The draft law, which proposes to change the Law ‘On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine’, taking into account the conclusions of the Venice Commission, is #AtTheCommittee consideration

On December 17, 2022, the Venice Commission published an updated Conclusion on the Law ‘On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine’. It pointed out its shortcomings and emphasised that it is necessary to include one more person in the Advisory Group of Experts, which will examine candidates for the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. This seventh expert will represent independent international experts. This expert will reduce political influence on the Advisory Group. Decisions of the Advisory Group shall be binding. Under no circumstances may a candidate who passed the examination with a negative result become a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. Draft Law No. 8302, as indicated in its explanatory note, was developed with the aim to improve the selection of candidates for the positions of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on a competitive basis and to take into account the conclusions of the Venice Commission.

It proposes to update the procedure for the competitive selection of judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine by changing the terms of organisation of the Advisory Group of Experts and establishing that:
•    the advisory group shall operate in the composition of seven members who shall be appointed for a term of three years and participate in its work on a public basis;
•    members of the Advisory Group cannot be reappointed;
•    a member of the Advisory Group shall be a person who, among other things, has an impeccable business reputation, high professional and moral qualities, public authority;
•    The Advisory Group shall include 7 members with the majority of foreign experts: one person appointed by the President of Ukraine; one person appointed by the Verkhovna Rada; one person appointed by the Congress of Judges of Ukraine; two persons designated by the European Commission ‘For Democracy through Law’; two persons designated by international and foreign organisations who, in accordance with international or interstate agreements, have been providing Ukraine with international technical assistance in the field of constitutional reform and/or the rule of law, and/or human rights protection, and/or corruption prevention and countermeasures for the past five years;
•    the advisory group shall be full-fledged, provided that it shall have at least five members;
•    a member of the Advisory Group shall be obliged to participate in its work personally without the right to delegate his or her powers to other persons, including other members of the Public Council of International Experts;
•    if a candidate for the position of the judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine receives a negative assessment from the Advisory Group, he or she shall be considered to have stopped participating in the competition;
•    the Advisory Group shall be formed within three months;
•    the person shall acquire the status of a member of the Advisory Group from the date of adoption of the decision on his or her appointment.

The Committee on Ukraine's Integration into the EU will announce its opinion on draft law No. 8302 at one of its coming meetings.