The UNBA supported the revision of the procedure for issuing summonses under the CPC

The Ukrainian National Bar Association has endorsed Draft Law No. 15095 of March 20, 2026, «On amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the improvement of procedures for summoning individuals and serving procedural documents in criminal proceedings».

The draft was reviewed by the UNBA at the request of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on law enforcement.

Advocates believe that the proposed changes are aimed at eliminating outdated procedures and should improve the process of notifying individuals in cases where personal service of a summons or procedural documents is objectively impossible.

Current criminal procedural legislation requires, in certain cases, that summonses be published in mass media with nationwide circulation. It is proposed to abandon this model, based on the fact that print media no longer ensure the actual and effective delivery of information to the individual, and the procedure itself is increasingly becoming a mere formality, resulting only in additional costs for the judicial system.

Therefore, the draft proposes amendments to Articles 135, 297-5, and 323 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Specifically, this involves eliminating the requirement for mandatory publication of summonses and information regarding procedural documents in national media and establishing the obligation to publish them on the official websites of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the courts in a format that allows users to search for information by the individual’s last name, criminal case number, and court case number.

The authors of the legislative initiative emphasize that this issue is particularly relevant in proceedings involving individuals who have left or are located in temporarily occupied territory or on the territory of the aggressor state, as well as within the scope of special pre-trial investigations and special judicial proceedings. In such cases, a properly organized publication on official resources with the ability to quickly search and verify data — both for the individuals themselves and for their defense counsel — is more functional.

With this in mind, the UNBA supported Bill No. 15095 and considers it worthy of adoption in the first reading.