The President has determined, who will sign the Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy authorized Ukraine's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Mykola Tochytskyi to sign the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer.

The order dated February 18, 2026, No. 12/2026-rp, was published on the website of the head of state.

As a reminder, the Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer was adopted by the Council of Europe during its meeting on March 12, 2025, and on May 13, it was opened for signature. The document establishes uniform approaches to guarantees for the independent practice of law and provides for a mechanism to monitor the implementation of its provisions.

The need for its preparation was due to the growing number of reports of attacks on advocates, including in the form of persecution, threats, physical attacks, or interference in the performance of professional duties. In 2022, the  European Committee on Legal Co-operation established a Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyer (CJ-AV), which included 15 experts from across Europe, including Ukraine. One of the drafters of the Convention was the Vice President of the UNBA, BCU Valentyn Gvozdiy, who was also elected Vice-President of the CJ-AV.

The international treaty was signed (in chronological order) by Luxembourg, Andorra, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland, the Republic of Moldova, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Finland, Portugal, Germany and Slovenia.

In Ukraine, the formal procedure had been stalled by state authorities until recently. The Ministry of Justice recognized the importance of the international treaty but insisted on the need for parallel changes to national legislation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that it could not resolve this issue on its own, as the Prime Minister had instructed the Ministry of Justice to review the international treaty and submit proposals to the government.

The need for Ukraine to sign the Convention as a significant step towards strengthening guarantees of independent practice of law and the general standard of access to justice on the path to the EU was recently discussed by the President of the UNBA, BCU Lidiya Izovitova, and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Representative of Ukraine to the European Union Vsevolod Chentsov.