While Ukrainians still slept after New Year celebrations, several legal and other changes went into effect on Jan.1 to bring greater security, safety and slightly higher wages.
The State Border Guard Service introduced a new system of biometric control for foreigners entering Ukraine. A new, slower 50-kilometer per hour speed limit is designed to save lives and bring Ukraine closer to European road safety rules.
Also, Ukrainians will have higher minimum wages, but they will need to work longer to collect state pensions.
Speed limits
The new speed limit replaces the old one that allowed travel of up to 70 kilometers per hour. Under the old rules, drivers also could escape being fined by police if they violated the speed limit by no more than 20 kilometers per hour. The new law allows motorists to drive only 10 kilometers per hour above the limit to evade punishment.
Read more about new road safety rules in Ukraine here.
Fingerprints
The new biometric control goes into effect for all 157 international checkpoints in Ukraine.
Now foreigners from 70 countries that could pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security will have to pass biometric verification on a checkpoint in order to enter Ukraine.
Oleh Slobodyan, State Border Guard Service spokesperson, explained to BBC Ukraine that the new biometric control system does not apply to citizens of the European Union, the U.S or other Western countries.
The list of potential risk countries list includes African and Islamic countries, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and many others.
“But mostly this norm concerns citizens of Russian Federation,” Olexandr Turchynov, head of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, said during the presentation of the new biometric control system in Kyiv Zhulyany International Airport on Dec. 21.
Russian “spies with fake Ukrainian passports and identities won’t enter Ukraine anymore,” Turchynov added.
The Kremlin invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and launched a war in the eastern Donbas that has killed more than 10,000 people and uprooted more than 1 million citizens.
Higher wages, longer work
The new state budget hikes the minimum wage raise from Hr 3,200 ($113) to Hr 3,700 ($131).
Ukrainians have the lowest wages in Europe, Eurostat has reported. An average Ukrainian earns about $300 a month. The minimum wage per hour is Hr 22 ($0.78).
In comparison, Ukraine’s neighboring Hungary has $479 minimum wage, while Poland’s is $500.
Ukrainians will have to work longer to get a minimum state pension of Hr 1452 ($51). Pension reform adopted by the Ukrainian parliament in October partly entered into force on Jan.1.
The new norms increase the minimum employment history from 15 years to 25 years of work. In the next 10 years, workers will have to show 35 years of employment history to receive state pensions.
