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Publication date: 01.05.2024
The standards for staffing and financial support of courts will be discussed in the second decade of April 2024.
Changes that should remedy the situation with the remuneration of civil servants in the judiciary are still under consideration by the National Agency of Judges. This is stated in the decision of the Council of Judges of Ukraine of April 11 following consideration of the report of the acting head of the SJA Maksym Pampura.
Thus, starting from January 1, 2024, civil servants should be paid based on the classification of civil service positions and the grade system.
The Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1409 of December 29, 2023, introduced a system of remuneration for civil servants based on the classification of positions on January 1.
However, the list of typical positions within the levels of positions approved by Resolution No. 1409 does not include civil service positions, which are available only in courts, bodies and institutions in the justice system.
In view of the above, the SJA developed and sent to the Cabinet of Ministers a draft resolution "Issues of Remuneration of Civil Servants of Courts, Bodies and Institutions of the Justice System Based on the Classification of Positions in 2024", which proposed to approve a list of typical civil service positions in the justice system within the levels of positions.
After reviewing the SJA's letter, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal instructed the National Agency on Civil Service (NACS) to consider and submit the relevant draft act.
In turn, the NACS sent a draft resolution to the interested authorities for approval by letter dated February 19, 2024. At the same time, upon consideration of the said draft resolution, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance expressed comments that, in the opinion of the SAS, do not relate to the subject matter of legal regulation.
According to the extract from the minutes of the meeting of the Governmental Committee on Economic, Financial and Legal Policy dated 3.04.2024, the SAS was instructed to finalize the draft resolution. As of today, the draft resolution proposed by the SAS is with the NAUCS.
In addition, there has been no discussion at the level of the High Council of Justice on the issue of standards for staffing and financial support of the judiciary.
These standards are referred to both in the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2023-2025 and in the decision of the High Council of Justice of 20.07.2023.
The SJA's order of August 14, 2023, established a working group to develop draft standards for personnel, financial, logistical and other support of courts and approved its composition, which included representatives from the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy, the Ministry of Finance, the High Council of Justice, judicial self-government (members of the COJ), the Supreme Court, higher specialized courts, the National School of Judges, etc. This working group approved the definitions of terms defined by the members of the working group, conducted an online survey of judges, court staff and territorial offices of the SJA, and prepared an analytical report based on the results of summarizing the responses provided by the participants of the survey (885 participants). Draft standards for personnel, financial, logistical support of courts, Methodology for calculating the number of judges of courts of first instance and appellate courts, and Methodology for calculating the projected number of cases of courts of first instance and appellate courts were developed and approved at the meetings of the working group on February 15, 2024 and February 28, 2024.
Since the decision of the High Council of Justice of 12.12.2023 recommended that the Head of the SJA submit draft regulations to the HCJ no later than March 1, 2024, taking into account the position of the Ministry of Finance, the draft regulations approved at the meeting of the said working group of February 15, 2024 were sent to the Ministry of Finance for approval. The Ministry of Finance expressed its position in a letter dated February 28, 2024.
On February 29, the SAS sent the draft regulations approved by the working group to the HCJ.
On March 15, 2024, the High Council of Justice sent a copy of the SJA's letter with the draft regulations and a proposal to work on the said draft regulations within the relevant appellate district with the involvement of local courts to the appellate courts.
A similar letter was sent to the territorial departments of the SJA with a proposal to review the draft regulations and express the position of the department.
In addition, the HCJ's letters state that in the second decade of April 2024, it is planned to discuss draft standards for personnel, financial, logistical and other support.
Approval of these draft standards will directly affect the formation of the budget request for financing the needs of the courts and the completeness of the reflection of the financial needs of the judicial system, as well as ensure the allocation of budgetary resources in the judicial system based on objective and clearly defined criteria.
Thus, we can see that the current law was adopted taking into account the amendments to the legislation and the fact that a legal analysis of the situation, a analysis of the situation by a lawyer, a legal analysis of the situation and a Legal opinion were conducted,lawyer's request .
