President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a bill on amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of Ukraine on strengthening liability for petty theft of other people's property, which provides for an increase to UAH 3,000 in the threshold value of property, the theft of which will not be considered a criminal offense, but at the same time tightening administrative responsibility for such theft and the introduction of fines for them.

As reported in the card of relevant bill No. 11068 on the website of the Verkhovna Rada, it was submitted to Parliament on March 8, adopted as a basis on May 22, on July 18 in general, and returned on August 6 with the signature of the head of the Ukrainian state.

"Petty theft of other people's property by theft, fraud, misappropriation or embezzlement, if the value of such property at the time of the offense does not exceed 0.5 of the tax-free minimum income of citizens, entails the imposition of a fine from 50 to 100 tax-free minimum income of citizens or community service for a period of 20 to 30 hours, or administrative arrest for a period of up to five days," the new version of Article 51 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Violations "Petty theft of other people's property" says.

If the value of the stolen property at the time of the offense is from 0.5 to two tax-free minimum incomes of citizens, this entails a fine of 100-300 tax-free minimum incomes or community service for 30-40 hours, or correctional labor for up to one month minus 20% of earnings, or administrative arrest for 5-10 days.

"Repeated commission of violations provided for in part one or two of this article during the year, for which a person has already been subjected to an administrative penalty, entails the imposition of a fine from 300 to 600 tax–free minimum incomes of citizens or community service for a period of 40 to 60 hours, or correctional labor for a period of one to two months minus 20% of earnings, or administrative arrest for a period of 10 to 15 days," the new edition says.

If a person has been subjected to administrative punishment for petty theft of other people's property three or more times during the year, he is fined 600-1000 tax-free minimum incomes of citizens or administrative arrest for 15 days.

Thus, in 2024, for theft of property worth up to UAH 757, one will be fined in the amount of UAH 850 to UAH 1,700, for theft in the amount of UAH 758 to UAH 3,028, there will be a fine from UAH 1,700 to UAH 5,100, and in case of repeated theft – up to UAH 17,000.

The explanatory note to the draft law notes that according to the earlier version of the article, after the minimum subsistence level for able-bodied persons was set at UAH 3,028 on January 1, 2024, theft of other people's property was a criminal offense if its cost was more than UAH 302,8 (0.2% of the amount of the tax social benefit, which contains half of the subsistence minimum).

"The judicial practice of applying the norms on criminal prosecution for theft under martial law on the territory of Ukraine indicates that the punishment for theft is not proportionate. The punishment must correspond to the degree of public danger of the crime, the circumstances of its commission and take into account the identity of the perpetrator, that is, be fair … This situation requires settlement, in our opinion, by raising the amount separating administrative and criminal liability for theft," the text of the explanatory note says.