INFORMATION AND ANALYTICAL SECTOR
of CONSTITUTIONAL COURT of UKRAINE
01033, Kyiv, Zhylianska, 14
tel. 238-10-80, 238-10-25
fax. 287-36-16
Scientific and Practical Seminar on Normative Legal Functioning of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine was held at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine
The event was attended by the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of UkraineYurii Baulin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Secretary of the Constitutional Commission Oleksii Filatov, judges of the Constitutional Court of UkraineSerhii Vdovichenko, Mykhailo Hultai, Victor Kolisnyk, Victor Kryvenko, OleksandrLytvynov, Mykola Melnyk, Volodymyr Moisyk, Serhii Sas, Petro Stetsiuk, NataliaShaptala, former judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Vasyl Nimchenko, MykolaSavenko, Viktor Shyshkin, representatives of the academic institutions of Ukraine, international organisations (OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation, USAID, the EU Project "Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine"), officials of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin welcomed the participants and noted that during the event there was planned to analyse and discuss project materials on normative legal functioning of the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. Chairman of the Constitutional Court stressed that the topic of the seminar was not only important, but recently it had become especially important, since on June 2, 2016 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine on Amending the Constitution of Ukraine in the part of justice, which provided for reform of the national judicial system, including the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Yurii Baulin informed the participants on the amendments that affect the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, in particular concerning the competence of the Court, guarantee of independence, immunity and qualification requirements for judges and procedure of their appointment and dismissal.
He said that another mandatory organisational activity related to introduction of constitutional complaint was to reform the structure of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, especially to prevent the possibility of Court overloading that might affect the generally recognised principle of examination of court cases within reasonable time.
In his speech, he thanked the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for the invitation and the opportunity to speak before such a distinguished audience. He pointed out that those days we were celebrating twenty years since the adoption of the Constitution. Back in 1996 it was a significant event that provided an opportunity to start building a number of state institutions on a new basis. 20 years have passed since then, and life goes on. "Today, said OleksiiFilatov, we've got a chance to update the Basic Law of the State in accordance with European standards, particularly the judicial system and the functioning of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine."
Oleksii Filatov spoke about the activities of Constitutional Commission, wherein leading constitutional law experts, Ukrainian and international experts participated, and which had developed proposals amending the Constitution of Ukraine. The speaker noted that the work was uneasy and important, and thanked all those who had participated in working out the amendments to the Constitution.
He stressed that regardless of the differences in the worldviews of the participants of the working group, they had achieved the result and worked out draft law on the amendments, which had been highly appreciated by both Ukrainian and international experts. Oleksii Filatov noted that the Venice Commission had provided for only positive conclusions on the project as well.
Deputy Head of Presidential Administration of Ukraine stressed on some changes in the project regarding the competence of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. He pointed out the most important innovations: singling out of the functions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the judicial system, removal of the Court power to interpret laws, strengthened independence of the Court, transparent competition for the office of a judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and introduction of constitutional complaint.
During the seminar participants exchanged views on topical issues and expressed their views on future changes in the constitutional justice.
Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Serhii Vdovichenko, Viktor Kolisnyk, Natalia Shaptala, Petro Stetsiuk, Permanent Representative of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Anatolii Selivanov, former judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Professor of the Department of General Theoretical and State and Legal Sciences at the Law Faculty of the National University of "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" Mykola Savenko, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Theory, History, History of Legal and Political Studies at the Law Faculty of Uzhgorod National University Vasyl Lemak, Doctor of Legal Sciences,Prrofessor, Head of the Department of Constitutional and International Law of the National Academy of Internal Affairs of Ukraine AnatoliiKolodii, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of the Constitutional Law at the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv Olha Sovhyria, Candidate of Legal Sciences, senior researcher at the regional research center of the National Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine Olena Tomkina, Doctor of Legal Sciences, Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law at the Law Faculty of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, a member of the Constitutional Commission Oleh Martseliak, Candidate of Legal Sciences, Associate Professor, Deputy Head of the Department of Constitutional Law at the 
At the end of the seminar Yurii Baulin thanked all the participants for the work and suggestions which would be extremely important and further processed and studied.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine suggested the participants to provide their contributions on the constitutional issues, which would be published in anniversary publication of the Bulletin of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
