Natalia Bernatska: MOJ developed an effective mechanism for solving the problem of non-enforcement of national courts decisions

The Ministry of Justice presented a mechanism for implementation of the decision in the case Burmych and Others v. Ukraine and the bill #іБоргамДержави (#NotoStateDebts), designed to eventually solve the problem of non-enforcement of court decisions in Ukraine. This was announced today at a press conference by the First Deputy Minister of Justice Natalia Bernatska.

She noted that the mechanism of court decisions enforcement, enshrined in the Law "On State Guarantees for the Enforcement of Court Decisions", had proven to be ineffective, since at present the State Treasury Service holds more than 171 thousand enforcement orders for almost UAH 4 billion, while there will be only UAH 500 million for these needs allocated in the 2018 budget.

"Therefore, we have developed a draft law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine to Overcome the State Debt under the Decisions of the Courts", or, more simply, the Law #NotoStateDebts. He will provide an opportunity to solve existing problems and improve the mechanism currently in force", Natalia Bernatska emphasized. In particular, the draft law provides for redistribution of expenditures from the budget program of the Ministry of Justice to the budget program of the State Treasury Service for the purpose of enforcing court decisions guaranteed by the government. This will enable doubling the number of enforced decisions and avoid additional expenses from the State Budget of Ukraine.

"Due to this funding increase, we will enforce court decisions in favor of almost 160 thousand people who are registered as priority for enforcement already in 2018", Natalia Bernatska noted.

Another innovation that protects the rights of recoverors of social benefits, the most vulnerable category of citizens, will be the establishment of priority of court decisions enforcement and increase of compensation for a long-term failure to enforce the decision of a national court from 3% to 10% of the awarded amount. However, the surcharge may not exceed one minimum salary established on the day of payment. According to her, such reimbursement should improve the situation of persons having claims for social benefits and prevent the possibility of unfair enrichment against persons who filed economic claims. She also informed the attendees that the Ministry of Justice together with colleagues from the Government and Parliament is launching the #NotoStateDebts campaign, aimed at ensuring support from all factions of the Verkhovna Rada in the adoption of this draft law.

According to the Deputy Minister of Justice Ivan Lishchyna, the overall problem of non-enforcement of decisions of national courts in Ukraine occurred mainly due to the imposition of the moratorium that prevents enforcing court decisions on certain categories of economic entities, lack of funds from state enterprises, the adoption of populist "social protection" laws, not backed up by the resources of the state budget.

"An in-depth analysis of the problem gave us the opportunity not only to introduce an ad hoc mechanism for the implementation of the decision in case Burmich and Others v. Ukraine, but also to take the first steps towards overcoming the underlying causes and developing mechanisms to prevent further human rights violations in the form of non-enforcement of court decisions," Ivan Lishchyna emphasized. "In addition, the new law will introduce a provision, which expands the powers of the state enforcement officer to determine the amount of debt under binding court decisions in the monetary equivalent, which will allow making payments with regard to such decisions," Ivan Lishchyna said.

The next steps will be the lifting of the moratorium and cancellation of other actions that impede enforcement proceedings against state-owned enterprises, the introduction of a monitoring system of the draft and current laws introducing additional benefits, as well as the assessment of the state budget resources to prevent the adoption of laws bringing forth expenditures that exceed the budget capacity, improve procedures for initiating civil proceedings against state-owned enterprises for reimbursement of funds paid from the state budget, establishment of the on-going government debt recovery monitoring system to prevent new waves of mass claims against the state.

A Member of Parliament Ruslan Sydorovych, in his turn, noted that this draft law is the first step that will launch a mechanism for changing the approaches to the payment of the state's obligations to citizens.

"Likewise, this will change the prerequisites for increasing the funding of this matter already in the budget for next year", the MP said.

According to him, the Verkhovna Rada, unfortunately, has no filter ensure the screening of the draft laws for compliance with the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

"It is extremely important that the Parliament, when adopting new laws, understands compliance with the Convention on Human Rights, the case law of the ECHR, and take into account the ability to ensure the fulfillment of the state's commitments to citizens", Ruslan Sydorovych added.

To see photos, please follow the link: https://minjust.gov.ua/galleries/pres-konferentsiya-virishennya-sistemnoi-problemi-nevikonannya-rishen-natsionalnih-sudiv-prioritet-v-roboti-minyustu-kiiv-14-chervnya-2018-roku

To watch video, please follow the link: https://minjust.gov.ua/watch/pershiy-zastupnik-ministra-yustitsii-nataliya-bernatska-pro-mehanizm-virishennya-problemi-nevikonannya-rishen-natsionalnih-sudiv