On 2 September 2026, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted Law No. 4961-IX, "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Improve the Operation of Industrial Parks". The President signed the Law on 25 September 2026. Once it enters into force, it will significantly change the rules governing the establishment, management and infrastructure development of industrial parks.
- Land Regime for Industrial Parks
- A separate land-use category is introduced. Land within industrial parks will have its own designated land-use category. The procedure for changing a plot’s designated use to accommodate an industrial park will also be simplified.
- The designated use is fixed. It may not be changed during the operating period of the park.
- The upper area limit is removed. The 1,000-hectare cap will no longer apply. The minimum area remains 10 hectares.
- A simplified transition is available for existing parks. Industrial land occupied by registered parks will be reclassified as industrial park land.
- Cadastral records can be updated more easily. The records may be updated at the request of the landowner or land user, without the need for land management documentation.
- The types of land that may separate plots within an industrial park are expanded. Protective forest belts are added to the land on which engineering and transport infrastructure may be located.
What this means: The changes should reduce land-related uncertainty for investors and streamline due diligence by making the designated use of industrial park land clearer and stable throughout the park’s operating term. However, locking in the designated use will limit the ability to change the land-use model quickly, making careful project structuring and contractual exit arrangements particularly important.
For the energy sector: More stable land arrangements should make it easier to plan grid connections, construct energy infrastructure and locate generation or storage facilities within a park. This may improve the bankability of infrastructure projects, but will require land, planning and energy considerations to be aligned at an early stage.
- Lease, Sublease and Control over Land
- The lease term must cover the park’s operating period. State-owned and municipal land must be leased for at least the period for which the park is established.
- Subleasing becomes more flexible. An initiator that leases the land may sublease it to participants and other park entities without separate consent from the lessor, unless the head lease provides otherwise.
What this means: The longer minimum lease term for state-owned and municipal land should better align with an industrial park’s investment horizon. More flexible subleasing should make it easier to attract participants and service providers, but investors should check the head lease for restrictions or special conditions governing subleases or other transfers of land-use rights.
For the energy market: Subleasing may become a practical way to accommodate energy assets, including solar power plants, energy storage systems, ancillary grid infrastructure and energy service facilities. Operators should nevertheless assess the sublease term, grid access, arrangements for recovering infrastructure costs and the risks arising from termination of the head lease.
- Eco-Industrial Parks and the ESG Dimension
- Eco-industrial parks. A separate status is introduced for parks operating on the principles of industrial symbiosis, resource efficiency and best available technologies.
What this means: Eco-industrial park status may offer an additional positioning advantage for investors focused on ESG, green finance and integration into European supply chains. However, the Cabinet of Ministers will set the eligibility criteria, so the practical impact will depend on future secondary legislation. The Law itself does not provide a separate package of tax or other financial incentives for eco-industrial parks. The principal rationale for adopting this model is the potential to reduce operating costs and improve resource efficiency through industrial symbiosis.
For the energy market: the eco-industrial model may stimulate demand for local generation, energy efficiency, storage systems and demand-side management. Industrial symbiosis could create opportunities for the use of waste heat, shared energy infrastructure and optimisation of consumption among park residents.
- Permitted Facilities and Energy Activities
- A broader range of facilities is permitted. These include manufacturing, logistics, education, research and service facilities, energy storage installations, renewable energy facilities, waste treatment facilities and water supply infrastructure.
- New categories of residents. A distinction is made between participants and other park entities. Other entities will not be entitled to state incentives.
- Participants’ energy activities. Participants may generate and store energy, including energy from renewable sources, for their own consumption.
What this means: the expanded list of permitted facilities makes the park better suited for complex industrial ecosystems where manufacturing is combined with logistics, R&D, training, services and energy infrastructure. For investors, this increases business model flexibility but requires a clear distinction between participants and other entities, as not all residents will have access to state incentives.
