On July 13, 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 HQCJ) resumed its work and announced the resumption of the competition for the position of a member of the HQCJ.
This was announced during the official meeting of the Selection Commission held in Warsaw, Poland, participated by the commissioners and broadcast in real time. Let us remind you that the work of the Commission was temporarily suspended on February 24, 2022 due to the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.
During the meeting, the commissioners emphasized the importance of continuing their work in order for Ukraine to gain membership in the European Union in a timely manner, and also noted that "At this difficult time, the Selection Commission recognizes its duty to do everything possible to continue the competition for the positions of the HQCJ members based on the principles of impartiality, transparency, professionalism, independence and integrity. For this purpose, it is important to widely involve the legal community in the competition for the positions of HQCJ members who have the highest level of integrity and act independently and impartially."
During the meeting, the commissioners set a new application period, namely from July 15, 2022 to August 22, 2022. The applications that were submitted before the suspension of the competitive procedures are considered valid, as well as documents that were attached to these applications. In addition, during the meeting the Commission approved amendments that will facilitate its work under martial law in Ukraine.
Namely, due to the complexity of accounting for property status declarations, as well as changes in the legal regulation of the procedure for issuing police clearance certificates, the Selection Commission has created conditions for facilitating the submission of application documents. In particular, at present, candidates can submit instead of the text of the declaration and the corresponding police clearance certificate, only a statement of the fact and date of submission of this declaration, and a statement of the absence of a criminal record and criminal prosecution of the applicant. The SC decided that the candidates' intelligence tests – IQ and general skills tests – will not be conducted.
These changes have been made to the SC's Rules of Procedure and will be published on the website of the High Council of Justice.
On July 13, 2022, the commissioners also held an information and orientation session for potential candidates, where they answered the most common questions about the competition procedure and submission of documents.
Ted Zarzeczny, Chairman of the Selection Commission called on the legal community, professional public organizations and mass media to support the efforts of the Selection Commission in renewing the HQCJ and implementing judicial reform. "We assure you that as a result of the competition, those candidates will be selected who will serve the benefit of the Ukrainian people, exclusively based on the criteria of integrity and professionalism. We are confident that due to the consolidated efforts of the members of the Commission, its Secretariat, professional legal organizations - judges, scholars, lawyers, prosecutors, CSOs and the media, Ukraine will implement the plans the people of Ukraine have cherished for so long, as well as those set out in the Conclusion on Ukraine's accession to the EU – to ensure progress in the implementation of judicial reform and elect a new composition of the HQCJ," Ted Zarzeczny said.
Ivan Mishchenko, Deputy Chairman of the Selection Commission, noted that support for Ukraine's efforts to renew the judiciary and fill vacant positions of judges throughout Ukraine should facilitate people's access to justice and promote the establishment of the rule of law in the country. «We will do everything possible to ensure that the competition is conducted at the highest level of professionalism and integrity, quickly and that the judicial reform is successful for the benefit of the people of Ukraine."
The appointment of members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ) is an important component of the judicial reform as it will allow resuming the work of the HQCJ on the selection of judges to replenish the judicial staff and complete the qualification assessment of the current judges.
Please be advised that the HQCJ has not been working for three years and in order to resume its work, the Selection Commission has been established to select candidates for the positions of the HQCJ members on the basis of a transparent competition. The Commission announced a competition for the position of a member High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, acceptance of the applications began on February 4, 2022 and was supposed to last until March 4, 2022 and was suspended due to the imposition of martial law. Lawyers who are citizens of Ukraine with higher legal education, at least 15 years of legal professional experience, speak the state language and meet the integrity and professional competence criteria are allowed to participate in the competition.
The competition is taking place on the principles of the rule of law, professionalism, publicity and political neutrality in two stages. At the first stage, based on the review of the documents submitted by candidates, the results of a background check, and relevant information from open sources, a list of eligible candidates for interview will be compiled.
At the second stage nterviews will be held with the selected candidates, based on the results of which the Selection Commission will be selected and submitted for consideration to the High Council of Justice at least two candidates for each of the 16 vacancies recommended for appointment by the High Council of Justice. The High Council of Justice will appoint 16 members of the HQCJ.
The members of the Selection Commission are Serhii Verlanov, Judge of the Kyiv Court of Appeal; Yevhen Miezentsev, Judge of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeals; Ivan Mischenko, Judge of the Commercial Cassation Court, Supreme Court; Robert Broekhuijsen, a former Special Prosecutor in the Serious Fraud Office of the Dutch Prosecution Service; Ted Zarzeczny, a retired Judge at the Court of Queen’s Bench of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Stephen Markman - a retired Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, USA.