The bill (Reg. No. 3541) was reported by the Adviser to President of Ukraine Andrii Portnov. The rapporteur stressed that adoption of this legislative act is the international commitment of Ukraine to the Council of Europe.
A.Portnov focused attention on the main provisions of the bill that received a positive opinion of the Venice Commission. Particularly, it is suggested cancel the monitoring function of the prosecutor’s office over adherence to legislation, which will allow clearly delineate responsibilities of the respective state bodies for this or that sphere of activity.
Adviser to President of Ukraine stressed that the prosecutor and attorney will have equal possibilities to represent their position during the judicial trial.
According to him, the bill suggests a three-level system of the prosecutor’s office – General, regional and local prosecutor’s office, which stipulates liquidation of 122 prosecutor’s offices.
Responding to the questions of Committee members, the rapporteur noted that in the process of refinement of legislative act, the most significant remarks of the Venice Commission were included, apart form those pertaining to making amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine.
The alternative draft law (Reg. No. 3541-1) was presented by the representatives of the Batkivshchyna faction Arsenii Yatseniuk, UDAR – Vitalii Klychko, the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda – Oleh Tiahnybok and one of the authors of the bill – the Organized Crime Control and Anti-Corruption Committee Chair Viktor Chumak.
Rapporteurs insisted that “despite considerable similarity of the bills, the opposing legislative act is a more perfect one”.
Following the results of discussion, Committee members took the decision to recommend the Verkhovna Rada adopt the draft law on the prosecutor’s office, referred by the President of Ukraine, in the first reading (9 Committee members voted in favor of the bill and 6 – against).
Committee members argued that the alternative bill has not undergone the expertise of the Venice Commission.
The Committee entrusted the Deputy Chairman of the Committee Volodymyr Oliynyk to preside over the working group, involving all members of the specialized committee, in order to refine the bill.