For the energy sector: Allowing participants to generate and store energy for their own consumption may accelerate the shift towards decentralised industrial generation. This should create demand for solar, bioenergy, cogeneration and energy storage solutions, as well as energy-as-a-service models. The sale of surplus electricity, licensing, grid connection and balancing will, however, remain subject to separate energy regulation.
- Register, Compliance and Regulatory Risks
- Stricter compliance requirements. The categories of persons barred from acting as initiators, management companies or residents are expanded, including on the basis of links to states designated as aggressors, offshore jurisdictions, sanctions exposure or corruption risks.
- A new registration procedure. The Law introduces a defined application package, assessment criteria and an overall review period of up to 45 business days.
- Deficiencies may be remedied. If an application is incomplete or defective, the authorities may suspend its consideration and allow the initiator 15 working days to remedy the deficiencies.
- FATF-listed high-risk jurisdictions. A company incorporated in a jurisdiction included on the FATF list of jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks regimes will not be eligible to act as an initiator, management company or participant in an industrial park.
What this means: The revised registration procedure is more formal and predictable, but it also places greater emphasis on the quality of the application package and pre-filing compliance screening. Investors will need to review not only the asset and land rights, but also the ownership structure, sanctions exposure, sources of funding and each party’s compliance with statutory requirements.
For the energy market: Compliance restrictions may affect whether investors and equipment suppliers are eligible to participate in park projects, particularly where the infrastructure receives public support or is strategically important. This increases the importance of sanctions, anti-corruption and product-origin checks in energy EPC, O&M and financing contracts.
- Park Management and State Support
- Selection of the management company. For state and municipal land, an open two-stage tender is envisaged. A private initiator or lessee selects the management company independently.
- Self-management of the park. An initiator that is a business entity may perform the functions of the management company itself.
- Grounds for exclusion from the Register. These include lack of reporting, absence of a management company or at least two participants, prolonged inactivity, violation of statutory requirements, or reduction of the park area below 10 hectares.
- Risk of lease termination. The lessor of state or municipal land may unilaterally terminate the lease if the park is excluded from the Register and not reinstated within one year.
- Access to SME support. Initiators and management companies of parks will not lose state support solely because of real estate leasing activities.
- Separate accounting for public-sector entities. State-owned and state-controlled companies must account separately for activities connected with public service obligations and special or exclusive rights and must disclose how public funds are used.
- Transfer of the initiator’s rights and obligations. If the initiator transfers ownership of, or the right to use, all land plots within the industrial park to a person that is not the management company, a participant or another park entity, that person assumes all of the initiator’s rights and obligations. In practical terms, this makes an asset deal structure available for the sale of an industrial park.
- Consequences of dissolving an industrial park. If an industrial park is dissolved, its management company, participants and other entities may continue their business activities. A state-owned or municipally owned management company will be liquidated in accordance with applicable law. Rights to land plots that were not transferred into the ownership of the management company, participants or other park entities will revert to the initiator.
What this means: The ability to self-manage should simplify the structure of privately developed parks and may reduce administrative costs. For parks on state-owned or municipal land, however, the competitive selection of a management company remains important to transparency and procedural integrity. Because exclusion from the Register may ultimately lead to termination of the land lease, ongoing regulatory compliance will be essential to protecting the investment.
For the energy sector: Management companies’ access to SME support programmes, together with the separate-accounting requirements, may affect how energy infrastructure within industrial parks is financed. Projects involving state participation or public funding should account separately for grid, generation, storage and other service costs to reduce the risk of allegations of cross-subsidisation or non-transparent use of public support.
What Businesses Should Do:
- Check the designated use and cadastral data of land plots.
- Review lease terms and sublease conditions.
- Update the park concept, financing model and list of planned facilities.
- Conduct sanctions, corporate and anti-corruption screening of all involved parties.
- Prepare regular reporting procedures and controls over compliance with the criteria for remaining in the Register.
- For state-owned enterprises, assess the need for separate accounting and updates to accounting policies.
For further information, please contact Aster's Partner Yaroslav Petrov, Partner Oleg Boichuk or Senior Associate Tetiana Piskun.
