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On 26 May 2020, IRZ organised online expert discussions with the Chamber of Notaries of Ukraine on the current status of the reform of Ukrainian notarial law and the requirements for further exchange of expertise on notarial law. Representing the German side at the meeting was IRZ expert Richard Bock, Justizrat, former notary, chief representative for international affairs at the Federal Chanber of Notaries. Representing Ukraine were the President of the Chamber of Notaries of Ukraine, Volodymyr Marchenko, and five other Ukrainian notaries, who had already paid a working visit to the German Federal Chamber of Notaries in October 2019.
In December 2019, IRZ expert Richard Bock travelled to Kiev to continue the expert discussions. The online meeting meant that the expert discussions could continue despite the travel restrictions imposed by the coronavirus.
One of the topics currently being addressed by the Ukrainian notaries is the abolition of state notaries’ offices, which still exist alongside private notaries’ offices. This was discussed at length and is likely to be imminent. E-Notarisation and remote certification are also the focus of debate. It is important to the Chamber of Notaries of Ukraine that, in view of the government’s “state in a smartphone” motto, legal certainty and the involvement of the notary in legal transactions continue to be adequately taken into account.
They are also extremely interested in the German model for supporting notaries in sparsely populated and financially weak regions with compensation paid out from notarial funds. Another topic of conversation was disciplinary law for notaries. The planned changes to notarial law in Ukraine will give Ukrainian notaries a high degree of responsibility for preventing money laundering. In connection with this monitoring role, IRZ will provide the Chamber of Notaries of Ukraine with a translation of the leaflet provided by the German Federal Chamber of Notaries on the application of the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive of the European Union.
There continues to be a high requirement for these discussions. IRZ and the German Federal Chamber of Notaries will therefore provide additional written material and organise further online meetings on individual issues concerning notarial law.
The Ukrainian delegation in the IRZ offices with Gabriele Wester (second from left), Deputy Director of the Local Court of Bonn; Dr. Bernd Weismann (third from left), President of the Regional Court of Bonn, Dr. Frauke Bachler (fourth from left), IRZ Managing Director; Olena Yevtushenko (fifth from left), President of the Ukrainian Association of Judges Ukraine
On 12 and 13 June 2019, a delegation of ten members of the Ukrainian Association of Judges, led by its President Olena Yevtushenko, was invited by the IRZ to Bonn on a working visit to discuss investigative judges.
The IRZ, in partnership with the Ukrainian Association of Judges, regularly organises training sessions for judges. These events are usually held in various regions of Ukraine, but there are also some working visits to Germany. The working visits regularly focus on issues of current interest. On this occasion, the focus was on the role of investigative judges. Ten judges from district and appeal courts in Kiev, Lviv, Chernivtsi and Mukachevo benefited from intense expert discussions on this subject.
At the start of the visit, the Ukrainian guests were welcomed to the IRZ offices by Dr. Frauke Bachler, IRZ Managing Director, Dr. Stefan Weismann, President of the Regional Court of Bonn, and Gabriele Wester, Deputy Director of the Local Court of Bonn. This was followed by extensive expert talks with Dr. Jan Kraus, a judge at the Local Court of Königswinter, who worked for many years as an investigative judge. Based on the comprehensive list of questions previously submitted by the Ukrainian partners, Dr. Kraus talked about how investigation proceedings work and explained the procedural principles and different investigation measures, as well as focussing on the prerequisites for a detention order for custody awaiting trial.
On the afternoon of the first day of the visit, Bernd-Günter König, a former Senior Public Prosecutor, explained how public prosecutors and the police work together in investigation proceedings.
On the following day, the Ukrainian judges visited the Regional Court of Bonn to gain an insight into court practices. There they followed the trial of a criminal case and enforcement proceedings, which they were then able to discuss afterwards with the Presiding Judge.
The participants in the delegation during the expert talks at the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection in Berlin Ukraine
From 20 to 23 May 2019, consumer protection experts from ministries, authorities and non-governmental organisations in the Republics of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine met in Berlin for a working visit. They were welcomed by IRZ Managing Director Dr. Stefan Hülshörster, who underlined the increasingly significant role played by consumer protection in the cooperation between the IRZ and its partner states.
At the start of the visit, the guests visited the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, where talks were held with their German colleagues on the fundamental issues of consumer policy and on consumer policy in the energy sector, in food legislation and product safety.
Other talks were held with the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (“Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband”), where the focus was mainly on law enforcement in consumer protection through the recently introduced model declaratory action (“Musterfeststellungsklage”). Further talks were held at the Berlin Consumer Organisation (“Verbraucherzentrale Berlin e.V.”), which is the first point of contact for consumer protection for citizens at community level.
Aspects of competition law were discussed during a meeting with the German Centre for Protection against Unfair Competition. The keynote address by the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information also explained the role and importance of the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection when it comes to consumer protection.
This trilateral working visit could mark the start of a series of expert talks, allowing Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine to look in more detail at consumer protection issues specific to their own countries.
