The HCJ approved an advisory opinion in support of the draft law “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” regarding the regulation of the issue of remuneration of court employees”, (registration № 6311).
This draft law proposes to ensure competitiveness of salaries of court employees by establishing a unified approach to determining the amount of official salaries of court staff. In particular, it is proposed to set the minimum salary of a civil servant of the local general court, whose position is one of the lowest in terms of remuneration, at 20 percent of the statutory basic salary of a judge of local court which jurisdiction extends to the territory of one or several districts, districts in cities, cities of regional significance.
Oleh Prudyvus: It is extremely necessary to change approach to the financial support of court staff
Employees of court apparatus are the basis of the judiciary, one of the key figures in the judiciary, as they ensure activities of judges and work of courts. Therefore, it is necessary to take care of qualified employees in the courts constantly. This was emphasized by the HCJ member Oleh Prudyvus, commenting on the Council’s advisory opinion on the draft law № 6311.
Oleh Prudyvus noted that long-awaited revolutionary changes will take place after adoption of the draft law on the matter of remuneration.
See the commentary of the HCJ member Oleh Prudyvus in the video.
Since January 24, 2022, Viktor Hryshchuk acts as the Chairman of the HCJ
According to part eight of Article 22 of the Law of Ukraine “On the High Council of Justice”, member of the High Council of Justice Hryshchuk Viktor Klymovych since January 24, 2022, took up his duties as Chairman of the High Council of Justice.
As HCJ member Hryshchuk V.K. was elected by the congress of representatives of legal high educational establishments and scientific institutions and became a plenipotentiary member in 2019. In the same year, he was included in the composition of the Second Disciplinary Chamber.
The HCJ dismissed for resignation nine judges
On January 25, 2022 the HCJ decided to dismiss due to submission of application for resignation:
Dudiak Stepan Vasyliovych – from the position of judge of the Zalishchytskyi district court of Ternopil region;
Shysh Anton Borysovych – from the position of judge of the Novomykolaivskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia region;
Kazanli Liudmyla Ivanivna – from the position of judge of the Ochakivskyi local-district court of Mykolaiv region;
Shkliaruk Volodymyr Mykolaiovych – from the position of judge of the Dunaievetskyi district court of Khmelnitskyi region;
Mamaieva Oksana Vasulivna – from the position of judge of the Tsentralnyi district court of Mykolaiv;
Teplenko Anatolii Dmytrovych – from the position of judge of the Brovarskyi local-district court of Kyiv region;
Soloviov Viktor Valentynovych – from the position of judge of the Velykolepetynskyi district court of Kherson region;
Yudenko Tamara Mykolaivna – from the position of judge of the Kyiv court of appeal;
Malinovskyi Oleh Adolfovych – from the position of judge of the Kyiv court of appeal.
On January 25, 2022, decided to second for administering justice judge of the Kreminskyi district court of Luhansk region PANCHUK Mykola Valeriiovych to the Dubenskyi local-district court of Rivne region from January 31, 2022 for the term of one year.
Activities of the HCJ Secretariat in 2021 by the numbers
During 2021, the HCJ Secretariat considered 3141 appeals: 2755 from individuals, 237 from legal entities, 101 from people’s deputies of Ukraine and of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committees, 48 from community association, as well as 641 requests for information.
In 2021, there were prepared 15 901 cover letters on sending to relevant institutions, judges, complainants copies of acts, approved by the HCJ, Disciplinary chambers and HCJ members, 25 961 copies of acts of the HCJ and its bodies have been issued
HCJ responded to notification of judge of the Yahotynskyi districe court of Kyiv region on interference in her professional activity
The judge of the Yahotynskyi district court of Kiev region Olesya Kysil considers the respondent’s statement in the case, which is in her proceedings, that he is collecting compromising materials against her, as interference in the administration of justice by her and pressure on her as a judge.
The HCJ decided to address the Prosecutor General’s Office on providing information on disclosure and investigation of a crime in criminal proceedings, entered to the URPI by part one of Article 376 of the CC of Ukraine by facts, reported in the notification of judge of the Yahotynskyi district court of Kiev region Olesya Kysil.
The High Council of Justice is plenipotentiary and continues its work
The Constitution of Ukraine determined general conditions, according to which, the High Council of Justice is a plenipotentiary, namely: availability of at least fifteen its elected (appointed) members, among whom the majority are judges (Article 131 of the Constitution).
Compliance with these conditions is necessary and enough to recognize the High Council of Justice as competent.
The Report contains information on the state of financial support for the activities of bodies and institutions in the justice system, information on the staffing of courts and information and technical support. In addition, the Report contains information on the state of provision of courts with premises, state of security of judges and the protection of premises, etc. On January 25, 2022, the HCJ decided to take note the Report of the Interim Head of the SJA of Ukraine Oleksii Salnikov on the activities of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine in 2021.
More details here.
Announcement on the beginning of the conpetition to the HQCJU has been published in “Holos Ukrainy”
The Announcement on the beginning of the first competition to vacant positions of members of the HQCJU has been published in the “Holos Ukrainy” newspaper (No. 14 (7764) of January 26. 2022).
