Legal news in Ukraine: the judges’ qualification will be completed in September, the competition to local courts, the appointment of judges, state registrars will pass the exam, the composition of the Public Council of Integrity will be updated

Judicial qualification should be completed by September 2019

Council of judges of Ukraine at its meeting heard information about the terms of judges’ qualification evaluation.

According to the heads of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the indicative deadline for the completion of the qualification assessment is set to be September 1, 2019. Each month it has to go for 500 people.

The deputy chairman of the Commission, Stanislav Shotka, drew the attention to some statistical indicators related to the procedure. «Those who participated in this procedure know that the members of the Commission tried to work out the results of the exam as quickly as possible. We have identified a list of judges to be evaluated. An examination was organized for 5040 judges, of which 240 did not appear for it. According to the results of the exam, 12 judges failed to cope with the test, 90 did not score the minimum acceptable grade for practical assignment, yet 67 did not confirm the accordance of the position with the results of the interview. The Commission has already checked 3122 of the 4797 practical tasks», – informed the Vice-Chairman of the Commission.

He also noted that 1970 judges had already been interviewed. 1547 of them confirmed their compliance with their position. Another 53 interviews are scheduled for the coming days. The commission is trying to hold about 120-150 interviews a week. «It happens differently. Sometimes it takes just 20 minutes per person, and sometimes it takes 2 hours. The interview should not be formal. We are compelled to find out some questions. Sometimes it’s unpleasant things, but in this there is the logic of the process», explained Stanislav Shchotka.

The head of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine Sergiy Koziakov said that now, at the same time, there are 8 competitive procedures: to the Supreme Court (4 in 1), to the Supreme Anticorruption Court, to the High Intellectual Property Court and to their appeal chambers.

On Monday exams will begin for more than 800 candidates to the courts of first instance.

«The record of the previous composition of the High Qualification Commission of Judges – 74 meetings per year. As of the end of July we have already hold 400. Sometimes it is up to 5 meetings per day. And if the previous contest to the Supreme Court lasted 9 months, this time it’s planned to be shortened to 6 months. However, it will depend on the duration of individual stages, in particular – interviews», – informed the Chairman of the Commission.

A qualification exam for the candidates to the local courts has been appointed

The qualifying examination exam for the candidates to the local courts will be held from 29 to 31 October 2018.

The exam will be held in the pavilion № 1 of the exhibition center «KyivExpoPlaza» at the following address: Kyiv, Salyutna, 2-B.

On October 29 will be held: 1) written anonymous testing – mandatory stage for all participants of the exam and 2) implementation of the anonymous written practical assignment for the specialization of the local general court.

On October 30 will be held an anonymous written practical assignment on the specialization of a local administrative court and on October 31 – an anonymous written practical assignment on the specialization of a local economic court.

Participants of the exam will not be able to use computer equipment. Examination will be provided by authorized representatives of the Commission. During the exam, participants will hear announcements regarding the procedure for its conduct and the order of movement in the hall.

The exam procedure can be viewed at this link.

State registrars will pass a law test

According to the decision of the Ukrainian government, from January 1, 2019, all candidates for the post of state registrars will pass a law test.

Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olena Sukmanova explained that exam will write the candidates to the position of registrars, as well as those registrars who for one reason or another were disconnected from access to the registers. «That is, in order to continue the work of the registrar after disconnection, it will be necessary to pass the exam», the First Deputy Minister of Justice emphasized.

The exam will be conducted as transparently and computerized as possible in order to exclude the human factor. «It will be held in a separate room. There will be one who passes the exam and the computer. There will also be a mandatory video recording and free access of the media», – said Olena Sukmanova.

The exam will include the questions about state registration of real rights, legal entities, corporate rights, and anti-corruption legislation. «In order to pass the exam, you need to give the right answer to 75 percent of the questions», said the First Deputy Minister.

Sukmanova emphasized that only after completing the exam and obtaining the appropriate certificate the state registrar will be able to get the keys and get started. «If someone failed to pass the exam the first time, you can redeem it at any time without having to wait a month, two or three to try again. Please study the law and come again», she said.

Reception of documents from candidates to the Supreme Council of Justice from the prosecutor’s office began

The High Council of Justice announced the commencement of receiving documents from candidates for the High Council of Justice from the prosecutor’s office.

Candidates will be elected at the All-Ukrainian Conference of Prosecutors, which will be held on December 20-21, 2018.

Acceptance of documents will end on November 19, 2018.

It should be noted that the High Council of Justice consists of twenty one members, of which ten is elected by the congress of judges of Ukraine from among judges or judges in retirement, the President of Ukraine appoints two members, two – the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, two – the Congress of Advocates of Ukraine, two – an all-Ukrainian conference of prosecutors and two is elected by a congress of representatives of legal higher educational establishments and scientific institutions.

The term of office of members of the High Council for Justice is four years. One and the same person can not hold a post for two consecutive terms.

5 vacancies from the quota of the Congress of Judges of Ukraine are currently vacant in the Council.

At present, the prosecutor’s office is represented by lawyer Volodymyr Komkov and judge of the Kyiv Appeal Court Vadim Njeur, who took the oath on April 27, 2015.

The structure of the Public Council of Integrity will be updated

The composition of the Public Council for Integrity will be updated as the term of office of its current members expires (they were elected on November 11, 2016 for a term of two years and they can be re-elected).

Therefore, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine announced the receipt of documents for participation in the meeting of public associations representatives. At this meeting new members of the Council will be elected

To participate in the meeting, public associations must submit by November 8, 2018:

an application in an arbitrary form, signed by the head of a public association, indicating the person authorized to represent a public association at a meeting;

a copy of the statute and an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs;

copies of reports on the results of implementation of projects with the attraction of international technical assistance (if available);

a letter of recommendation from an international organization with an impeccable reputation for successful cooperation experience or from the executor of the project of international technical assistance;

copies of the reports on the results of the financial audit of at least two implemented projects with the attraction of international technical assistance or a copy of the report on the results of the audit of the activities of the public association;

biographical note of a public association representative;

a biographical note of the candidate (candidates) to the Public Council of Integrity, which (s) is nominated by a public association, as well as a motivational letter of the candidate and a declaration of the person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local self-government, in respect of such a candidate by his signature.

The Commission should approve or deny candidates for participation in the meeting within ten days after receipt of the documents.