29 Jan, 2025
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Draft Law “On Appeals” (№ 11082) Recommended for Second Reading by Parliamentʼs Committee, Reinstates Irrational Rudiments into Governance System, Poses Risks for the NGO Sector, and Creates Conflicts with the LAP
Event
On January 13, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, National Minorities, and Interethnic Relations finalized the Draft Law of Ukraine “On Appeals” (№11082) for its second reading.
The text of the draft law prepared for the second reading contains provisions that contradict the Constitution of Ukraine and undermines the distinction between its regulatory scope and that of the Law of Ukraine “On Administrative Procedure” (hereinafter – the LAP). Additionally, there is no information regarding the involvement of the original drafters of this government initiative or MPs from other committees who also submitted amendments to the draft law during its preparation for the second reading. Moreover, the Committee did not use international expertise, despite the law on appeals being highlighted in the Ukraine Report 2024 as a key element in the context of LAP implementation.
CPLR’s assessment
One of the main objectives of the new Law “On Appeals”, which is intended to replace the current Law of Ukraine “On Citizens’ Appeals” is to clearly distinguish its regulatory scope from that of the LAP. The LAP has established high guarantees for ensuring and protecting the rights of individuals and legal entities in their interactions with executive authorities, local self-governance bodies, and other entities performing public administration functions.
In contrast, the mechanism for addressing propositional appeals, which remains within the scope of the Law “On Appeals”, requires rationalization. Currently, this mechanism places a substantial burden on government bodies, consuming significant public resources due to an unjustified workload.
Following the review of the comparative table of Draft Law 11082 (which is not currently publicly available), the CPLR expresses significant concern and calls for further revision of the text of the draft. Particular attention should be given to the following provisions:
1. The draft law includes civil associations, enterprises, institutions, organizations of any ownership form, and the media among those required to consider appeals.
This provision is highly doubtful from the standpoint of the Constitution of Ukraine and the democratic and legal system in general. Article 40 of the Constitution clearly defines the mandatory entities responsible for considering appeals: state authorities and local self-government bodies.
Therefore, it is inappropriate to obligate private enterprises to review and respond to appeals. Similarly, imposing such an obligation on civil associations and the media would also be inappropriate. This kind of regulation could place undue
pressure on the non-governmental sector and businesses.
2. The draft law in its current version introduces a new type of appeal: “requests for assistance in the implementation of rights, freedoms, and legal interests of the applicants as defined by law”. This creates a conflict with the LAP, as according to the LAP individuals should exercise and protect their rights.
This amendment undermines the goal of clearly distinguishing between the regulatory scopes of the LAP and the draft law “On appeals”. Such a provision introduces risks of conflicts and legal disputes.
3. The amendment providing the applicant with the rights to “be present during the consideration of the appeal” and “review the materials related to the appeal” also fails to align with the goal of distinguishing between the different types of appeals (under the LAP and the draft law “On appeals”) and their respective review mechanisms.
These provisions risk maintaining an excessive burden on public authorities. Granting these rights would require the entities reviewing the appeals to ensure their implementation.
However, this is unnecessary, as the issue concerns not the implementation or protection of an individual’s rights, but rather proposals, recommendations, comments, etc.
4. We also believe that granting the applicant the right to “appeal the response to the appeal” provided in the new version of the draft is erroneous. There is no rational legal grounds for providing such a right, since a “response” is not a decision, and the individual has no right to claim based on this appeal.
5. The draft law includes several other amendments proposed by the Committee, which, in our view, undermine its quality. In particular, concerning the issues of the timeframes for reviewing appeals, etc.
Therefore, while the draft law retains many important innovations from the version submitted by the Government, the version recommended by the relevant Committee for the second reading includes provisions that significantly undermine its quality and move it away from the goal – harmonizing with the LAP and streamlining the appeals review system.
The CPLR calls for taking measures to further refine the draft law before its final adoption.
Constitutional Court of Ukraine without a quorum: 3 current judges resigned
Event
On 27 January 2025, a ceremonial special meeting of the CCU was held on the occasion of the termination of powers of CCU judges Viktor Kolisnyk, Viktor Kryvenko and Volodymyr Moisyk in connection with the expiration of their 9-year term of office in accordance with Article 149-1 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
CPLR experts’ assessment
From now on, the number of CCU judges is only 11 out of the required 12, since according to Article 10 of Law No. 2368-VIII, the Court is competent to conduct constitutional proceedings if it has at least 12 judges. At least 10 votes are required to pass a decision of the Grand Chamber of the CCU.
The CPLR experts have repeatedly emphasised the threat of the CCU’s powerlessness, in particular, in the Monitoring Report on the results of the competitive selection of CCU judges under the new procedure (more details here).
Currently, the competitive procedures for selecting candidates for the position of CCU judge under the quotas of the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are underway. In January, the Advisory Group of Experts assessed the candidates’ compliance with the criterion of high moral qualities through written communication and interviews with the candidates.
On 28 January, the Advisory Group of Experts decided that 10 out of 13 candidates from the Parliament’s quota and 13 out of 26 candidates from the President’s quota met the criterion of high moral qualities and were admitted to the next stage of the competitive selection – assessment of the level of competence in the field of law – which will take place on 8 February.
CPLR experts note that the longest stage of the competitive selection for the position of a CCU judge is the assessment of high moral qualities, since part one of Article 10-8 of Law No. 2368-VIII provides for a 4-month period for studying and collecting the necessary information about the candidate and conducting an interview.
In accordance with the Evaluation Methodology, the Advisory Group of Experts may decide to conduct additional interviews within 15 days after all candidates have completed the written stage. If the Advisory Group of Experts decides that there is no need to conduct such interviews, a motivated decision on the assessment of the level of legal competence must be made within 15 days from the date of such decision.
In other words, we can assume that in the first half of March the names of the candidates who have successfully passed all stages of the new competitive selection will be known. After that, the President of Ukraine and the Parliament will be able to appoint new CCU judges and thus unblock constitutional justice in Ukraine.
We wish the candidates success and express our sincere hopes that the problem of incompetence of the only body of constitutional jurisdiction will be resolved as soon as possible.
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