At the sitting of the Committee on Legal Policy, the deputies considered the draft law No. 4533 On constitutional procedure and the alternative draft law No. 4533-1 On procedure for consideration of cases and execution of decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
The key purpose of adopting the bill is to regulate the procedural activities of the CCU within the limits and scope provided for in Article 153 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
- to promote the proper realization of the rights of citizens of Ukraine to access to constitutional justice (both by directly filing a constitutional complaint and by initiating constitutional petitions and appeals by authorized subjects);
-to ensure the completeness and consistency of the legislation governing the organization and operation of the Court, the grounds and procedure for recourse to it, as well as the procedure for consideration by the Court of cases, execution of its decisions;
- to improve the procedural aspects of the CCU's activities, to bring these activities in line with the recommendations proposed by the Venice Commission in its Urgent Opinion CDL-AD(2020)039-e.
In particular, the document proposes that the Constitutional Court rule by a two-thirds majority. These are 12 judges of the CCU. З If in the course of the case the judge announces the recusal, it is established that the number of votes may be reduced, but at least ten judges must vote in favor. The second novelty stipulates that the Constitutional Court will hear cases, as a rule, by oral procedure. The working group proposes that not only the Chairperson but also the judges of the Constitutional Court be able to influence the formation of the CCU agenda. Also, among the novelties of the bill are the introduction of an automated register of acts of the Constitutional Court and an automated distribution of cases between judges-rapporteurs. Now it happens manually.
Based on the results of the consideration, the Committee recommends to include in the agenda of the fifth session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the ninth convocation the draft Law No. 4533 On constitutional procedure and the alternative draft law No. 4533-1 “On Procedure for Consideration of Cases and Execution of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine” and recommend to the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada to send them to the Venice Commission to obtain an opinion.