Features of auctions for the sale of special permits for the use of subsoil

The procedure for holding auctions for the sale of special permits for the use of subsoil is built on the algorithms of electronic platforms with automatic selection of the winner.

Authorized officials of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine are actually deprived of the opportunity to influence the outcome of the auction and arbitrarily select the winner.

The electronic auction system for the sale of permits provides constant and open access for observers to monitor the auction.

To participate in the auction, the applicant goes through the registration procedure and submits an application for participation in the auction by filling out an electronic form in his personal account.

The application for participation in the auction must indicate the registration number of the lot for which the application is submitted.

After completing the registration procedure and submitting the application, the applicant pays the guarantee deposit at any bank institution on the basis of the account formed by the organizer (operator) in the applicant's personal account or directly on the electronic platform using payment systems, if the functionality of the electronic platform provides such an opportunity.

The amount of the guarantee deposit is 20 percent of the initial price of the lot, but not less than 10,000,000 (ten million) hryvnias for minerals that are of strategic importance for the sustainable development of the economy and the defense capability of the state, 20,000,000 (twenty million) hryvnias for hydrocarbons, 2,000,000 (two million) hryvnias for deposits and/or subsoil areas containing sand, and 1,000,000 (one million) hryvnias for other minerals.

The application for participation in the auction must be certified by the applicant during the registration procedure in accordance with the legislation in the field of electronic document management, with a qualified electronic signature applied to it in accordance with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Electronic Trust Services”.

During each auction round, all participants are provided with equal access to information about the progress of the auction, in particular about the locations of their price offers in the electronic trading system for the sale of permits from the lowest to the highest in each auction round and about the number of participants in a given auction round without their identification.

After the end of the next round of the auction, the electronic trading system for the sale of permits pauses for three minutes and announces the next round.

It should be noted that the auction system for the sale of special permits for the use of subsoil does not allow a decrease in the price step, just as the auction system does not allow a decrease in the price of the lot if the bidding did not take place.

The auction protocol is generated by the electronic trading system for the sale of permits on the day of the auction end and is posted in such system no later than the next business day.

The winner is the participant who submitted the highest price offer for the lot, if he has made at least one auction step - the participant with the next highest price offer, provided that he has made at least one auction step, and in the case of identical price offers - the participant who submitted it earlier.

In this case, the auction is held with an increased price of the initial lot, even if the plot was removed from the auction by order of the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine.

The winner, based on the signed auction protocol, applies to the State Service for Geology and Mineral Resources with a proposal to conclude a permit purchase and sale agreement or a permit purchase and sale agreement with a suspensive circumstance based on the auction results. Such an agreement is concluded between the State Service for Geology and Mineral Resources and the winner no later than 20 business days from the day following the day of formation of the electronic auction protocol and is published by the State Service for Geology and Mineral Resources in the system.

The auction is considered to have failed in the following cases:

- absence of participants;

- when less than two applications have been submitted before the deadline for accepting applications for participation in the auction;

- when, based on the results of the auction, no participant has made an auction step;

- when no price offer has been received before the end of the auction;

- when the winner does not have the right to be a subsoil user;

- when the participant with the next highest price offer, who was recognized as the winner, loses the right to receive a permit or refuses to sign a permit purchase and sale agreement or a permit purchase and sale agreement with a suspensive circumstance, or fails to sign such an agreement within the established time limits.