On 4 June 2017, the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Buildings, Transport and Electricity Facilities for the Purpose of Deployment of Telecommunications Networks" as of 7 January 2017 No. 1834-VIII (the "Law") will become effective.
The Law will introduce the key requirements and general procedure for access to objects of physical infrastructure in order to deploy telecommunications networks. Namely:
A customer (a telecommunications operator or provider) will be able to obtain access to physical infrastructure in accordance with the following procedure: The owner of facilities develops technical specifications for access and provides them to the customer;
Technical specifications must include, inter alia, information for the customer to further develop project documentation for access. Technical specifications shall specify uniform access requirements applicable to all customers. The customer develops project documentation for access on the basis of technical specifications provided by the owner; The owner of facilities approves project documentation for access (there is no requirement to obtain an approval from any governmental or municipal authority or any other person); The owner of facilities and the customer conclude an access agreement;
The Law sets forth an exhaustive list of reasons, based on which the owner may refuse to enter into an access agreement. These reasons may be as follows: customer's failure to provide project documentation; ban on entry into an access agreement established by a law or a court judgment; destruction or dismantling of certain physical infrastructure after customer's request to conclude an access agreement. Fees for access to physical infrastructure may comprise: one-off payment for the development and issuance of technical specifications for access; and/or recurrent charges to be applied only if the owner bears additional costs to maintain facilities in connection with the provided access. The recurrent charges for access will be determined in respect of various categories of facilities in accordance with procedures to be developed by the relevant governmental agencies shortly (e.g., the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Housing and Utilities Infrastructure of Ukraine is in charge of developing payment procedures regarding access to elements of in-building physical infrastructure). The Law sets forth capped fees for access to various types of facilities. For instance, one-off payment for the development and issuance of technical specifications for access may not exceed 50% of the statutory minimum wage, monthly charge for access to buildings and use of in-building physical infrastructure may not exceed 2% of the statutory minimum wage per building with up to 100 apartments, etc. Agreements on access to physical infrastructure effective as on 4 June 2017 will remain in force until their expiration. The parties need not bring such agreements in line with the Law unless the owner of facilities or the customer requests the other party to do so.
For further information please contact Asters' partner Svitlana Chepurna
and senior associate Oksana Legka.
