Ukrainian judges study model administrative courts in Germany

KYIV, 10 October 2001 (OSCE) - In the framework of the project on "Model Administrative Courts", the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine in co-operation with the German Foundation for Legal Cooperation organized a training course for Ukrainian judges, which took place at the Administrative Courts of Trier and Koblenz from 2 to 9 September. The Ukrainian group participating in this event comprised members of the working group of the Supreme Court tasked with the establishment of an Administrative Court system in Ukraine, including the Chairman of this group, First Deputy Head of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Volodymir Stefanjuk, as well as judges of the Kiyv City Court and the Dniprovsky District Court.

The course aimed at familiarizing judges from these three Administrative Courts with the principles of administrative procedural law and the administrative court procedure in theory and practice. Excerpts of a concrete case were translated into Ukrainian and handed over to the participants. The case was first discussed on the level of local authorities that issued the initial administrative act, then on the level of the higher administrative instance, the Administrative Court of First Instance in Trier, and finally at the level of the Supreme Administrative Court of Rheinland Pfalz in Koblenz.

This concrete example gave the Ukrainian judges the possibility to discuss with officials and judges who handled the case in reality. Additionally, the delegation had an opportunity to be present in administrative court proceedings, which were translated simultaneously.

At the end of the five-day course, experiences and further prospects of the project on Model Administrative Courts were discussed at a round table. The aim of this project is to support Ukraine in the establishment of an Administrative Court system. In the framework of this project, the Administrative Court in Trier and the Supreme Administrative Court in Koblenz will function as partner courts for Ukrainian courts of first and second instance.

As part of this project, assistance is also given regarding the establishment of the necessary legal basis. In this respect, the main foundation was laid by the adoption in June of a package of amendments to the law on the judiciary. The next important step will be the adoption of the law on administrative court procedure. The OSCE Project Co-ordinator together with the German Foundation for Legal Cooperation have arranged for reviews of the draft law. As the Chairman of the Trier Administrative Court made one of these reviews, the visit to Trier offered an opportunity to discuss his findings with the Ukrainian judges involved in the elaboration of the law in question. On 10 October 2001, the results of a second review, which was carried out by a scholar of a research institute for comparative law, was handed over to the chairman of the working group tasked with the elaboration of the law on Administrative Court procedure.

The next event in the framework of the project at hand will be a visit of the judges from the Trier Court to the model courts in Kyiv. Further measures will be devoted to special topics in the area of administrative justice. It is planned to involve also administrative personnel of the courts with the aim of improving the document flow and the case-management.