The first country to ratify the Convention on the Protection of the Professions of Lawyer

Bosnia and Herzegovina became the first country to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Professions of Lawyer (CETS No. 226). The country signed the Convention on March 17, 2026, so it took just over seven months to ratify it.

The date of ratification, October 28, 2026, appeared in the official table of signatures and ratifications of the Council of Europe’s Treaty Office.

As of October 30, 34 states had signed the document, and only one had ratified it so far. The Convention will enter into force after ratification by at least eight states, at least six of which must be members of the Council of Europe.

In late October, reports circulated in the media that Albania was the first country to ratify the Convention. On October 22, the Albanian parliament passed a law on ratification. The vote took place amid a boycott of court hearings announced by Albanian advocates. However, in the Council of Europe’s table, Albania is still listed among the states that have only signed the Convention. A vote by the national parliament is an internal step. Ratification takes effect when a state deposits its instrument of ratification with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. There has been no official confirmation of this step from Albania yet.

Ukraine signed the Convention on March 9, 2026, becoming the 28th country to do so. The document was signed on Ukraine’s behalf by Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Mykola Tochitsky. Since then, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy has held five working meetings. These meetings were attended by members of parliament, the Office of the President, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UNBA. During this time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared an official translation, while the Ministry of Justice and the UNBA resolved differences regarding the necessary legislative amendments. The work was divided into two areas. The Ministry of Justice is preparing a government package of documents for ratification. At the same time, members of parliament, the UNBA, and the Ministry of Justice jointly drafted a bill amending the Law «On the advocacy and the practice of law» and parliament announced its readiness to register it. The bill on ratification is to be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by the President.

On October 7, Subcommittee chairman Maksym Dyrdin confirmed that work on ratification is ongoing. At the same time, chairman of the Subcommittee on Advocacy Volodymyr Vatras noted that ratification and advocacy reform under the Roadmap are proceeding in parallel so that neither process hinders the other.

President of the UNBA, BCU Lidiya Izovitova emphasized that Ukraine has completed the key preparatory stages and that the path to ratification should not end in further delays. The Vice President of the UNBA, BCU Valentin Gvozdiy, who was directly involved in drafting the Convention, noted that Ukraine has a chance to be among the first countries to ratify it.