Booking Over the Limit: Business May Lose Critical Status

With the adoption of CMU Resolution No. 862, the government introduced further adjustments to the basic booking rules defined by Resolutions No. 76 and No. 692. The main goal of the changes, according to the Cabinet, is to strengthen energy security, support defense IT projects, and eliminate gaps in the accounting of conscripts who have multiple grounds for deferment.

The new rules create a new timeframe for businesses: most existing decisions on criticality will remain valid only until September 1, 2026, unless enterprises confirm their compliance with the new criteria.

The government regulated the issue of double accounting of conscripts. According to the new wording of paragraph 12 of Procedure No. 76, employees who have deferments for other reasons provided by Article 23 of the Mobilization Law or who work part-time at several critical enterprises are now counted in the total number of conscripts only at one place of employment. The selection criterion is the place of employment with the longest duration of employment relationship. This rule comes into effect on July 3, 2026.

Government bodies determining the criticality of enterprises receive expanded access to data through the Diia Portal. They can now see in real time:

• The total number of conscripts at the enterprise.
• The number of already booked employees and the established limit.
• The number of employees booked over the limit.

By September 1, 2026, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Digital Transformation must ensure full electronic interaction between their resources to transfer data from the Unified Booking List. Moreover, the Ministry of Defense is obliged within 14 working days from the entry into force of Resolution No. 862 to enter information about the validity periods of all existing deferments into the "Obereg" Register.

Exceeding the Booking Limit

The Ministry of Economy clarified the critically important issue of exceeding the established volumes of conscript bookings and the implementation of new accounting rules by letter No. 27-11/60569-07.

Thus, in case of detecting an excess of booking limits, enterprise managers are obliged within ten working days to submit an electronic application through the Diia Portal to cancel the "excess" bookings.

The Ministry of Economy emphasizes that exceeding the limits is a direct ground for canceling the enterprise's critical status. This will lead to the loss of the right to book all personnel.

The Ministry of Economy, together with the Ministry of Defense, continuously monitors booking volumes based on data entered into the Unified State Register of conscripts, conscripts, and reservists.

If the enterprise does not independently eliminate the excess within the specified 10-day period, the Ministry of Economy will make a decision to cancel the critical status necessary for the functioning of the economy.

As previously reported by «Judicial and Legal Newspaper», the Ministry of Economy announced the start of inspections to ensure compliance with established conscript booking limits. Based on the analysis of information received from the Ministry of Defense, cases of exceeding the allowed booking volumes were recorded. In this regard, official letters are sent to employers demanding the elimination of violations. This concerns the urgent cancellation of deferments for employees booked beyond the established limits.

First of all, it is necessary to verify the correctness of the state body's calculations, as in practice there are already cases when all part-time employees are mistakenly counted towards the quota excess, even if their other place of employment is not a critical enterprise.

Initially, it is advisable to check information regarding employees' part-time status, if possible obtain confirmation of their status from other employers, and only then make a decision. If the state body's calculations are incorrect, it is advisable to send a reasoned letter with objections and a request to review the data. If the excess is confirmed, the enterprise should timely bring the number of booked employees into compliance with the law to avoid risking the loss of critical status.

Confirmation of Enterprise Compliance with the Average Wage Level Criterion

The government established that all decisions on designating enterprises as critical, which were valid as of the end of May 2026, remain in force only until September 1, 2026. To avoid automatic cancellation of status on September 1, enterprises must undergo a review procedure.

For this, by August 10, 2026, the following documents must be submitted to the relevant authority:

• A certificate of the average accrued wage of insured employees for the last calendar month.
• A tax calculation of income amounts accrued to individuals, amounts of withheld tax, and accrued single social contribution (SSC) for the last calendar month.

These data must confirm the enterprise's compliance with the average wage level criterion, which is mandatory to maintain the critical status necessary for the functioning of the economy.

If documents are submitted by August 10, the provision on automatic termination of status on September 1 does not apply. The decision to designate the enterprise as critical remains valid for the entire originally established period.

If documents are not submitted or submitted after August 10, the critical status of the enterprise will be canceled on September 1, 2026. Along with it, all deferments granted to conscript employees of this enterprise will also become invalid.

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