Parliament toughens penalties for TCCs and MLCs

Members of the Verkhovna Rada propose introducing personal financial liability for Territorial Recruitment Centre (TRC) staff and criminal liability for doctors who issue unlawful fitness‑for‑service conclusions. In March 2026 a bill was registered that strengthens liability for TRC officials for illegal decisions and for Military Medical Commission (MMC) doctors for knowingly false conclusions. The initiative is a response to numerous cases of bribery and falsification in the mobilisation system, which have undermined public trust in the country’s defence structures.

Core provisions of the bill
TRC employees will bear financial liability: from fines to an obligation to compensate losses if their actions or inaction led to unlawful decisions or exemptions from mobilisation.
Members of military medical commissions will face criminal liability for knowingly false medical conclusions on fitness for service.
The internal control units within TRCs will gain broader powers, including initiating disciplinary proceedings and forwarding materials to the State Bureau of Investigation and the Prosecutor’s Office.
Unlawful actions by TRC officials or medical staff aimed at helping citizens evade mobilisation will be treated not as mistakes but as intentional crimes against the state’s defence capability.

Reasons for the initiative
Ukraine’s mobilisation system during the war with Russia has repeatedly been criticised for opaque decision‑making, corruption schemes and a lack of real accountability for abuses. Since summer 2023 law‑enforcement bodies have recorded dozens of cases where citizens, in exchange for bribes, illegally obtained certificates of unfitness, avoided conscription or left the country using forged documents. The bill’s authors stress that disciplinary sanctions alone do not deter offenders and that the absence of clear financial and criminal liability has created fertile ground for corruption, so new mechanisms must ensure the inevitability of punishment.

How offenders are to be punished
Financial liability for TRC employees will cover both bribery and negligence: if the state suffers losses, they must reimburse them from their own funds. For doctors, amendments to the Criminal Code are proposed: intentional falsification of medical conclusions would be punishable by 3 to 8 years’ imprisonment and a five‑year ban on holding medical positions. Where doctors, intermediaries and TRC staff participate in organised schemes to circumvent mobilisation, they would be treated as accomplices to a crime against national defence.

Parliament and public reaction
The initiative is being discussed in relevant committees on national security and law enforcement. Some MPs support the bill as a step towards cleaning up the mobilisation system and restoring trust. At the same time, MPs and human‑rights advocates warn that excessively broad punitive powers may lead to new abuses, with doctors and TRC staff afraid of even honest mistakes because of the risk of criminal prosecution. They emphasise the need to clearly distinguish intentional misconduct from professional error so as not to create an atmosphere of fear in a system that requires confidence and stability.

Expert assessment
Lawyers and military‑law specialists generally view the introduction of personal liability positively, arguing that collective impunity in state institutions inevitably breeds systemic corruption. When an official realises they may have to pay out of pocket or go to prison, their behaviour changes dramatically. However, experts note that the effectiveness of these reforms depends not only on the legal text but also on the quality of investigations and court practice: if law‑enforcement and courts continue to avoid real sentences for high‑level officials and focus only on “small fish”, even the toughest sanctions will have limited impact.

Impact on the TRC system
If adopted, the bill will trigger a review of TRC internal procedures. Staff will have to log all actions in electronic registers, and decisions on deferrals, exemptions or findings of unfitness will be taken collectively, with digital signatures of responsible officials. This should make it possible to identify exactly who made an unlawful decision or approved forged documents. The Ministry of Defence is expected to create an internal financial‑disciplinary tracking system where all violations are recorded in personal files, helping build anti‑corruption statistics and reducing the risk of repeated offences.

Risks for the medical community
Doctors broadly support stronger accountability but fear that the new rules may complicate the work of military medical commissions, since fitness assessments often lie on a borderline and rely on expert judgement. If such decisions could trigger criminal charges, doctors may choose “safer” but not always fair conclusions. For this reason the medical community insists on clear criteria for intent — such as proven receipt of illegal benefit, document falsification or a lack of any objective medical justification for the conclusion.

Possible effects on the mobilisation system
Introducing personal and criminal liability has a dual effect: it increases discipline and narrows the space for illegal schemes, but it also risks over‑bureaucratising the system and slowing mobilisation processes in critical periods. Anti‑corruption initiatives in the military sphere always balance control against efficiency, and Ukraine is effectively betting on personal liability as the main deterrent, following examples from NATO countries.

Conclusion:
The proposed bill is another step towards cleaning the mobilisation system of abuses and corruption, but its success will depend on finding a balance between inevitable punishment for offenders and workable conditions for conscientious staff.

If you have questions or problems related to medical commissions, dealings with TRCs or challenging unlawful actions by officials, you should seek advice from lawyers specialising in military and administrative law.

Author – Svitlana Krutorohova, attorney at the law firm “WINNER”.