Having analyzed 1925 amendments suggested by MPs to the draft law, Transparency International Ukraine recommends the Parliament to support a number of constructive suggestions. The list of amendments has been compiled by Maksym Kostetskyi, lawyer with TI Ukraine, in his blog post on “Insider.” The amendments in question are 15 – here is the list with amendment numbers (including those where the ideas are repeated).

  1. Establishment of the minimum necessary number of judges – N 143 (alternatives – 146, 147, 150, 151, 152, 153, 159, 160, 161).
  2. Establishment of realistic criteria for candidates for the position of judges of the High Anti-Corruption Court – N 321 (alternatives – 325, 326, 327, 342, 344, 352, 361, 365, 366, 368, 371, 416, 424, 426, 430, 431, 432, 433, 561, 562).
  3. Elimination of discriminatory restrictions for participation in the competition – N 459 (alternatives – 473, 546, 547).
  4. Formation of the Public Council of International Experts – N 627 and N 629 (alternatives – 630, 633, 637, 640, 661, 665, 673, 678).
  5. Establishing impossibility to overrule a negative opinion of the Public Council of International Experts (crucial role of international experts) – N 719 (alternatives – 682, 683, 687, 697, 698, 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 707, 708, 709, 716, 718, 719, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 731, 732, 733, 736, 737, 739).
  6. Preference in case of equal position of candidates in the ranking – N 765 (alternatives – 747, 748, 758, 759, 762, 763).
  7. Appointment procedure for members of the Public Council of International Experts – N 880 (alternatives – 862, 881, 882, 883, 886, 888, 889, 890).
  8. Broadening of criteria for candidates to the Public Council of International Experts – N 941 (alternatives – 928, 936, 937, 938).
  9. The deadline for submission of the negative opinion of the Public Council of International Experts to the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine – N 1160 (alternatives – 1145, 1156, 1158, 1159, 1161).
  10. Decision-making procedure by the Public Council of International Experts – N 1269 (alternatives – 1258, 1272, 1273, 1278, 1281, 1285, 1286, 1287).
  11. Safety of judges’ family members – N 1409 (alternatives – 1406, 1407, 1408, 1410, 1411).
  12. Elimination of the use of lie detector – N 1458, 1475, 1483, 1494, 1509.
  13. Possibility to form panels without necessary participation of an individual with work experience as a judge – N 1681, 1684 (alternatives – 1680, 1682 + 1683, 1685).
  14. Cancellation of the possibility to review cases in any other court apart from the High Anti-Corruption Court – N 1705 (alternative – 1704).
  15. Establishment of the exclusive jurisdiction of the court – N 1728 (alternatives – 1722, 1724, 1725, 1726, 1731, 1735, 1740, 1756, 1761, 1762).

Transparency International Ukraine has urged MPs to speed up their work on the amendments to the draft law multiple times. Unfortunately, on May 16, 2018, the relevant committee did not do this work despite the calls from Head of the Verkhovna Rada. We continue to insist on the need to bring the future law in accord with all the recommendations of the Venice Commission.