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NEW JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF UKRAINE IN ACTION On July 16th, 2016 text of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges” № 1402-VIII as of June 02, 2016 was published in the newspaper “Golos Ukrainy” № 132-133. The Law is the logical continuation of the amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine on justice. The main purpose of the Law is comprehensive and profound reforming of the judicial system of Ukraine in accordance with international standards, increasing the independence level of judges and strengthening the judiciary responsibility to the society as well as creating the necessary conditions for the implementation of justice based on the rule of law. Among the key innovations introduced by the Law, we can single out the following: · transition to three-link judicial system, consisting of local courts, courts of appeal and the Supreme Court as the court of cassation, in the structure of which will operate four cassation courts that will carry out the cases under cassational procedure for the relevant speciality, and the Grand Chamber, which function is unification of court practice and resolving of jurisdictional disputes; · elimination of existing and establishment of new specialized courts – the Intellectual Property Higher Court and Anti-Corruption Higher Court, which will act as courts of first instance; · increasing age and professional qualifications for judicial candidates, improving the competitive principle of appointment of judges; · cancellation of appointment of judges for the five years period; · a new procedure introduced for appointing judges solely on the results of a public competition and qualification assessment; · judges are appointed by the President of Ukraine upon the submission of the High Council of Justice; · a significant increase of judges’ remuneration is provided, as well as changes in the conditions and volume of the monthly lifetime allowance of a judge after his/her retirement; · introducing monitoring of a judge’s manner of living and mandatory annual declaration of family connections and fair practice of judges; · expanse of the list of grounds for dismissal of judges, particularly in the case of a judge’s breach of duty to verify the legality of the source of property; · introducing limits of judicial immunity and establishing legal responsibility for actions, committed outside the professional judicial activity, on general grounds. The Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges” shall enter into force simultaneously with the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (on justice)” at the end of September this year. However, the Law provides that the formation of the Supreme Court and appointment of judges of the Supreme Court under the new procedure should take place within 6 months after the entry into force of the Law; and it is provided that the formation of the Higher Court on Intellectual Property and the Higher Anti-Corruption Court and the competition for the positions of judges in these courts shall be completed within 12 months. The Supreme Court, set up under the new rules, shall start functioning, under the condition of appointment of at least sixty-five judges of the Supreme Court; until that, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases, the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine and the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine continue to operate within their powers. ______________________________________________________________ |