Law on Administrative Procedure (UA0045)

Developing and submitting to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in due course a draft Law of Ukraine on the Administrative Procedure

13. Law on administrative procedure

Commitment Text: 13. Developing and submitting to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in due course a draft Law of Ukraine on the Administrative Procedure.

Expected result: relevant draft law endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and followed up until adoption.

Lead institution(s): Ministry of Justice

Supporting institution(s): NGO Centre for Political and Legal Reforms, other unspecified NGOs and international organisations

Start Date: Not specified                                                        End Date: 31 December 2014

Commitment aim

The commitment sought to establish a legal framework for the operation of the public administration. The Law on Administrative Procedure is supposed to regulate how the public administration and its officials perform their functions. The act is important for establishing the rule of law and accountability of public officials, thereby reducing corruption by limiting discretion and ensuring legal certainty. It is also essential for good governance. Currently, administrative procedures in Ukraine are regulated mainly by secondary legislation, and do not provide necessary safeguards.

Status

Midterm: Limited

Adoption of the Code of Administrative Procedure (later named the Law on Administrative Procedure) has been a long-standing government commitment. The government submitted its first draft text to parliament in 2001; subsequent governments resubmitted the draft a number of times. International anti-corruption monitoring mechanisms (Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption, OECD’s Anti-Corruption Network for Eastern Europe and Central Asia under the Istanbul Action Plan^{[Note 63: Istanbul Action Plan, http://www.oecd.org/corruption/acn/istanbulactionplan/]}) recommended that Ukraine adopt a clear set of rules governing the administrative process and decision making.^{[Note 64: See http://bit.ly/1MTDPVZ, http://bit.ly/1PAC9lL.]} A number of official action plans included commitments to develop and adopt an administrative procedures law.^{[Note 65: Law on the Anti-Corruption Strategy of Ukraine for 2014-2017 (adopted in 2014), Government’s Plan of Urgent Measures to Eradicate Corruption (adopted in July 2014). See: http://bit.ly/1XcMgyv, http://bit.ly/1Lo4l7y. ]}

The government reported that the Ministry of Justice had prepared a draft law on administrative procedure, which took into account international practice, comments of the EU/OECD SIGMA Programme, and comments from members of the working group set up by the ministry in 2014. The ministry submitted the draft law to the government in January 2015, but it was returned for revision in March 2015. In August 2015, the ministry re-submitted the draft law to the government, but it was again returned to the ministry.^{[Note 66: Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2014-15: Ukraine, 53-54.]}

End of term: Limited

The government failed to achieve progress in implementing this commitment since the midterm report. In June 2016, it adopted the Strategy for Reforming Public Governance in Ukraine in 2016-2020, and an action plan to implement the strategy. The action plan postponed the development of the Law on Administrative Procedure until mid-2018.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Did not change

Public accountability: Did not change

The Law on Administrative Procedure is an important piece of legislation that regulates the interaction between public officials and individuals and legal entities, the processing of administrative cases, administrative appeals, etc. The law is essential for ensuring legal certainty and safeguarding the rights of persons in their interaction with the public administration, including facilitating access to information and providing procedures for challenging administrative decisions. The law is also important to ensuring the accountability of public authorities, and limiting administrative discretion that fosters corruption. However, the draft law has a long and unsuccessful history in Ukraine. As noted in the IRM progress report, there appears to be a lack of understanding among high-level officials about the law’s importance as a basic legal act for public administration operations. Its history also shows that the government lacks genuine commitment and political will to adopt the law, and deliberately delays its consideration.^{[Note 67: Ibid, 54.]} The latest government decision to postpone preparation of the draft law until 2018 confirms this assessment.

Carried forward?

The commitment was not carried over to the new action plan.