Judicial reform, deposit insurance, and sailing certification

01 July 2021
Judicial reform, deposit insurance, and sailing certification
Home > Monitoring > Judicial reform, deposit insurance, and sailing certification

The end of the plenary session is near, so MPs try to focus on the most important draft bills. This week, the Parliament launched the judicial reform proposed by Volodymyr Zelensky, set a higher deposit insurance coverage limit, and fought corruption in sailing certification.

 

Judicial reform launched (3711-д)

Status: the bill passed and awaits to be signed by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and the President.

Who is affected: judges, candidates for judges, members of the Higher Council of Justice, international experts, candidates for members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ), and Ukrainian citizens.

Summary of the draft bill:

  • members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ) — a specialized judicial self-government body for appointing judges of local and appeal courts, and the Supreme Court — will be selected via the following procedure:
    • contest committee for the selection of HQCJ members will consist of 6 members: 3 international experts and 3 Ukrainian judges (current or former)
    • decisions of the contest committee will require at least 4 votes of its members, and at least 2 of these 4 votes have to be from international experts
    • the contest committee will recommend to the Higher Council of Justice two candidates with the highest scores for each sit on the HQCJ
    • the HQCJ will be comprised of 16 members, 8 of them will be either current or former judges. The HQCJ will be allowed to work after at least 11 of its members are appointed
  • the number of judges of the Supreme Court will be decided by the Higher Council of Justice taking into consideration a resolution of the Supreme Court Plenum, but no more than 200 judges.

What is right:

  • since Ukraine lacks near 2 thousand judges, it is past time to relaunch the HQCJ
  • impartial international experts with blocking votes in the contest committee should help to select apolitical and professional members of the HQCJ.

What is wrong: the constitutionality of the engagement of international experts in the contest committee for the selection of HQCJ members is doubtful. In particular, it is hardly compliant with the parts on the state sovereignty and independence of the judiciary.

Voted for the bill: factions Servant of the People (217 MPs), European Solidarity (22), and Holos (15), groups For the Future (13) and Trust (19), independents (7).

 

Proposal to increase deposit insurance coverage adopted in the first reading (5542-1)

Status: adopted in the first reading, MPs can still amend the bill.

Who is affected: bank depositors, bank owners, Oschadbank, the Deposit Guarantee Fund of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Bank.

Summary of the bill:

  • the limit of state insurance coverage for bank deposits will be increased from ₴200,000 to ₴400,000 by the end of 2022 and to ₴600,000 by January 1, 2023
  • Oschadbank will become a member of the Deposit Guarantee Fund
  • new mechanisms will be introduced to settle the debt of the Deposit Guarantee Fund to the Ministry of Finance (the debt is the result of a bank crisis of 2014-2017).

What is right:

  • the bill will allow partial privatization of Oschadbank. The privatization is a part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ukrainian Government, the EBRD, and Oschadbank
  • proposed changes could be a safeguard against the potential bankruptcy of the Deposit Guarantee Fund
  • Ukrainian citizens will have an incentive to place larger amounts into their deposit accounts.

What is wrong: Oschadbank depositors will lose full-refund insurance guaranteed by the state for their deposits.

Why this is important:

Voted for the bill: factions Servant of the People (207) and Holos (10), group Trust (15), and independents (3).

 

Simplified recertification requirements for sailors adopted (3944)

Status: the bill passed and awaits to be signed by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and the President.

Who is affected: sailors, government bodies, and anti-corruption bodies.

Summary of the bill:

  • sailors will be able to renew their certification without exams if they meet the following requirements:
    • medical and health fitness
    • valid mandatory training completion certificates
    • confirmed seagoing service experience or recognized training courses certificates
  • to renew the certification for tanker diplomas, the applicant will be required to have seagoing service experience and a recognized training courses completion certificate
  • only courts will have the authority to annul diplomas/qualification certificates and strip sailors of their ranks.

What is right: the bill brings Ukrainian law into line with international standards and reduces corruption risks.

Background: