An enterprise from Ivano-Frankivsk complained to the Business Ombudsman Council. The company won a state grant for business development. As part of the project implementation, the company had to obtain a permit for placing a retail outlet from Ivano-Frankivsk City Council Department of Urban Planning and Architecture (City Council Department). However, the City Council, having received the application in June 2023, only a few months later refused issuing such a permit to the company due to errors in the submitted documents. In September, the complainant submitted a revised package of documents to the City Council Department through Administrative Services Provision Centre (TSNAP) to obtain a permit. However, the local government authority did not consider documents with corrected errors.
Having accepted the complaint in December 2023, the Council turned to Ivano-Frankivsk City Council Department and asked to immediately and impartially, according to the procedure of the Law “On the Administrative Procedure”, study the complainant’s full package of documents and make a legal decision.
The Council’s intervention had a considerable impact on the Department’s representatives: the parties managed to communicate effectively and understand the situation online. During the joint review of the company’s complaint, thanks to the Council’s mediation, the City Council Department and the complainant agreed on the algorithm of further actions for the company to receive administrative services. In particular, the City Council Department had to formalize its objections to the complainant’s package of documents, while the complainant – to re-apply using a new form, having preliminary agreed on an offset to the adjacent area of the educational institution and gas networks.
Already in January 2024, the City Council Department informed the company how it should adjust the outlet layout.
In the end, the company submitted an updated package of documents, and in February, the City Council Department issued the long-awaited permit for placing the retail outlet.
