Optimisation of the court network: Supreme Court President takes part in roundtable discussion

The active phase of reforms in Ukraine took place during the war. As early as 2014, laws were passed that allowed for changes in the territorial jurisdiction of judicial cases when it was impossible to ensure the operation of courts in certain areas due to occupation and active hostilities.

It is always difficult to implement reforms, and it is even more difficult in such a difficult period for the country. But we have no other choice, because we are fighting for our European integration choice and for a new life.

This was stated by President of the Supreme Court Stanislav Kravchenko during a roundtable discussion on ‘Optimisation of the court network in Ukraine: current status, challenges and prospects’, organised by the EU Pravo-Justice Project in cooperation with the Committee on Legal Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The President of the Supreme Court noted that the principle of territoriality enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the construction of the court system is an important guarantee of proper access to justice and resolution of court disputes within a reasonable time.

Work on optimising the network of local general courts began before the full-scale war broke out, with the main aim of balancing the workload of courts and judges and optimising the state budget for court maintenance. Unfortunately, this issue remains unresolved.

For example, in July 2020, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the new administrative and territorial structure of Ukraine, but the current court network has not been aligned with it, which raises a number of staffing, financial, material and technical issues. This also significantly hampers access to justice. In addition, most state bodies, including the Prosecutor's Office and the National Police of Ukraine, have already adapted their structures to the new administrative division of the state.  

The problem of staff shortages is currently acute throughout the country, with one third of judgeships vacant. As a result, in recent years some courts have not been able to administer justice and some have been unable to form a panel to hear a case. This not only complicates the work, but also leads to excessive duration of proceedings. Some 500 new judges are expected to be appointed by the end of this year, but this is only 10% of the actual need. In addition, the High Council of Justice receives resignations from judges on a weekly basis.

This also leads to an excessive workload for judges. Meanwhile, in 2023, courts of all jurisdictions and instances considered approximately 4.3 million proceedings.

If we do not take action and implement the reform of the court network, we risk that in a year or two a significant part of Ukraine's territory will be without judicial control. The process of European integration is now a priority, including for the Supreme Court. We are demonstrating to the European community that the judicial system works, that it considers cases and keeps the situation under control despite all the difficulties, but it is impossible to work indefinitely in the face of staff shortages. Life itself demands that we act more quickly and more decisively,' the President of the Supreme Court stressed. 

According to Stanislav Kravchenko, the process of creating a new court map, aligning it with the administrative-territorial structure and consolidating courts is only the first step. The next step should be to improve the algorithm for transferring cases, taking into account the staffing situation in each court, in order to ensure adequate access to justice and optimise the workload of judges.