SC President Informed about the Impact of the Pandemic and Quarantine Measures on the Work of Courts in 2020

While presenting the speech at the IX Annual Judicial Forum "Vector of Development 2020", the President of the Supreme Court Valentyna Danishevska drew attention to the scope of work performed by Ukrainian courts, particularly the Supreme Court.

Statistics show that the judicial system considers approximately 4 million cases and materials each year.

From 2017 till 2019 a common trend for all jurisdictions was represented by increasing the number of cases on average for 7 %. On the other hand, in the first half of this year there is a certain decrease in the number of pending cases, also for about 7 %.

Besides, in the first half of 2020, local general courts received 17 % less cases and materials than in the same period of 2019. According to the SC President, this is linked both with the introduction of quarantine and with the extension of procedural terms due to it.

A common trend for courts of first instance of administrative and commercial jurisdictions has been represented, as in previous years, by an increase in the number of received cases. Circuit administrative courts received 38 % more than in the first half of 2019, and local commercial courts – 12 % more than in the same period last year.

“Such indicators of receiving cases by administrative courts testify that the state has failed to fulfill its obligations to citizens. And the increase in cases in commercial courts can obviously be attributed to the pandemic and the spring lockdown, as the closure of enterprises may result in numerous non-performance of contracts. I think this trend will be even broader in a year”, – Valentyna Danishevska remarked.

The number of cases and materials considered by local general courts in the first half of 2020 is 1 million 235 thousand. This figure also decreased for 6 % in local commercial courts. Instead, circuit administrative courts during the reporting period considered 29 % more cases and materials than in the first half of 2019.

As for the Supreme Court, since the beginning of 2020 it has received 68 thousand cases, that is 13 % less than last year. This is primarily related to the introduction of new procedural filters and the extension of terms due to the quarantine.

At the same time, the number of cases received by the Administrative Cassation Court within the Supreme Court almost did not decrease even despite the implementation of filters. In commercial and civil jurisdictions, the number of received cases decreased, on the average, for a quarter, while in the Criminal Cassation Court this number increased for 5 % in comparison with the previous year.

“If the number of cases received by the Supreme Court continues to decrease next year, we will be able to overcome the backlog we received at the beginning of the Court's work, and in 2022 we will be able to reach the optimal mode of operation. Thus, people who apply to the Supreme Court will be able to receive judgments on their cases within a shorter period of time. However, such a forecast is possible, only if the legislation is stable”, – the SC President emphasized.

Besides, Valentyna Danishevska drew attention to the issue of shortage of judges, which is about 34 %.

“The situation has not improved at all since the beginning of the year, despite taking oath by about 200 new judges in summer, as almost the same number of judges have resigned, including seven judges of the Supreme Court”, – the SC President informed.

She also analyzed the stage of implementation of the Strategy to Reform the Judicial System and Adjacent Legal Institutions for 2015-2020 in the context of ensuring the independence of the judiciary.

“As a result of the reform in 2016, both at the constitutional and legislative levels, the judiciary has gained full formal independence, and over the years we have struggled to ensure the implementation and perception of this level of independence by other branches of power and society”, – Valentyna Danishevska remarked.

Regarding the provision of financial guarantees, according to the President of the Supreme Court, the financing of the judiciary is "a constant pain for every employee of the judicial sphere".

“This year, we have been twice forced to defend the financial independence of the judiciary in the Constitutional Court. And we see how difficult the situation is in the courts precisely because of the significant lack of funding. At the same time, we are aware that in times of economic downturn, courts must look for opportunities to save funds and resources to ensure the proper functioning of the judiciary”, – she remarked.

Besides, Valentyna Danishevska informed that judges of the Fifth Administrative Appeal Court had joined drafting the Law "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts on Ensuring Proper Notification of Participants of Judicial Proceedings and Sending Copies of Judgments" (Reg. No. 4360 of 11 November 2020).

This draft law stipulates that the telephone number and e-mail address specified by a person in the court claim may be used by courts to make summonses and to send judgments. A copy of the judgment sent to the e-mail address specified by the party to the proceedings shall be deemed duly served.

The SC President also noted the successful implementation of the Strategy, which provided for the introduction of competitive procedures in the appointment of judges and their transfer, increasing openness and transparency of the judiciary, as well as clear grounds for disciplinary liability of judges. Although, according to Valentyna Danishevska, work to find a balance between the independence and accountability, as well as the independence and openness, still has to be continued.

At the same time, the implementation of the Strategy regarding the digitalization of courts has not been completed yet, and the task to improve the staffing of courts has not been fulfilled, in particular due to lack of funding.

Finally, Valentyna Danishevska outlined further areas of work and put emphasis on the need for resuming the work of the High Qualifications Commission of Judges, selection of judges for courts of first and appeal instances, completing the competition to the High Court of Intellectual Property and resolving the issue on the authority of judges of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and high specialized courts.