IMPROVEMENT OF JUDICIARY IN UKRAINE

Avellum Partners, Kyiv, Ukraine
Wed, Feb 5, 2015

On 12 February 2015 theParliament of Ukraine adopted Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring of the Right to a Fair Trial” (“Law”), which partially entered into force on 27 February 2015. Mostprovisions of the Law will becomeeffective on 28 March 2015.

The Law is aimed atincreasing efficiency of the court system, ensuring consistent application oflegislation and establishing legal and organizational grounds for judges’evaluation and their disciplinary liability.

The Law introduces, inter alia, the following importantprovisions: (i) competitive procedure for appointment of judges; (ii) generalprinciples of judges’ evaluation; and(iii) precise list of grounds for judges’ liability and removal.

Procedurefor Appointment of Judges

The Law establishes avery detailed procedure for judges’ appointment, which involves constant publicmonitoring through access of media to the process of evaluation of judges andon-line public access to results of judges’ evaluation and their rates.

Furthermore, the Lawintroduces additional requirements to judges of higher instances – an obligation to pass specialevaluation in order to reaffirm their qualification.

Evaluation of Judges

TheLaw prescribes the following grounds for evaluation of judges: (i) anapplication of the judge to reaffirm his/her qualification; (ii) an applicationof the judge to have permanent appointment; and (iii) a decision of the HighQualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine in connection with disciplinarypenalty.

Judgesappointed for the first time must conduct annual preparation to evaluation,while judges appointed permanently must conduct preparation every three years.Such evaluation may be conducted by:

·         the National School of Judges of Ukraine

·         other judges of the respective court via surveys

·         the judge himself via a self-evaluation application

·         public associations via independent evaluation ofjudge’s work

Importantly, results ofregular evaluation are taken into consideration when deciding on theappointment of a judge permanently or the appointment to a vacant position.

Moreover, each judgewill have a dossier containing, interalia, results of his/her qualification exam, number of cases considered,information on disciplinary liability, etc.This dossier will be considered when promoting judges to positions in courts ofhigher instance or when appointing judges permanently.

DisciplinaryLiability of Judges

The Law provides forprecise grounds to hold the judge liable and procedure for conductingdisciplinary trial in respect of judges. The most important grounds to hold thejudge liable, inter alia, are:

·         Illegal refusal to consider claims, appeal andcassation claims on the merits

·         Failure to indicate in the court judgment groundsfor satisfaction or dismissal of parties’ arguments on the merits of the case

·         Groundless delay or failure to take steps toconsider the case

·         Failure to notify bodies of court administrationand law enforcement bodies on the fact of interference by the parties or stateofficials with the judge’s activity

·         Conviction of a judge in corruption

Disciplinary liabilitymay include the following: (i) temporary removal; (ii) transfer to the court oflower instance; and (iii) recommendation to the High Council of Justice todismiss a judge.

OtherNotable Changes

The Law also introducesother important changes to substantive and procedural legislation of Ukraineincluding, inter alia, the following:

·         Court judgments should be entered into the Registerof Court Judgments not later than the next day upon their delivery or executionof the full text

·         Resolutions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine onapplication of legislative provisions are binding for state authorities

·         The executive branch will not participate in theformation of courts and their structure

Additionalnotes

For further information on thetopic please contact Mykola Stetsenko, Managing Partner, GlibBondar, Partner, andKostiantyn Likarchuk, Partner, or by telephone +38044 220-0335 or via e-mail.

The LEGAL ALERTS are issuedto inform Avellum Partners clients and other interested parties oftime-sensitive legal developments that may affect or otherwise be of specialinterest to them. The comments above do not constitute legal advice or opinion,and should not be regarded as a substitute for detailed advice in individualcases.