Monitoring Report “The implementation of the new criminal procedure code of Ukraine: the initial results”

1. Western Europe

Laws concerning administrative offenses in the “established democracies” of Europe are inherently diverse. Differences appear in the titles given to administrative offenses, as well as in the legal ownership of administrative offenses, the relationship between administrative offenses and criminal offenses, the characteristics of the subjects of responsibility, the subjective side of the relevant offenses and the consequences of committing such violations. The laws also differ in the manner in which they have been established and the way specific laws address responsibility for administrative offenses.

Ukraine has been living with a new Criminal Procedure Code for little more than one month now. It took effect on November 20th last year. It is too early, in my opinion, to give a proper assessment of its effectiveness or ineffectiveness. We should wait until the first trials and their results.