All documents of the Selection Commission can be found on the website of the High Council of Justice at the link.
On January 25, 2022, the HCJ approved amendments to the Regulations on the procedure for functioning of certain subsystems (modules) of the Integrated Judicial Information System in order to bring the automated distribution of court cases in line with current legislation.
Since the specifics of the distribution of court cases are established by the Regulations on the IJIS and/or the provisions governing the procedure for the functioning of its certain subsystems (modules) and, given that the determination of the judge-reporter for the consideration of a particular case is provided by the IJIS, it became necessary to make appropriate changes to the Regulations.
The Regulation is amended, in particular, by Section IV “Specifics of automated distribution of court cases”.
The SJA is instructed to bring the automated distribution of court cases in line with the approved changes by March 1, 2022.
In 2021, the HCJ decided to dismiss 201 judges
In 2021, the HCJ decided to dismiss 194 judges from positions on general grounds: 190 – in connection with the submission of application for resignation, 4 – in connection with the submission of dismissal of their own free will.
Under special circumstances there were dismissed 7 judges: 6 – for making a significant disciplinary offence, 1 – due to be deemed, based on the results of a qualification assessment, as not conforming to the position held.
As of December 31, 2021, the actual number of judges in courts of Ukraine was 5 238 judges, with a certain number of 7 304. 4 763 judges have the authority to administer justice. 2066 judicial positions remain vacant.
The HCJ by its Advisory Opinion supports the draft law of Ukraine “On making amendments to Article 133 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” on settlement of conflicts of interest”.
The draft law proposes to establish that the Council of Judges of Ukraine, at the request of judges, the Head or members of the HQCJ of Ukraine, the Head of the SJA of Ukraine or his/her deputies, provides clarification on the existence of a conflict of interest in the activities of the said persons .
It is also proposed that the Council of Judges of Ukraine, in addition to exercising control over compliance with the legislation requirements on settlement of conflicts of interest in the activities of judges and officials of bodies and institutions of the justice system, be empowered to monitor their activities.
It is also proposed that the Council of Judges of Ukraine, in addition to exercising control over compliance with the legislation requirements on settlement of conflicts of interest in the activities of judges and officials of bodies and institutions of the justice system, be empowered to monitor their activities.
On January 21, 2022, the Selection Commission for the selection of candidates for the positions of members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (Selection Commission) began its official work. During the meeting, the leadership of the Selection Commission was elected.
During the first official meeting, the Rules of Procedure of the Selection Commission, the Regulation on the Competitive Selection, the Methodology of Assessment of Compliance of Candidates with the Integrity and Professional Competence Criteria, as well as the application form with appendices indicating the intention to be appointed the HQCJ member were approved.
The Commission announced the competition for the position of a member High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.
During the second official meeting on January 24, 2022 the members of the Selection Commission communicated with legal professionals and told about the basic rules of the competition.
The HCJ member Oksana Blazhivska took part in the event within the framework of the EU-Ukraine Dialogue on Intellectual Property Rights.
Oksana Blazhivska stressed that one of the priority tasks of the HCJ is to support the resumption of the work of the HQCJ of Ukraine, as the work of the body responsible for staffing the judicial system has been blocked for more than two years after the changes in legislation. For this reason, inter alia, the competition for the High Court of Intellectual Property has not been completed.
Oksana Blazhivska spoke about the active and consistent position and all possible measures that the GRP has been taking for two years to restore the work of the HCJU.
The HCJ member said, that in order to provide advisory opinions, the Council would soon consider draft laws regarding to the functioning of the High Court on Intellectual Property, which were received from the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy (6487, 6488).
More details here.
During 2021, the HCJ forwarded to the President of Ukraine submissions on appointment of 109 judges
In 2021, the HCJ forwarded to the President of Ukraine submissions on appointment of 109 judges:
• 56 – to local general courts;
• 19 – to local economic courts;
• 32 – to local administrative courts;
• 2 - to the Supreme Court.
The HCJ formed and ensured the transfer of a significant amount of information to the HQCJ of Ukraine to include to judicial dossiers.
The information was generated electronically (15211 files were created (138 GB in size), which were recorded on 29 DVD-R discs) and in paper - documents were prepared on 10968 sheets.
The law provides that the procedure and priority of evaluation the compliance of current members and candidates for members of the High Council of Justice with criteria of professional ethics and integrity are determined by the Ethics Council, taking into account the possibility of performing powers by the High Council of Justice.
As of today, the Council's competency is on the brink. Composition of the High Council of Justice consists of 15 members, 6 vacant positions of Councils’ members are not fulfilled.
The Ethics Council has changed the dates of interviews with candidates to position of member of the High Council of Justice. According to the new dates, the interviews will begin on February 21, 2022, and will end on March 3, 2022. At the same time, the evaluation of current members of the Council, according to the Rules of Procedure of the Ethics Council, will start not later than February 8, 2022.
Non-compliance by the Ethics Council with the requirements of the law concerning the procedure and priority of evaluation, which could give the opportunity to fill, first of all, vacant positions of HCJ members, will lead to violation of the principle of continuous functioning of the High Council of Justice – body which is empowered with key, fundamental powers in the sphere of the judiciary.
More details here.