The "Fish Law": Risks to Drinking Water and Increased Development of Shorelines

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Primary authors: Oleksandr Haidu, Davyd Arahamiya

The authors of Draft Law No. 12384 argued that their initiative would improve Ukraine’s investment climate. However, experts from the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group and the NGO “Teren” warned that several provisions of the bill posed risks that could negatively affect both drinking water quality and public access to water bodies.

The draft law, co-authored by Davyd Arakhamia, Andrii Motovylovets, and Oleksandr Haidu, proposed allowing the fencing of riverside plots of up to 0.1 hectares without adequate safeguards or consideration of local community views. In addition, according to environmental experts, the proposed rules on fish farming in reservoirs, including the use of chemical substances, could create additional risks to drinking water quality.

Earlier, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy vetoed a similar draft law, No. 8119, citing concerns about its compatibility with the Constitution of Ukraine. The Main Legal Department of the Verkhovna Rada had also highlighted these constitutional concerns.

Environmental organizations called for amendments to the draft law, and their position was supported by government officials. However, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy did not incorporate these proposals. As a result, the bill failed to secure the support of a parliamentary majority, in part due to the efforts of Members of Parliament Yulia Ovchynnykova (Servant of the People) and Nataliia Pipa (Holos).

On 1 July 2026, the Verkhovna Rada voted to return the draft law for a repeated second reading.

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