Draft amendments to the CPC restrict the advocates’ rights — UNBA Committee on Legislative Initiatives on the Bar

The Committee on Legislative Initiatives on the Bar held a meeting to discuss the provisions of the draft law 6232 “On Amendments to the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Legal Procedure of Ukraine and other legislative acts”.

According to the Committee Head Yaroslav Zeykan, the draft law contains a number of provisions that limit the abilities of advocates in trial and influence the effectiveness of the defense. “There are a number of articles that are completely inappropriate for the bar community, since they narrow the defenders’ rights. The draft law emphasizes the expansion of appraisal judgments in resolving certain procedural issues by judges”,  - said  Yaroslav Zeikan.

The most objected by the Committee members was article 400-1 of the draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. It is proposed to supplement the CPC with the article “Representation in court without authority” as follows: “1. A knowingly false notification of the court of the authority to represent another person in court, as well as a failure of the advocate to fill in the warrant with the information regarding restrictions of powers established by the contract on the provision of legal aid, shall be punishable by a fine of up to three thousand tax-free minimum incomes, or arrest for a term up to three months. The actions provided for in the first paragraph of this article, committed repeatedly or in collusion by a group of persons, shall be punishable by a fine of up to ten thousand tax-free minimum incomes, or personal restraint for a term up to three years”. Yaroslav Zeykan stressed that there were no statistics on such violations by advocates, therefore, the aforementioned article in this wording imposes additional obstacles to ensuring protection in court.

“These are the intentions to find something that could be used to initiate unfounded criminal proceedings against the advocates”, - said Yaroslav Zeykan.

“There is no need for any clarifications, amendments or limitations to be introduced into the warrant, since the judge has in his hands an agreement concluded between the advocate and the client. If such an article is adopted, then it is necessary to initiate changes to the warrant as such. Therefore, article 400-1 is unacceptable. But if we consider its social danger, it does not fit into the concept of crime”, - says the Head of the UNBA specialized Committee.

The bar’s consolidated proposals to the draft law 6232 will be forwarded to parliamentary committees and the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada.

Let us recall that on June 20 the Verkhovna Rada has adopted in the first reading a draft law 6232 “On Amendments to the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Legal Procedure of Ukraine and other legislative acts”.