The Committee on the Rule of Law and Justice upholds the draft law on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine re strengthening guarantees of judges’ independence

Information Department of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Secretariat
09 October 2013, 16:02

The bill (Reg. No. 2522a) aims at improving provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine and strengthening the existing guarantees of judges’ independence, which will give an opportunity to change the applicable procedure of appointing and dismissing judges; reduce the role of political bodies in this process; and allow to delegate authorities in regard to resolving issues connected with judges’ activity to the jurisdiction of bodies, mostly composed of judges.        

It was noted that final and transitional provisions of the bill include provisions designed to solve organizational and other issues that may arise, in case the bill is adopted.

The people’s deputies noted that the bill corresponds to the requirements of articles 157 and 158 of the Constitution.

Parliamentarians emphasized that the Venice Commission in its opinion on the bill noted that it meets many recommendations made by the Venice Commission and provided to the Ukrainian authorities during the past several years.

Apart from this, parliament members stressed that the soonest possible adoption of constitutional amendments to strengthen judicial independence was mentioned in the statement of the PACE Monitoring Committee co-rapporteurs Mailis Reps and Marietta De Purbe-Lundin.