can operate without undue pressure and that the rules of doing business are applied equally to all, without exception. In addition, the EBA’s experts expressed their position on a number of issues: The business community insists on expanding ESBU de-shadowing measures to cover all areas of retail trade, including light industry goods, supermarkets and grocery retail, alcohol, tobacco products, e-commerce, and others. Businesses do not support proposals to return ESBU representatives to customs posts to oversee foreign economic operations. In the view of the business community, efforts to combat smuggling must not affect border queues or the speed of customs clearance of goods. The Association also sees significant risks in the recently presented initiative on pre-trial settlement of tax offences. Firstly, in the absence of clear procedural safeguards, such an initiative may create additional corruption risks and increase undue pressure by the ESBU on compliant taxpayers. The pre-trial settlement of tax disputes should take place exclusively after the completion of an audit by the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the establishment of a taxpayer’s violation of tax legislation. Only the failure to comply with a decision of the State Tax Service of Ukraine (i.e. non-payment of the agreed tax liability) may serve as grounds for confirming the objective elements of a criminal offence under Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Secondly, in previous years the business community has repeatedly drawn attention to the low effectiveness of criminal proceedings initiated by the ESBU, as well as to cases of disputable assessments of tax matters. This concerns the practice of registering criminal proceedings based on subjectively determined amounts of tax liabilities that have not been confirmed by the controlling authorities. In such cases, even bona fide taxpayers — who ensure stable and significant budget revenues — have been subjected to procedural pressure. The business community consistently stresses that the function of tax control should belong exclusively to a single state authority. Proposals that effectively envisage duplication of functions by different bodies are counterproductive and create risks of: legal uncertainty; potential conflicts between the results of tax audits and the position of pre-trial investigation bodies; duplication of procedures relating to the same tax periods and payments — first by the ESBU and then by the State Tax Service of Ukraine, or vice versa, without a legislatively defined logic for concluding the process. At the same time, the launch of the re-attestation process for the current ESBU staff is viewed as a positive signal. The business community hopes that this will lay the groundwork for changing the agency’s approach and increasing the level of professionalism and impartiality. The Association is grateful to the ESBU leadership for maintaining a regular dialogue and looks forward to due consideration of the business community’s proposals.

Experts from the European Business Association took part in a conference dedicated to six months of cooperation between the renewed Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine and bona fide businesses, in order to exchange assessments and proposals.

Business representatives emphasised the importance of systematic engagement between the ESBU and business associations, as well as improved coordination and interaction between the tax authorities, customs authorities and the ESBU. This is essential to ensure that compliant businesses can operate without undue pressure and that the rules of doing business are applied equally to all, without exception.

In addition, the EBA’s experts expressed their position on a number of issues:

• The business community insists on expanding ESBU de-shadowing measures to cover all areas of retail trade, including light industry goods, supermarkets and grocery retail, alcohol, tobacco products, e-commerce, and others.
• Businesses do not support proposals to return ESBU representatives to customs posts to oversee foreign economic operations.
• In the view of the business community, efforts to combat smuggling must not affect border queues or the speed of customs clearance of goods.

The Association also sees significant risks in the recently presented initiative on pre-trial settlement of tax offences.

Firstly, in the absence of clear procedural safeguards, such an initiative may create additional corruption risks and increase undue pressure by the ESBU on compliant taxpayers. The pre-trial settlement of tax disputes should take place exclusively after the completion of an audit by the State Tax Service of Ukraine and the establishment of a taxpayer’s violation of tax legislation. Only the failure to comply with a decision of the State Tax Service of Ukraine (i.e. non-payment of the agreed tax liability) may serve as grounds for confirming the objective elements of a criminal offence under Article 212 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Secondly, in previous years the business community has repeatedly drawn attention to the low effectiveness of criminal proceedings initiated by the ESBU, as well as to cases of disputable assessments of tax matters. This concerns the practice of registering criminal proceedings based on subjectively determined amounts of tax liabilities that have not been confirmed by the controlling authorities. In such cases, even bona fide taxpayers — who ensure stable and significant budget revenues — have been subjected to procedural pressure.

The business community consistently stresses that the function of tax control should belong exclusively to a single state authority. Proposals that effectively envisage duplication of functions by different bodies are counterproductive and create risks of:

• legal uncertainty;
• potential conflicts between the results of tax audits and the position of pre-trial investigation bodies;
• duplication of procedures relating to the same tax periods and payments — first by the ESBU and then by the State Tax Service of Ukraine, or vice versa, without a legislatively defined logic for concluding the process.

At the same time, the launch of the re-attestation process for the current ESBU staff is viewed as a positive signal. The business community hopes that this will lay the groundwork for changing the agency’s approach and increasing the level of professionalism and impartiality.

The Association is grateful to the ESBU leadership for maintaining a regular dialogue and looks forward to due consideration of the business community’s proposals.