Supreme Court judges participated in a rule of law seminar in Helsinki

From 29 September to 1 October 2025, a rule of law seminar was held in Helsinki, Finland, organized as part of the implementation of the Rule of Law Roadmap. The event was attended by representatives of the Supreme Court, including Larysa Rohach, President of the Commercial Cassation Court within the Supreme Court; Ihor Tkach, Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court; Volodymyr Kravchuk, Supreme Court Judge of the Administrative Cassation Court; Yurii Luhanskyi, Supreme Court Judge of the Criminal Cassation Court; Vasyl Krat, Supreme Court Judge of the Civil Cassation Court; and Olesia Lukomska, Head of the Division for Analytical and Legal Work of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Department for Analytical and Legal Work of the Supreme Court. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Parliament also joined the seminar.

The event was part of the project “Achieving Compliance and Cooperation on EU Justice Standards in Ukraine” (ACCESS-Ukraine), implemented in cooperation with Democracy Reporting International and in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland. It was conducted within the framework of the Rule of Law Roadmap, which includes a strategic outcome aimed at improving court efficiency and ensuring the consistency of judicial practice.

The rule of law seminar focused on a common theme: enhancing the effectiveness of the judiciary and ensuring uniformity in judicial practice.

During the visit, Ukrainian judges attended lectures delivered by experts from the Rule of Law Clinic on the following topics:

– an overview of initiatives to improve the quality of justice in the jurisdiction of the Rovaniemi Court of Appeal;

– reform of the district court system;

– internal mechanisms of the Supreme Court of Finland;

– transnational elements of the judicial system.

A key educational component was learning about Finland’s best practices in strengthening the coherence of judicial practice and advancing judicial reform. The discussions covered strengthening public trust in the judiciary, optimizing the structure of the court system, improving the quality of judicial decisions, and implementing electronic services.

During the seminar, Larysa Rohach, President of the Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court, delivered a presentation titled “Where are we now?”. She spoke about the current position of the Supreme Court in shaping the unity of judicial practice and the goals it aims to achieve. The judge emphasized that the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly stressed that consistency in the application of legal norms in similar legal relations is an integral element of legal certainty, which, among other things, ensures a certain degree of legal stability and helps build public trust in the judiciary. According to the President of the Commercial Cassation Court within the Supreme Court, the unity of judicial practice should lead to legal certainty and equality before the law.

Larysa Rohach cited Opinion No. 20 of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), which states that consistency of case law is not an end in itself but a tool for fostering trust in the justice system. She underscored the importance of maintaining a balance between legal certainty, judicial independence, and the development of law.

She also noted that an essential component of ensuring uniformity of case law is the publicity of judicial decisions. According to her, the Supreme Court communicates its legal positions through social media, publishes digests of the Grand Chamber’s decisions, as well as thematic and monthly reviews of Supreme Court case law highlighting the Court’s legal positions. Additionally, she drew attention to the functioning of the Supreme Court’s Legal Positions Database.

The presentation also included analytical points on improving cassation proceedings. In particular, it addressed the need to strengthen cassation filters and to grant the Supreme Court discretionary authority to decide whether to accept cases for review. She noted that it is important to build an effective system for filtering cases and distributing the judicial workload.

In addition, Larysa Rohach spoke about another tool the Supreme Court uses to ensure the unity of judicial practice - referring cases to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court, the Joint Chambers of the cassation courts, and the specialized chambers within the cassation courts.

Among the new mechanisms proposed in the presentation to promote consistency of case law were: the introduction of an inter-jurisdictional request mechanism to address divergent interpretations of legal norms by courts of different jurisdictions, and the extension of the advisory opinion mechanism in accordance with Protocol No. 16 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The speaker also highlighted the promising potential of the model case mechanism for the commercial jurisdiction.

All days of the seminar were filled with productive dialogue between Ukrainian Supreme Court judges and Finnish experts. Judge of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court Ihor Tkach and Supreme Court judges of the cassation courts Volodymyr Kravchuk, Yurii Luhanskyi, and Vasyl Krat outlined the specifics of ensuring the unity of judicial practice and applying cassation filters in their respective courts, and provided detailed insights into the consideration of cases within their areas of specialization.

Participation in the seminar contributed to enhancing the professional level of the judges, expanding their knowledge of modern approaches to organizing judicial proceedings, and strengthening cooperation with Finnish experts in this field. The parties agreed to hold future online meetings for a more detailed discussion of specific issues related to the formation of consistent case law and the organization of court operations.  

Larysa Rohach's presentation is available at https://court.gov.ua/storage/portal/supreme/prezentacii_2025/Prezent_Rogach.pdf