Complainee: The State Architectural and Construction Supervision Office in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (DABI Office in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast)
Complaint in brief: The Business Ombudsman Council received a complaint lodged by a private entrepreneur from Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. The businesswoman reconstructed a real estate object into a shop and was going to open a grocery store there. However, for this purpose she had firstly to obtain a sort of an approval from the local DABI Office, – that is the registration of a Declaration of the Construction Object Readiness for Operation Which Under the Consequences (Responsibility) Class Belongs to Minor Consequences Objects (CC1) (the Declaration).
During February-July 2021, the entrepreneur submitted the Declaration five times: three times through the Administrative Services Center and twice – via the Unified State Construction E-System Portal. However, each time the state regulator refused to register her Declaration due to certain technical errors, some of which were repeated, others were always new. Then, having submitted the Declaration for the sixth time, the businesswoman turned to the BOC for assistance.
Actions taken: The team of investigators in charge examined the case files and found the complaint to be substantiated. The Council recommended the DABI Office in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast to ensure a full, comprehensive and impartial consideration of the complainant’s newly submitted Declaration, where she corrected previously detected shortcomings (at least the ones, the essence of which had been clearly stated and, therefore, understandable). In a letter to the DABI Office, the BOC pointed out a number of circumstances that may indicate the alleged violations of the complainant’s rights while considering her previous Declarations (in particular, the reasons for the refusal were mostly not clear enough and detailed for the entrepreneur to be able to duly correct them; no references to the legal norms violated by the complainant when filling out Declarations were provided, etc.). The BOC also reminded that the construction supervision authority has ten working days to check the completeness of information provided in the Declaration, and in case information is sufficient, – it shall register the document in question.
Result achieved: DABI Office in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast followed the BOC’s recommendations and smoothly registered the Declaration within several days. The businesswoman thanked the Council’s team for support: “Let me express my gratitude to the Business Ombudsman Council for the extremely effective response and humane attitude towards my problem with the long-term illicit abuses of the architectural and construction supervision officials in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. […] Thanks to your coordinated, high-quality and effective work, barriers for exercising my legal rights and interests as an entrepreneur have been removed”. The case was successfully closed, and since September 15, 2021, instead of DABI, a new body, – the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine (DIAM), – started to perform its functions in the field of state architectural and construction supervision in Ukraine.
27.12.2021