The Committee on Youth and Sports has considered the draft law on amendments to certain legislative acts on strengthening the protection of human and civil rights and freedoms during the enforcement of decisions (reg. No. 10389), submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The draft law was developed with the aim of improving the current legislation and ensuring proper fulfilment by Ukraine of its international obligations to the Council of Europe in terms of proper and timely execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
The draft law proposes, in particular:
to entitle individuals – debtors whose funds have been seized by the state enforcement service or private enforcement officers – to carry out expenditure transactions from a current/payment account in the amount not exceeding two minimum wages established by the law on the State Budget of Ukraine as of 1 January of the current calendar year, provided that such current/payment account is designated for expenditure transactions in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;
to provide that the term of storage of funds awarded by the European Court on the deposit account of the state enforcement service shall be increased to five years;
to restore the control of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine over the activities of a private enforcement officer by conducting scheduled and unscheduled inspections;
to provide for the involvement of representatives of the guardianship and custody authority during the verification of the debtor's compliance with the decision to establish a visitation with the child or to remove obstacles to the visitation;
to establish that if the debtor fails to comply with the decision for valid reasons, if the child does not want to contact the creditor, or if the creditor is unable to participate in the enforcement action for valid reasons, the state enforcement officer shall draw up an act stating the relevant facts and may postpone the enforcement action;
to provide that if it is impossible to enforce a decision to establish visitation with a child in the manner prescribed by the decision or the state enforcement officer, the state enforcement officer shall draw up an act stating the relevant circumstances and apply to the court to establish or change the method and procedure for enforcing the decision.
During the discussion of the draft law, the Committee members noted that they supported the government's draft law, primarily the provision guaranteeing the debtor the opportunity to spend no more than two subsistence minimums on current expenses from his account.
At the same time, the proposals to postpone enforcement proceedings if the child is unwilling to contact the creditor and to grant the bailiff the right to apply to the court with a request to establish or change the method and procedure for enforcement of the decision to establish visitation with the child in accordance with the procedure established by the decision or the state bailiff, in the opinion of the Committee members, may lead to slowdowns in the enforcement of court decisions to establish visitation with the child or to the removal of obstacles to visitation.
In many cases, the child refuses to communicate with the parent who lives separately because of the attitude of the parent who lives with the child. Therefore, if in such cases bailiffs additionally apply to the court to establish or change the method and procedure for the enforcement of the decision, this will lead to a delay in the enforcement of the relevant court decisions for several years, given the workload of the courts.
In this regard, the members of the Committee believe that the Law of Ukraine “On Enforcement Proceedings” should stipulate that in such cases the bailiff, together with the guardianship and custody authority, shall ensure that the child is examined by a psychologist, as the child's attitude towards the parent who lives with the child versus the parent who lives separately from the child will have a very negative impact on the child's mental health in the future.