The President of the National Expert Construction Alliance of Ukraine, Viktor Leshchynsky, spoke in an exclusive interview with “Operational Ukraine Info” about the procedure and mechanisms for recording objects that have suffered from Russian aggression and military actions, which specialists are involved in this, and the legislative framework for recording and assessing damage.
– Now many people in Ukraine still want to understand how the registration of objects that have suffered from Russian aggression and military actions is carried out. How to do it, where to submit it, and which specialists are involved in this?
– This issue is now seriously raised in society and there is a regulatory framework that clearly regulates the recording of such damage. In the meantime, it is necessary to record such damage in law enforcement agencies as an offense, to call a specialist from the State Emergency Service. The Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 423 of April 5, 2022 approved the list of persons who directly conduct inspections of the condition of building structures and structures.
These are experts in the inspection of buildings and structures with a certificate, designers from the field of structural reliability, and those specialists who are prescribed by the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution (design engineer with a qualification level of “leading” or “category I”, who has a qualification certificate in the specialization “engineering and construction design in terms of ensuring mechanical resistance and stability”; construction expert with a qualification level of “leading” or “category I”, who has a qualification certificate in the specialization “expertise of design documentation in terms of ensuring mechanical resistance and stability”; consulting engineer (construction) with a qualification level of “leading” or “category I”). Also, the inspection of damaged objects can be carried out by involving enterprises, institutions and organizations that include such performers.
After that, such a specialist signs a contract with you on the application, does his work professionally and qualitatively, and at the end issues a report on the technical inspection of the building-structure, separately attaching his qualification certificate inside. This is the recording of the damage caused by Russian aggression. Then the legal entity or individual enters this data. It is better to send these documents to local government bodies and record this documentation in “Diya”. Although there is no single centralized system for entering data into a single database yet.
– A lot of people on the Internet say that such fixing of losses and their compensation is directly entrusted to forensic experts. Is it true, what kind of specialists are these, how much does their work cost? And how long after their work will people be able to receive funds from the losses?
– In the list of persons who provide their services in the field of building and structure inspection, there are no such persons as forensic experts at all. Forensic experts are individuals certified by the Ministry of Justice who have previously undergone training at a specialized institute, passed qualification exams and received a forensic expert certificate issued by the Ministry of Justice.
As a rule, forensic experts are involved in controversial issues that we consider in terms of forensic technical expertise, forensic economic expertise, which are more inherent in fixation losses, losses of people’s property. Forensic experts are usually involved in controversial issues of business entities, in controversial issues of the general contractor of the customer and the designer, all participants in the construction direction.
They are also involved when criminal proceedings are initiated by law enforcement agencies through the court. These are experts who review the accuracy of work, design documentation, and other controversial issues when there is either a dispute or clarification between business entities or controlling law enforcement agencies.
As for their participation in fixing and receiving compensation for losses from the consequences of Russian aggression, this category of persons is not legally established. The conclusion of a forensic examination cannot guarantee any owner compensation for such losses at all.
Why? Because the responsible party in this case is very controversial. And, submitting these materials to the court, we do not directly identify the defendant. And as a rule, many such issues “walk” on the Ukrainian market, but this is not a panacea for solving such issues and does not solve the issue at all.
– Is there a clearly defined legislative framework for recording and assessing losses?
– This legislative field is partially regulated, because the subjects of fixation are determined. And the issue of compensation for these expenses in the legal plane is not fully regulated. Therefore, at the moment it is necessary to determine, in accordance with the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution, clear rules for fixing such losses and wait for legislative regulation, namely, the presentation of such documents and the amount of compensation.
