Lviv RJRC discussed current issues in the field of state registration in Ukraine

On April 27, 2021, Lviv Regional Justice Reform Council (RJRC) held an extended meeting on the topic of the “State Registration: Existing Challenges and Further Development.” The legal community of the region alongside with the representatives of the Ministry of Justice HQ and the Anti-Raiding Office, together with the employees of the Western Interregional Department of Justice and the State Enterprise NAIS, as well as the experts of the EU Project Pravo-Justice discussed the security of registers and anti-raiding.

The meeting was moderated by Marta Mochulska, Lviv RJRC coordinator.

While opening the meeting, Dovydas Vitkauskas, Team Leader of the EU Project Pravo-Justice underlined how urgent the issue was for Ukraine, especially in the countdown to enactment of the law opening which opens the land market.

“The only sustainable way to resolve state registration disputes is to return the respective powers to the courts. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure better quality, security, and reliability of data in the registers. Only in this way will we achieve our common goal – clearer and more predictable property rights,” said Dovydas Vitkauskas.

Deputy Minister of Justice for State Registration Olha Onishchuk stressed the importance of professional discussions with the involvement of specialists from the regions.

“There will be challenges regardless of who handles the complaints: courts, Ministry of Justice, or another body designated by the State. Being the public body which develops and implements the state registration policy, we see as our task – our common task – to make sure there is no room for violations and no opportunities for those who want to take advantage of the victims,” said Olha Onishchuk.

Speaking about the problems that Lviv region faces, Taras Hren, Head of the Western Interregional Department of the Ministry of Justice, said the following: “We need to focus on the challenges arising now in connection with the decentralization. [...] There should be direct and strict coordination between local governments and public authorities to ensure the proper completion of this process.”

In the meantime, Head of the Anti-raiding Office Viktor Dubovik spoke about the novelties that can be expected following MoJ’s legislative initiatives, including bill No.3774, which are pending before the Verkhovna Rada, and are aimed to speed up consideration of complaints in the field of state registration.

“These changes will eliminate the remnants of legislative loopholes, which today are being used for illegal takeover of real estate and attacks on business,” said Victor Dubovik.

In particular, the bill provides that in case of encumbrances (restrictions), the Ministry of Justice may execute its own orders and thus, in case of cancellation of illegal registration actions, return the property to the rightful owner. The bill also provides for the removal of formal obstacles to the handling of complaints.

Anastasiia Kniyazieva, National Expert of the EU Project Pravo-Justice, informed the participants on the Electronic Anti-Raiding Office Project, which will operate on the basis of the Diia portal. The pilot launch is scheduled for May 2021.

“This service allows filing a complaint in electronic form and track the entire process of consideration in the Complainant’s Cabinet without making any additional appeals or inquiries to the Office,” said Anastasiia Kniazieva.

Vasyl Artymovych, Deputy President of the Economic Court of Lviv Oblast, Member of Lviv RJRC, analyzed the case law of economic courts in the field of state registration and provided statistics on the outcomes of such cases in Lviv region, while describing the practice of the Supreme Court in the field of state registration.

The participants of the discussion also stressed the need to adopt bill No. 2110 “On Public Electronic Registers”, which had been pending before the Verkhovna Rada for more than a year and is supposed to regulate the procedure for the creation and operation of electronic registers.

At the end of the discussion, the participants acknowledged the importance of such discussions and exchange of information, in order to determine strategic and operational areas of further efforts in the field of state registration.

Background:

Regional Justice Reform Councils (RJRCs) have been established with support of the EU Project Pravo-Justice and function in Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa regions and Donbas. To date, Councils members have been actively participating in drafting a bill on mediation, amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, proposals to improve legislation on enforcement proceedings, introducing e-court and discussing the concept of transitional justice.

RJRCs act as permanent working groups to promote bottom-up reforms: bringing region-specific challenges and potential solutions thereof to the level of central government.