HQDCB members will not be able to abstain from voting

In accordance with the Rules of Procedure of the High Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar, the HQDCB's decision is made by open vote. Until the last meeting, members of the commission could vote for, against, and abstain.

The last option, when a member of the commission could withdraw from the decision, was removed by the Bar Council of Ukraine. By its decision of 21.10.2024 No. 67, it amended the Rules of Procedure of the HQDCB. Now, a member of the HQDCB is not entitled to abstain from voting.

As a reminder, the HQDCB is a collegial body tasked with reviewing complaints against decisions, actions or inactions of the qualification and disciplinary commissions of the regional bar associations. The HQDCB consists of thirty members.

Upon consideration of the complaint, the Commission has the right to:

1) leave the complaint unsatisfied and the QDCB's decision unchanged;

2) change the decision of the QDCB;

3) to cancel the decision of the QDCB and make a new decision;

4) send the case for a new consideration and oblige the QDCB to take certain actions.

Decisions are made by voting by a majority of the total number of commission members. In other words, in any case, at least 16 votes are required to make a decision.

Pursuant to clause 3.45 of the HQDCB Regulations, in the absence of the majority of votes required by law, the complaint is considered rejected, as indicated in the HQDCB decision to dismiss the complaint and leave the decision of the QDCB unchanged.

Thus, in accordance with this clause, in some cases, commission members who did not support the contested decision of the QDCB but at the same time did not accept the rapporteur's proposals on it, such members had the opportunity to abstain from voting on the draft decision of the Higher Commission. Starting from the next meeting, they will have to decide in favor of or against the draft decision in any case.

In addition, Decision No. 67 also clarified the provisions on cases when complaints are sent for consideration to the QDCB of another region, the secretariat's access to the materials of disciplinary proceedings, the forms of decisions taken by the commission, the format of notifications of meetings, and other procedural issues.