Approved candidates for the High Qualification Commission of Judges

Session of the selection committee, March 15, 2023 

Who is affected: citizens, businesses, government bodies, local governments, judges, judicial candidates, and members of the Supreme Council of Justice. 

Summary of the session: the selection committee approved the list of 32 candidates recommended for the Supreme Council of Justice to be appointed as members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges (HQCJ). 

Why this is important: 

• the HQCJ is an extremely important body in the judiciary. The Commission is the body that conducts the selection of judicial candidates and makes recommendations on the appointment and transfer of judges 
• as of October 2021, Ukraine was 3000 judges short. Since then, the problem has only gotten worse 
• the previous composition of the HQCJ was dismissed back in October 2019. The selection committee that is supposed to select HQCJ members was launched in the fall of 2021. The competition began in February 2022. That is, the HQCJ has not been working for more than three years, and this has a negative impact on the entire judicial system. 

What is right: the draft bill unblocks judicial reform. Competitions for judicial candidates will eventually resume in time. 

What’s next: the Supreme Council of Justice has to appoint 16 members of the HQCJ. 8 of them have to be judges or retired judges. For the HQCJ to start working, at least 11 members have to be appointed, and 6 of them must be judges.