On September 10, 2025, the Second Senate of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine delivered Decision No. 4-r(II)/2025 in the case upon constitutional complaint of Viacheslav Pleskach regarding the compliance of Article 57.3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar and Legal Practice” with the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the publication of acts of bar self-government bodies).
According of Article 57.3 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Bar and Legal Practice” No. 5076-VI dated July 5, 2012 (hereinafter, the “Law”), “decisions of bar self-government bodies shall take effect on the date of their adoption, unless another term is provided for in the decisions.”
In his constitutional complaint, Viacheslav Pleskach argued that Article 57.3 of the Law contradicts Article 57 of the Constitution of Ukraine, as it allows decisions of the Bar Council of Ukraine to take effect immediately upon their adoption, thereby violating the constitutional right of everyone to know their rights and obligations, as the contested provision stipulates that rights, freedoms, and obligations are restricted by the normative acts of the Bar Council of Ukraine without informing the lawyer in a manner that would ensure his or her awareness of the date, time, publication, authentic text, and fact of adoption of such a normative act.
Having examined the issues raised in the constitutional complaint, the Court concluded that the contested provision complies with the Constitution of Ukraine.
Article 57 of the Constitution of Ukraine includes provisions aimed at ensuring the principle of the rule of law and establishes a constitutional guarantee that covers both the subjective right of individuals to know their rights and obligations (Article 57.1) and the institutional obligation of the state to ensure the accessibility of the normative provisions that define them (Articles 57.2, 57.3).
The right to know one's rights and obligations and the accessibility of the normative provisions that define them are among the constitutional guarantees of legal security and predictability of law enforcement.
The provisions of Article 57 of the Basic Law of Ukraine oblige all entities involved in law-making and/or law enforcement to ensure general awareness (by informing the public) of those legal acts that are normative and define the constitutional human and citizen’s rights and obligations.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine proceeds from the assumption that, according to the Constitution of Ukraine, the bar is a component of the justice system and acts to provide professional legal assistance in Ukraine (Article 1312.1).
The mission, role, and tasks of the bar are determined by its participation in the administration of justice as one of the functions of the state.
The legislative regulation of the activities of the bar, taking into account the purpose of its establishment and in compliance with constitutional provisions, is one of the prerequisites for the effectiveness of the justice system in particular and the effectiveness of the mechanism for the protection of human rights in general.
The court emphasised that acquiring the status of a lawyer does not deprive a person of their constitutional rights and freedoms. Upon acquiring the status of a lawyer, a person is undoubtedly not restricted or deprived of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine, since restricting or depriving lawyers of their constitutional rights and freedoms would be discriminatory.
The implementation of the mission of the Ukrainian Bar Association in the mechanism of human rights protection is a complex task that requires professionalism, honesty, and integrity from every lawyer and bar self-government body.
Relations between lawyers and bar self-government bodies should arise and develop not only within the requirements set forth in the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine, but also in accordance with the spirit of corporate unity and mutual respect. Therefore, bar self-government bodies must ensure the transparency of their activities, in particular the openness and accessibility of their decisions, which are binding on all lawyers. At the same time, lawyers must be professional, honest, and conscintious when reviewing and implementing these decisions.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine proceeds from the assumption that a lawyer is the representative of the justice system with whom a person who needs protection of their unrecognized, disputed, or violated rights, protection from criminal charges by the state in the person of its bodies, or who has a request for representation of their interests in court, first encounters, that person has reasonable expectations that the lawyer is a legal professional with the appropriate professional status, i.e., possesses the legal and other knowledge and skills that are sufficient and necessary to provide the person with professional legal assistance and to exercise their rights guaranteed by Article 59 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
The current development of information technologies in the field of justice, in particular those related to access to sources of law, the functioning of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunications System and the Unified Register of Lawyers of Ukraine, makes it possible to provide professional legal assistance only to those lawyers who have not only the necessary knowledge and skills, but also timely and effective access to legal acts, documents, and other information relevant to the activities of lawyers posted on the Internet, primarily on the websites of judicial authorities and bar self-government bodies.
An analysis of the provisions of the Law shows that decisions and other acts of bar self-government bodies are applicable only to a specific and professionally defined group of persons – lawyers who have voluntarily chosen the profession of a lawyer and the status of a lawyer and, as a result, must comply with self-governing mechanisms for regulating the practice of law.
Decisions and other acts of bar self-government bodies regulate the professional activities of lawyers and do not define their rights and obligations within the meaning of Articles 57.2 and 57.3 of the Constitution of Ukraine and other provisions thereof.
The decision also states that the date of entry into force of decisions of bar self-government bodies, which are normative acts, cannot precede the date of their adoption and publication. If necessary, a transitional period (vacatio legis) should be introduced for these acts to take effect, allowing lawyers to adapt their activities to the new regulatory framework.
In exercising constitutional review, the Constitutional Court is guided by the fact that the possibility of ambiguous interpretation of a legal norm is not a sufficient ground for recognizing it as unconstitutional if this norm allows for a constitutionally consistent (conformable) interpretation that ensures its understanding and application in a manner consistent with the provisions of the Basic Law of Ukraine.
Declaring a legal provision as consistent with the Constitution of Ukraine does not eliminate the obligation of law-making and/or law enforcement entities to interpret this provision taking into account the essential content of constitutional rights and principles, as well as the principle of systemic unity of the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine.
Given that a constitutionally consistent interpretation can be made with regard of Article 57.3 of the Law, and that there are no convincing and sufficient arguments for declaring it as violating constitutional provisions, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concludes that of Article 57.3 of the Law complies with the Constitution of Ukraine.
The judge-rapporteur in the case is Oleh Pervomaiskyi.
