“Fair Reservation”: Rada proposes a new model for deferring mobilization

In the fifth year of a full-scale war, the issue of mobilization and economic stability of the state is entering a new stage. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has registered draft law No. 15237 “On Fair Reservation and Participation in Defense”, which proposes a radical change in the approach to the reservation of military conscripts.

The document provides for a transition from a model in which reservation actually means complete exemption from mobilization obligation, to the concept of “participation in the defense of the state in another form”.

The authors of the initiative emphasize: reserved personnel should not avoid participating in the defense of the country, but perform it through economic, reserve or financial support for defense.

They want to enshrine reservation criteria in law

One of the key changes in the draft law is the amendment of Article 25 of the Law of Ukraine “On Mobilization Training and Mobilization”.

The document provides that:

categories of persons who can receive reservation;
grounds for postponement;
Reservation terms

should be determined exclusively by law, and not by resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

According to the authors, this will make the system more transparent and limit the possibility of operational changes to the rules through government decisions without parliamentary control.

In addition, the draft law directly prohibits indefinite reservation. It provides for a regular review of the status of reserved persons for compliance with the requirements of the law.

Three forms of participation in defense

Article 5 of the draft law stipulates that reserved employees must participate in ensuring the defense of the state in one of three forms.

Work on critical infrastructure

The first mechanism is classic reservation for employees of critical infrastructure. This concerns the energy, transport, defense industry and other strategically important industries.

In this case, the employee’s work is actually equated with the performance of a defense task for the state.

Reserve service

The second option is to serve in the reserve without complete separation from work.

This approach involves training reservists with the possibility of prompt engagement in service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine if necessary.

Targeted contributions for defense

The third mechanism is targeted contributions for defense needs. In fact, the bill proposes to legalize the model of the so-called “economic reservation”.

It is assumed that the enterprise or the employee himself will make a certain contribution to finance the needs of the security and defense sector.

They plan to create a register of reserved

The document also provides for the creation of a state Register of reserved persons.

At the same time, the personal data of critical infrastructure employees should be partially depersonalized – without openly indicating a specific enterprise.

The authors of the bill explain this by the need to protect critical facilities from information leakage, espionage and cyberattacks in war conditions.

What questions remain open

Despite the scale of the initiative, a number of mechanisms still require additional regulatory regulation.

In particular, the following questions remain open:

what will be the size of the targeted contributions;
whether they will depend on the salary level;
how will the reservist service be organized without harming the work of enterprises;
who will have access to the Register of Reserved Persons and how will personal data be protected.

The draft law provides that after its adoption, the government will have three months to prepare the necessary by-laws and bring the regulatory framework into line with the new reservation model.

This stage is expected to be key for the practical launch of the “fair reservation” system in Ukraine.