13 October 2015, 16:29
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legislative Support to Enforcement met with European experts to discuss three draft laws required to fulfill all technical criteria as to introduction of visa-free regime with the European Union.
These draft laws are part of the set of 70 top-priority draft laws the Verkhovna Rada has to adopt before the end of the current [third] session.
The set of top-priority draft laws is formed to fulfill the Plan for Legislative Support to Reforms initiated by Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Volodymyr Groysman.
First Deputy Chairperson of the Committee Mykola Palamarchuk informed about the draft laws Nos. 2540а, 2541а, 2542а that were adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on October 8, 2015. He said that during 14 days, the Committee would receive proposals and remarks from the authors of the draft laws the Committee would have to consider and take in account during the preparation of the draft laws for second reading.
In particular, Palamarchuk informed about concerns expressed by Committee members over the said draft laws. They noted that proposals to improve special confiscation institution enshrined in the Penal Code of Ukraine were expedient; however require final adaptation, amending and specification on the basis of proposals and remarks expressed during the discussion.
He also noted that the draft law is "quite estimative as excessive expansion of the circle of facilities can allow investigators and prosecutors to freely decide on expediency of application of special confiscation as they wish. Thus, real preconditions for violations by officials are created."
Palamarchuk asked the experts to explain possible risks and express cautions as the adoption of these draft laws would lead to restriction of human rights.
The main expert from Lithuania Dovidas Vitkauskas said that the European legislation and relative European practice of such countries as Britain, France and Finland indicate use of the mechanisms offered by these draft laws. Moreover, the legislation of these countries and European practice have moved much further by introduction of the notion of "legislative presumption" under which all person's assets, acknowledged by a court, are considered obtained as a result of criminal actions.
An expert from Britain, Lisa Freeman, noted that Ukraine is not the only country raising the question of introduction of special confiscation. She believes that the major aspect lies in the establishment of the balance between interests of the state and interests of the people.
Freeman also informed about 24-year experience in application of special confiscation in Britain, advised that Ukrainian lawmakers more closely specify the procedure of application of special confiscation.
In general, international experts called for settlement of the issue of application of special confiscation in the Ukrainian legislation. They also noted that many matters would be easily tackled during practical application of respective terms.
At the end of the meeting, Palamarchuk assured the experts of presentation of all their conclusions and recommendations to all Committee members. He added that once those remarks are taken in account, they probably change the opinion of the people's deputies, though, in his words, the draft law was still quite "raw" and demanded numerous amendments. "We have to bring the law in line with international terms and the Constitution of Ukraine to protect rights of all citizens," Palamarchuk noted.
Reference information:
The draft law No. 2540a "On amendments to Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine as to some issues of property arrest aimed at removal of risks of corruption during its application" allows the party of charge to ensure effective fulfillment of measures of criminal-procedure nature, which may be applied towards legal entities in compliance with provisions of Chapter XIV of the Penal Code of Ukraine and compensate damage caused by the crime, as well as channel the benefit obtained or one that could be obtained by a legal entity in favor of the state in compliance with Section 2 of Article 966 of the Penal Code of Ukraine.
The draft law No. 2541a "On amendments to Penal and Civil Codes of Ukraine as to improvement of the institution of special confiscation in order to eliminate risks of corruption during its application" specifies provisions of Articles 961 and 962 of the Penal Code which limit special confiscation to the extent of corruption crimes, and replacement of the procedure of confiscation of criminal articles defined by the sanctions with the procedure of special confiscation of such articles in respective Articles of Special Section of the Penal Code of Ukraine.
The draft law No. 2542a "On amendments to Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine as to implementation of recommendations of the European Union on fulfillment by Ukraine the action plan for the liberalization of the visa regime by the European Union for Ukraine as to specification of competence of pretrial investigation bodies" envisions fulfillment of recommendations of the European Union as to resistance to organized crime and fight against it in the field of precise differentiation of competence in consideration of crimes between bodies of pretrial investigation and limitation of authorities of the Security Service of Ukraine to conduct pretrial investigation into criminal offences with conduction of criminal proceedings as to crimes in the field of national security and defense, and the crimes related to terrorism.