Supervising the Legality of City Council Decisions: What Should Be Amended in the Draft Law Before the Second Reading

On May 13, 2025, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted at first reading Draft Law No. 13150, “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Rule of Law in the Activities of Local Self-Government Bodies and Officials.” The draft law received the support of 228 MPs.

The draft law, initiated by O. Korniienko, O. Shuliak, and D. Arakhamia (Servant of the People Party), was developed in April 2025 within an impressively short timeframe. Its primary objective is to introduce state oversight of local self-government bodies (LSGBs). However, Transparency International Ukraine warns that the proposed model of control may give rise to legal conflicts and potentially violate Article 8 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government and Article 140 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

The current version of the draft law proposes granting regional state administrations the authority to supervise all acts of local self-government bodies, including those adopted within the scope of their own powers. This approach may result in an excessive concentration of administrative influence, undermine transparency, and increase the risk of abuse of power by state authorities.

“Any decision of a local self-government body must clearly comply with the law, just as any administrative supervision of such decisions must. These are direct requirements of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. At the same time, the introduction of high-quality, effective, and proportionate supervision of legality in the activities of local self-government bodies should be grounded in the reform of the territorial organization of executive power in Ukraine. Such provisions are included in the Ukraine Facility Plan. Therefore, while we welcome progress toward meeting Ukraine’s obligations, we caution against establishing excessive control through the state vertical,” — noted Andrii Borovyk, Executive Director of Transparency International Ukraine.

Despite these concerns, the draft law also introduces several positive innovations, including the establishment of a Unified State Register of Acts of Local Self-Government. According to the draft, the Cabinet of Ministers will serve as the administrator of the Register, which will contain both publicly accessible information and information with restricted access. However, the proposed model may enable discretionary data management, posing risks to transparency in the operations of local self-government bodies. 

To ensure compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine, the European Charter of Local Self-Government, and the Ukraine Facility Plan, the introduction of high-quality, effective, and proportionate supervision of legality in the activities of local self-government bodies should be based on a comprehensive reform of local state administrations and adhere to the following principles:

• Ensuring a proportional supervision model, in which the supervisory authority bears the burden of proving its position before a court
•  The cancellation or suspension of decisions adopted by local self-government bodies should be carried out exclusively through judicial proceedings, except in cases involving threats to Ukraine’s territorial integrity, state security, or urgent emergency situations
• The leadership of local state administrations should be depoliticized and composed of professional civil servants
• A clear division of powers between local state administrations and local self-government bodies, serving as a foundation for effective and proper governance
• The powers and responsibilities of all public authorities and local self-government bodies should be defined exclusively by national legislation.

Transparency International Ukraine calls for a comprehensive revision of the draft law to ensure a proper balance between state oversight and the autonomy of local self-government. It is essential to depoliticize local state administrations, establish appropriate judicial procedures for the annulment of LSGB acts, and clearly delineate the powers of local and national authorities.

It should be noted that Transparency International Ukraine found that the official responses of the Ternopil City Council to the organization’s inquiries contained falsified information. In particular, when evaluating the city for the Open Data Pulse ranking, the city council submitted a link to fabricated news about a hackathon that, in fact, never took place. The organization has referred the matter to the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ternopil Regional Military Administration. If an effective system of proportional supervision over the legality of LSGB activities were in place, such situations would not arise, and those responsible would be held legally accountable under the law.