Talks between Experts of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine and the Federal Administrative Court

Group photo

Group photo

Based on its more than 20 years of cooperation, the IRZ is implementing a five-pillar programme to promote the rule of law in Ukraine, supported by the Federal Foreign Office. Despite the extremely difficult domestic and international political conditions, the implementation of the programme has already been started. The programme covers issues of the constitutional and judicial reform, public law and criminal law as well as the fight against corruption, above all in the judiciary. The working visit of the representatives of the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine, which took place from 25 to 28 November 2014, also continued a long-standing cooperation in establishing an administrative jurisdiction in Ukraine. Issues of protecting judicial independence and the necessary consolidation of an understanding of real independence by all parties played an important role during the expert talks, in particular against the background of the experiences gained in recent years and the current reform efforts.

In this context, the highly topical problem of the so-called lustration of civil service members and the judiciary as a whole were discussed. The judiciary will be reviewed as of early December 2014, including the Supreme Administrative Court, based on the requirements of the respective law. This review is certainly necessary in many cases but still has to be carried out in a reasonable way, bearing the principle of proportionality in mind. Another topical aspect was the effort of some forces in Ukraine to dissolve the administrative jurisdiction again and to integrate it into ordinary jurisdiction. An integration of commercial jurisdiction may be expedient; the dissolution of the administrative jurisdiction, however, which has been in existence for about a decade, would have to be considered as a drawback. Rather, more attention should be paid to developing the administrative courts further into an instrument capable of effectively and efficiently reviewing the activities of the state. For this purpose, they have to be truly independent and under no external influence at all, in order to contribute to a law-abiding conduct on the part of the executive.

The delegation was headed by the Court President Mr Netschytailo, who was only re-elected in June this year. They were received by the Vice-President of the Federal Administrative Court Dr Christ and the IRZ Deputy Director Dr Hülshörster. The meetings were also attended by the Presiding Judges Prof Dr Rubel and Mr Neumann as well as the Judges Prof Dr Kraft and Mr Steinkühler.

Commercial Senate of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Visits IRZ for Expert Talks

Ukrainian Delegation in the office of IRZ, September 2013

Ukrainian Delegation in the office of IRZ, September 2013

The Commercial Senate of the Supreme Court of Ukraine visited the IRZ in Bonn for expert talks, chaired by Senate President Barbara from 23 to 27 September 2013. The IRZ looks back on a close and trustful cooperation of long standing with the Supreme Court. The issues which were discussed included above all questions of the judicial reform and the related reformation of the law relating to the court constitution, case law and the entire procedural law, also involving the judges of the Supreme Court. After the Supreme Court had to put up with a loss of functions involving substantial staff reductions, also among the judges, as a consequence of the last reform of the judicial system, the focus was now on safeguarding the uniformity of the case law, which is one of today's central tasks of the Supreme Court, and the particularities of appeals on points of law only as well as the issue of a binding effect of rulings of the Supreme Court. The event furthermore focused on the areas of antitrust and competition law as well as the function of an honorary (commercial) judge and (intra and extra-judicial) mediation. The programme was supplemented by an exchange of practical experience at the Higher Regional Court of Cologne, at the Regional Court of Bonn as well as at the Bundeskartellamt [Federal Competition Authority]. The cooperation will be continued by a working visit of the Administrative Senate of the Supreme Court aimed at revising the code of administrative procedure which is scheduled for October 2013 as well as by an expert conference in Kiev in early 2014 dealing with uniformity in case law which will take place with all four senates together.