Can the National Police demand documents from critical enterprises regarding employee reservations?

The National Police has initiated requests to critically important enterprises concerning employees granted exemption from mobilisation. Employers are required to provide lists of such employees for the years 2023–2026, along with copies of their employment documents and the justification for the enterprise's critically important status. The National Police letters state that this information is essential to verify any potentially fictitious employment of conscripted individuals for the purpose of obtaining further exemptions.

Specifically, these requests demand a list of all employees granted exemptions between 2023 and 2026, copies of employment orders, labour contracts, timesheets, and documentation proving the enterprise's critically important status. While the National Police has the right to collect information and obtain documents, this power is strictly limited by legislation.

According to the Law of Ukraine No. 580-VIII "On the National Police," dated 2 July 2015, the police are responsible for detecting criminal offences, conducting pre-trial investigations, performing procedural actions, and obtaining information necessary for these duties.

However, the National Police is not the authority responsible for overseeing employee exemptions or verifying the accuracy of an enterprise's critically

important status. Such powers are not granted to the police by law.

For the National Police to legitimately demand information and documents, there must be legal grounds, such as the execution of procedural actions within a criminal proceeding.

The police do not conduct routine checks of enterprises regarding exemptions but perform procedural actions only in legally stipulated cases. Therefore, merely receiving a letter from the National Police does not automatically obligate an employer to immediately submit all requested documents.

Upon receiving a letter from the National Police, enterprises are advised to carefully analyse its content. Employers should ascertain whether the request specifies the procedure within which the information is demanded and whether it references a particular criminal proceeding.

If such details are absent, the enterprise should not rush to submit all documents. Instead, it should prepare a written response requesting clarification of the legal grounds for the request.

As previously reported by Judicial-Legal Newspaper, Cabinet Resolution No. 862 introduced further adjustments to the fundamental exemption rules outlined in Resolutions No. 76 and No. 692. The government stated that the primary objectives of these changes are to enhance energy security, support defence IT projects, and address inconsistencies in the accounting of conscripted individuals who have multiple grounds for deferral.

The new regulations establish a revised timeframe for businesses: most existing criticality decisions will only remain valid until 1 September 2026, unless enterprises reconfirm their compliance with the updated criteria.

The government has also regulated the issue of double accounting for conscripted individuals. Under the revised paragraph 12 of Procedure No. 76, employees who have deferrals for other reasons specified in Article 23 of the Mobilisation Law, or who work part-time at several critical enterprises, will now only be counted in the total number of conscripted individuals at one place of work. The selection criterion is the place of employment with the longest duration. This rule will come into effect on 3 July 2026.