21 January 2026
On 21 January 2026, during the public part of the plenary session in the form of written proceedings, the First Senate proceeded with the deliberation of the case upon the constitutional complaint filed by Pavlo Vovk.
During the plenary session, the judge-rapporteur in the case, Alla Oliinyk, reported on the content of the constitutional complaint, the course of deliberation of the relevant case in the courts of the judicial system, and the applicant's arguments.
As noted by the judge-rapporteur in the case, the applicant appealed to the Court with a request to verify the compliance with the Constitution of Ukraine of paragraph 61 of Section XII “Final and Transitional Provisions” of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judicial System and Status of Judges” dated 2 June 2016 No. 1402-VIII, as amended (hereinafter the “Law No. 1402”).
This provision stipulates that “the transfer of a judge to a position in another court of the same or lower level in the case of reorganization or liquidation of the court in which such judge holds office may be carried out without competition only after confirmation by such a judge of his or her suitability for the position of judge appointed for a term of five years or elected as a judge for an indefinite term prior to the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (as to justice)”.
The content of the constitutional complaint and the materials attached to it reveal the following.
In accordance with the Decree of the President of Ukraine in 2007, Pavlo Vovk was appointed to the position of judge of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv for a term of five years. In 2011, in accordance with the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On the Election of Judges,” he was elected judge of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv for an indefinite term.
In 2018 and 2019, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ) appointed a qualification assessment of judges of local and appellate courts for compliance with their positions and included Judge Pavlo Vovk in it. In its decision of 27 September 2019, the HQCJ noted his failure to appear for the examination.
In 2022, the Kyiv District Administrative Court ceased to administer justice from the date of entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On the liquidation of the Kyiv District Administrative Court and the establishment of the Kyiv City District Administrative Court”.
The Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” and certain legislative acts of Ukraine on improving the procedures for judicial career» dated 9 December 2023 No. 3511-IX (hereinafter the “Law No. 3511”) amended the procedure for assessing the qualifications of judges for compliance with their positions, as defined in paragraph 20 of Section XII “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 1402, and supplemented Section XII “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 1402, in particular, with paragraph 61.
In 2024, the HQCJ continued the procedure for the qualification assessment of judges. Vovk Pavloappealed to the HQCJ with a request to complete the qualification assessment procedure initiated in relation to him for compliance with the position of judge within the period specified in paragraph 3 of Section II “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 3511, namely until 30 June 2024.
By its decision of 10 July 2024, the High Qualification Commission of Judges recognised the examination within the framework of the qualification assessment for compliance with the position of judge as not having taken place and made changes to the schedule for taking this examination.
Disagreeing with this, Pavlo Vovk appealed to the courts of the judicial system with an administrative claim and requested that the inaction of the High Council of Justice be recognised as unlawful in connection with the failure to comply with the requirements of paragraph 3 of Section II “Final and Transitional Provisions” of Law No. 3511, in terms of violating the deadline specified in this paragraph for completing the qualification assessment procedure for compliance with the position of judge. The courts refused to satisfy the claims.
In his constitutional complaint, the applicant claims that he “acquired the right to be transferred to the position of judge in another court of the same level without competition from the date of liquidation of the court, namely from 15 December 2022’ on the basis of Article 82.3 of Law No. 1402, as amended by the Law of Ukraine |”On Amendments to the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine and Other Legislative Acts” dated 3 October 2017 No. 2147-VIII, according to which “the transfer of a judge to the position of judge in another court of the same or lower level may be carried out without competition only in cases of reorganisation, liquidation or termination of the court in which such a judge holds the position of judge”. In his opinion, the legislator “significantly narrowed the scope of this right, making its implementation dependent on passing a qualification assessment”.
He also believes that the contested provision of Law No. 1402, combined with the indefinite nature of the qualification assessment procedure, violates the right to work guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine. The applicant emphasises that restricting this right “by denying the possibility of transfer to another court without setting clear time limits for undergoing the qualification assessment does not meet the requirements of “quality of law” and is disproportionate to the legitimate aim of ensuring the integrity of the judicial system”.
The First Senate examined the materials of the case and proceeded to a in-camera part of the plenary session to deliver its decision.
The plenary session was attended by the authorised representative acting on behalf of the person entitled to lodge a constitutional complaint, lawyer Oleksandra Panchenko.
A video recording of the session is available on the official website of the Court under the heading “Video broadcasts of Constitutional Court sessions” – “Archive of video broadcasts of sessions”.
