(Bulletin of the Verkhovna Rada (VVR), 1996, N 52, Art. 304 )

Article 1. In connection with the state's failure to fulfill its obligations to pay wages, pensions, scholarships and other monetary payments to the population, it is temporarily prohibited, in settlements from 1 October 1996, to charge and collect from citizens of Ukraine a penalty for the late payment of rent and for housing and communal services (water supply, gas, electricity, heat energy, wastewater disposal, maintenance and operation of housing and adjoining territories, garbage collection, elevator services).

Funds collected from citizens of Ukraine in the form of a penalty for housing and communal services payments for the period from 1 October 1995 shall be credited toward future payments for housing and communal services.

Article 2. This Law shall remain in effect until the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine eliminates the causes specified in Article 1 and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopts a corresponding decision.

Article 3. This Law shall enter into force on the day of its publication.

President of Ukraine L. KUCHMA
Kyiv, 13 November 1996
N 486/96-VR