One of the main tasks of the judicial reform after the Revolution of Dignity was the renewal and purification of the judicial corps, which was entrusted to the High Qualification Commission of Judges and the High Council of Justice.

The Public Integrity Council is also a part of the system of evaluating current judges and selecting candidates for the positions of judges because its existence as an independent public body is stipulated in Article 87 of the Law of Ukraine, “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges.” Since adopting the Law in 2016, the two compositions of the Public Integrity Council have performed their duties per its requirements. However, since 2020, the new composition of the Council was never elected. Let’s figure this out and explain why the Criminal Procedure Code is necessary for judicial reform.

 Why was the Public Integrity Council created?

The work of the Council is primarily related to the functioning of the High Qualification Commission of Judges since it provides its conclusions to the Commission. The Council’s main tasks are to collect information about a judge or a candidate for the position of a judge and to provide the High Qualification Commission of Judges with a conclusion about his non-compliance with the criteria of professional ethics and integrity if there are relevant grounds. For this purpose, the members of the Public Integrity Council are also delegated to the High Qualification Commission meeting regarding the judge’s evaluation. The Public Integrity Council does not conduct interviews with judges and candidates independently. However, its members can participate in the interview conducted by the High Qualification Commission of Judges, if available – present a conclusion regarding non-compliance with the criteria of professional ethics and integrity of the judge/candidate, and can even ask him questions.

The most important thing here is that the Public Integrity Council gives a conclusion about non-compliance with the criteria of professional ethics and integrity; it will be more difficult for the judge/candidate to pass the assessment successfully because then such a decision of the High Qualification Commission of Judges must be made by at least 11 of its 16 members.

It should be remembered that although the role of the High Qualifications Commission of Judges is to check the integrity of judges or candidates for the position of judge, safeguards are still needed to ensure that the members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges are not politically influenced and do not make questionable decisions.

How is the Public Integrity Council elected and functioning?

The Public Integrity Council consists of 20 members elected for a two-year term. The Law “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” clarifies that “Members of the Public Integrity Council can be representatives of human rights public associations, legal scholars, lawyers, journalists who are recognized specialists in the field of their professional activity, have a high professional reputation and meet the criteria in political neutrality and integrity.” Representatives of leading public organizations, judicial reform experts, lawyers, and journalists were among the two previous members of the Public Integrity Council.

The High Qualification Commission of Judges plays an essential role in appointing a new member of the Public Integrity Council because the Head of the Commission convenes meetings of representatives of public associations that elect a new member of the Public Integrity Council. The High Qualification Commission of Judges accepts applications for participation in conferences and determines which of the nominated public associations meet the criteria established by Law (“which during at least the last two years, preceding the day of the meeting, carry out activities aimed at fighting corruption, protecting human rights, supporting institutional reforms, including implementing projects in these areas. Public organizations or public unions that have carried out or are carrying out activities with the involvement of international technical assistance, the donors of which are state authorities, and local self-government bodies, may not participate in meetings of representatives of public associations, institutions, organizations, or enterprises of a country recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor, or financed by them”). Next, the Head of the High Qualification Commission of Judges sets the time and place of the meeting, at which the invited public associations elect the new composition of the Public Integrity Council and send the list of elected members to the Commission’s secretariat for publication on the official website. Therefore, although the High Qualification Commission of Judges does not directly select and approve the composition of the Public Integrity Council, its election depends on the decision of the High Qualification Commission of Judges to announce meetings and select public associations that meet the criteria established by Law.

After the election of a new composition, members of the Public Integrity Council collect, check, and analyze information about the judge. Each person can provide the following information through the created portal: https://grd.gov.ua/. If the contained information indicates non-compliance with the criterion of integrity, then the conclusion is approved and delivered to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. According to the practice of the previous compositions of the Public Integrity Council, the entire Council must authorize the conclusion. A representative of the Public Integrity Council takes part in the interview of the judge/candidate regarding whom the opinion has been approved, presents the view, and may even ask the judge/candidate questions about the circumstances outlined in it.

It is important to emphasize that the Public Integrity Council can submit conclusions regarding the non-compliance of a judge with the criteria of integrity to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. However, the Public Integrity Council can also provide positive information about a judge or a candidate for the position of a judge because it can also be necessary during the evaluation of a judge by the High Qualification Commission of Judges.

What are the results of the work of the first two compositions of the Public Integrity Council?

As mentioned above, since 2016, the Public Integrity Council has worked in two formations. The productivity of this body can be estimated by the number of conclusions submitted to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. For example, the start of the work of the second composition of the Public Integrity Council in January 2019 coincided with the process of the second selection of judges to the Supreme Court. In this regard, in January-February 2019, the Public Integrity Council analyzed 235 candidates and submitted 71 conclusions to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. During the consideration of candidates, the High Qualification Commission of Judges accounted for 25% of the conclusions: the percentage is not large but still higher than the previous indicators (21% during the first competition in 2017).

During the qualification evaluation of judges of local and appellate courts, the Public Integrity Council analyzed 1,682 judges’ files and submitted 472 conclusions to the High Qualification Commission of Judges. However, cooperation with the Commission could have been more effective due to procedural obstacles, which made it impossible for the public to participate in the evaluation and previously caused the Public Integrity Council to withdraw from the process in 2018. Therefore, in the future, criteria for evaluating the integrity of judges and standards of proof should be determined within the procedures for selecting and evaluating judges. Thus, in January 2019, the Public Integrity Council approved the indicators used to assess the integrity of judges. In many cases, the High Qualification Commission of Judges overcame the conclusions of non-compliance of a judge or a candidate for the post of a judge with the criteria of professional ethics and (or) integrity based on such reasoning, motivating it by the fact that the arguments of the Public Integrity Council were insufficient and did not rely on the decisions of the relevant state bodies.

Another challenge during the work of the Public Integrity Council was brief periods for analyzing because the Council cannot influence the terms of individual stages of selection/evaluation, which the High Qualification Commission of Judges establishes. At the same time, the members of the Public Integrity Council perform their work on a volunteer basis. Therefore, it is essential to review the relationship between the Public Integrity Council and the High Qualification Commission of Judges so that the former is perceived not as a contractor but as a full-fledged participant in evaluating judges and candidates for judicial positions.

You can also check short information about the Public Integrity Council below.

This document is prepared by the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the framework of the project ” Ukraine Responsive and Accountable Politics Program” (U-RAP), which is implemented by the National Democratic Institute. The opinions expressed in this document belong to the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID.