Military Reservations & Critical Importance Status. New Procedure

On 22 November 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 1332 titled Certain Issues of Reservation of Persons Liable for Military Service for the Mobilization and Wartime Period (the "Resolution"), which amends the procedure of employees’ reservation and the criteria for enterprises to acquire critical importance status. Most of the changes stipulated by the Resolution came into force on 1 December 2024.

Determining the Status of a Critical Enterprise

As before, only companies that are critical to the needs of the Armed Forces and other military formations, or to the functioning of the economy and the livelihoods of the population, will be able to reserve employees from potential mobilization. With the adoption of the Resolution, the conditions for obtaining this status have also changed.

To be granted a critical status in infrastructure sphere, an enterprise must meet three or more criteria set out in Clause 2 of the Criteria and Procedure approved by Resolution No. 76 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 27 January 2023 (the "Criteria and Procedure"). However, from now on, the following two criteria out of the three are mandatory for private sector enterprises and have been significantly adjusted:

• Companies must have no arrears in the payment of unified social contributions and taxes to state and local budgets.
• The average salary of employees for the last quarter must be at least 2.5 times the minimum wage, amounting to no less than UAH 20,000 (UAH 8,000 × 2.5).

Businesses intending to reserve employees must confirm their status of a critical enterprise within three months from the date of publication of the Resolution, i.e., by the end of February 2025.

Within this three-month period, ministries, regional administrations, and other authorized bodies must review the previously granted critical importance status decisions for enterprises. By 10 December 2024 (within ten days of the Resolution's entry into force), the authorized government bodies must approve updated sectoral and territorial criteria for determining critically important enterprises and coordinate them with the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Defense. Currently, the criteria have already been updated by, among others, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, and others.

Updated Procedure for Employees’ Reservation

Starting from 1 December 2024, employees’ reservations will be made exclusively through the Diia portal. All reservations made before 1 December 2024, through the Diia portal or by the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine will remain valid for the period for which they were issued, but no later than 28 February 2025.

The updated booking algorithm includes several key steps:

1. The director of the enterprise certifies the lists of employees for reservation with their electronic signature and submits them for consideration through the Diia portal.
2. The system automatically verifies whether the individual is officially employed, meets the appropriate salary criteria, and has their information entered in the “Oberih” state register.
3. Within 72 hours,* the company's director receives a notification of the application review result.
4. In the case of a positive decision, the employee is automatically transferred to special military registration and is considered reserved for the period of the reservation. All necessary information is displayed in the Rezerv+ application.

To carry out the online reservation procedure, consider: 1) whether the company is eligible to reserve its employees; and 2) whether the employee qualifies for reservation.

It is also crucial to ensure that employee’s data fully matches the records in “Oberih”. Since the reservation process is automated, any data discrepancy will result in a refusal to grant the reservation.

The deferral period for employees of critically important enterprises will be up to 12 months, and the maximum number of reserved employees cannot exceed 50% of the total number of military liable persons at the enterprise, as determined by the procedure's requirements.

Additionally, starting from 2 October 2024, new requirements for forming the list of persons liable for military service have been introduced. Specifically, such lists may only include employees who are registered for personal military service at the enterprise itself. The content of the list has also been updated to include: 1) full name (last name, first name, patronymic); 2) taxpayer identification number; 3) the period of deferral; 4) details of the military registration document (in paper or electronic form); 5) military specialty; 6) date of military registration data verification.

The changes introduced by the Resolution aim to enhance the transparency, efficiency, and fairness of the employee reservation process. The transition to digitalization through the Diia portal automates checks, minimizes the risk of abuse, and simplifies procedures for businesses.

*According to the explanation from the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, from 22 January to 1 March 2025, the processing time for applications will be one day. This will allow company managers to obtain a new reservation for an employee on the same day that the current reservation is canceled.