On November 13, 2023, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine resumes the qualification evaluation of judges for their compliance with the position.
This evaluation has to be carried out by 1,884 judges of the local and appellate courts from all over Ukraine. Some of them will start the procedure by passing the exam (109 persons), while the majority (1,775 persons) will be admitted to the second stage – dossier research and interview.
The Public Integrity Council will be involved in the interview stage which will assist the Commission in determining whether a judge or a candidate for a judicial position meets the criteria of professional ethics and integrity.
“High-quality and transparent qualification evaluation of judges will help to increase trust in justice in Ukraine. That’s why the Commission will make every effort so this procedure proves to be effective” said the Chairman of the HQCJ Roman Ihnatov.
On the eve of the resumption of the qualification evaluation, the Commission together with the Public Integrity Council agreed on the list of indicators pointing out that a judge or a candidate for the position of judge doesn’t meet the criteria of integrity and professional ethics, as well as the principles of their application.
“I believe this is an important and necessary step, as the list of indicators that point to the lack of integrity and the principles of their assessment will ensure a unified approach to this procedure and increase its transparency. At the same time, the Commission, together with the PIC, will continue to work on improving such indicators,” noted the Deputy Chairman of the Commission Ruslan Sydorovych.
The qualification evaluation of judges, which resumes on November 13, 2023, will begin with the work of three panels of the Commission. Interviews with nine judges are scheduled for the first day. All interviews will be broadcast live on the official YouTube page of the Commission on the Internet.
It is worth reminding that the last meeting of the HQCJ on the procedure of qualification evaluation of judges for their compliance with the position was held on November 5, 2019, and two days later the powers of the Commission’s members of the second cadence were terminated.
The new composition of the HQCJ was elected in June 2023. This allowed all the Commission’s procedures to resume, including the qualification evaluation of judges.