The HCJ continues to ignore the legal deadlines for forming the Competition Commission of the HQCJ

The High Council of Justice continues to violate the statutory deadlines for forming a new competition commission to select members of the Competition Commission of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

On June 1, 2025, the term of office of the first competition commission with international experts expired.

According to the Law «On the Judicial System and Status of Judges», the High Council of Justice had to publish an announcement about the start of the selection of candidates in the «Voice of Ukraine» and on its official website within five days after the previous commission's term ended (i.e., by June 6).

In addition, the HCJ was required to send a written notification of the start of the competition to all entities involved in the formation of the competition commission with a proposal to submit candidates. Among these entities is the Bar Council of Ukraine, which has the legal right to nominate its representatives to the commission.

Since the Bar Council of Ukraine did not receive such a mandatory notification, on June 13, the President of the UNBA, BCU Lidiya Izovitova officially appealed to the High Council of Justice with a demand to comply with the deadlines and procedures established by law for the formation of a new composition of the competition commission.

According to a statement on the website of the HCJ, the issue of forming the Competition Commission of the HQCJ was included in the draft agenda for the meeting on June 17, but during the vote it was not included in the final agenda, which effectively blocked its consideration.

In response to a request from the UNBA, Deputy chairman of the HCJ Oksana Kvasha noted that «the High Council of Justice is currently discussing the issue of approving the methodology for assessing the compliance of candidates for the position of member of the Competition Commission with the criteria set out in part four of Article 95-1 of the Law».

However, it is critically important that the High Council of Justice did not include this issue on the agenda of its meetings and did not take any official decisions on this matter. This means that Oksana Kvasha's response is her personal opinion and not the official position of the body.

It should be noted that the Law «On the Judicial System and Status of Judges» does not provide for the HCJ's powers to determine and approve the methodology for evaluating candidates for the position of member of the competition commission. Article 95-1 establishes strict deadlines for the formation of the competition commission, determined in days, so the High Council of Justice had to take care of all the preparatory procedures in advance, not after the expiry of the term of office of the previous composition.

According to Article 95-1 of the Law, candidates are selected by the entities forming the competition commission themselves – the Council of Judges of Ukraine, the Council of Prosecutors of Ukraine, the Bar Council of Ukraine and the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, which submit their proposals for candidates to the HCJ. The High Council of Justice is only obliged to appoint members of the competition commission from among the proposed candidates within five days of receiving the proposals. The criteria for candidates are clearly defined by law: impeccable business reputation, high professional qualities, public authority, and compliance with the criterion of integrity. The law does not require or provide for any additional methodologies for assessing these criteria.

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