KIEV, June 21 – Parliament has given first-reading support to a draft law aimed at creating a legal basis for the application of PSA agreements and the relaxation of some permit procedures for the use of mining deposits.

A total of 233 out of 412 MPs registered in the session hall supported the law.

The draft proposes to amend the law on PSA aimed at elimination of collision in the law and defining the state and certain state bodies the side of PSA agreements. It was proposed to delegate powers to sign PSA agreements on the territory of offshore economic zones or the continental shelf of Ukraine to the Ukrainian cabinet. It is also proposed to improve or regulate a mechanism for the payment of royalties and duties during the fulfillment of PSA agreements, in particular, without the territory of the offshore economic zone.