The Representatives of the Supreme Courts of Ukraine and Estonia Discussed Areas of Cooperation

On November 12, 2021, there was held an inaugural session of representatives of the Supreme Courts of Ukraine and Estonia in the framework of bilateral cooperation.

SC President Valentyna Danishevska stated that the event laid the foundation for further cooperation and development of bilateral relations in order to strengthen the judiciary and overcome the crises facing the judiciary around the world today.  

Valentyna Danishevska told the participants of the meeting that since the Supreme Court was a court of cassation in all jurisdictions, the number of cases submitted to it was quite significant - an average of 100 thousand per year.

"Last year, the number of cases handled reached 93 thousand. Such figures seem impressive, but given that all courts in Ukraine consider a total of 5 million cases a year, the number of appeals to the Supreme Court is proportional," said the President of the Supreme Court.

Given the number of cases, according to Valentyna Danishevska, the issues of digitalization of the trial come to the fore.

"We know that Estonia is one of the first countries in the world in terms of digitalization of the judiciary. This topic is very interesting, we hope that in our cooperation we will be able to enrich our experience and facilitate the activity of the judicial systems of both countries", said Valentyna Danishevska.

Vsevolod Kniaziev, the Secretary of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, expressed hope that the meeting would be a starting point in establishing further communication with the Supreme Court of Estonia.

"We are interested in establishing close relations with colleagues from Estonia. Ukraine has European integration aspirations, and we are very glad that our partners from Estonia support us in this. In addition, learning from the experience of digitalization of the judicial process and the introduction of new technologies will be useful for Ukraine in terms of excessive workload on the courts," said Vsevolod Kniaziev.

Villu Kõve, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia, assured that Estonia was ready to further establish ties with Ukraine, intended to move to a new level of cooperation, identify common priorities and topics of interest and importance to both parties, and agree on joint plans for the future.

Karin Leichter-Tammisto, Legal Adviser to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia in charge of international relations, spoke about the structure of the Estonian judicial system and outlined the powers of the court of cassation and its organizational structure.

Thus, the Supreme Court of Estonia has 19 judges, and the court itself consists of several chambers - for civil, criminal, administrative cases and the Constitutional Review Chamber. Cases are admissible if the court of previous instance has applied the substantive law incorrectly or has fundamentally violated the procedural rule, which may have led to an incorrect decision, and if the examination of a cassation appeal is fundamental to ensure legal certainty and the formation of uniform case law.

During her speech, Olha Bulka, the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Court, spoke about the structure of the Court's staff, as well as outlined the main directions and results of its activities.  

Lina Hubar, Head of the Division of International and Legal Cooperation, said that next year it was planned to hold two online events dedicated to the discussion of the automation of the judicial process and the introduction of the latest technologies in the work of the court, as well as the exchange of experience between the Supreme Courts of Ukraine and Estonia in the implementation of effective justice by the court of cassation instance.