Enforcement of the decision by the Constitutional Court regarding the Supreme Court

31 March 2023
Enforcement of the decision by the Constitutional Court regarding the Supreme Court
Home > Analysis > Enforcement of the decision by the Constitutional Court regarding the Supreme Court

Draft bill #5456-д, March 16, 2023

Cosponsors: a group of MPs from the Servant of the People faction.

Who is affected: judges, judges of the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Ukraine, higher specialized courts, members of the High Council of Justice, and the High Qualification Commission of Judges.

Summary of the bill:

  • the Supreme Court of Ukraine will not be dissolved. Instead, the Supreme Court of Ukraine will be renamed the Supreme Court
  • judges of the SCU will continue to work as judges of the Supreme Court. Employees of the SCU apparatus who were not dismissed will be transferred to the Supreme Court apparatus without competition if they submit applications for the transfer
  • SCU judges who were transferred to the Supreme Court will be assessed by the High Qualification Commission of Judges. Their competence, professional ethics, and integrity will be taken into account. The Public Integrity Council will assist the HQCJ in the assessment of judges’ professional ethics and integrity
  • judges of higher specialized courts (the courts that existed before 2017) will be transferred to appeal courts without competition. Decisions on appointing them will be made by the High Council of Justice without recommendations from the HQCJ
  • judges who have passed the qualification assessment will have a higher lifelong allowance than judges who have not passed the assessment.

Why this is important:

  • in 2016, MPs changed the Constitution to reform the judiciary. In particular, it was decided to dissolve the Supreme Court of Ukraine and higher specialized courts. Instead, the Supreme Court was supposed to be established
  • in 2020, the Constitutional Court ruled that the dissolution of the Supreme Court of Ukraine is unconstitutional and stated that the SCU should not be dissolved but renamed. After the renaming the judges of this court were to be transferred to the Supreme Court. The CCU also mentioned that it is unconstitutional to decrease the remuneration for the SCU judges
  • although the SCU and higher specialized courts are dissolved, judges of these courts continue to receive remuneration.

What’s right:

  • the bill enforces the decision by the Constitutional Court. Although the CCU’s decision is final, the Parliament did not introduce the necessary changes in time
  • judges of the SCU and higher specialized courts will not get remuneration for the work they are not performing.

What’s wrong: the decision on the issue was made by the Constitutional Court in February 2020. The changes proposed by the bill should have been implemented years ago. Instead, the Parliament will implement them only in 2023.