With the support of the EU, the introduction of a single administrative procedure to simplify the relationship between the state, citizens and business was discussed

On October 22, the international conference "Administrative Procedure: A New Page in the Relations between the State, Citizens and Business" took place. During the event, the professional community, government officials and the judiciary discussed the introduction of simplified, clear and uniform rules for all types of interaction between the state, citizens and business. The conference is organized by the EU projects "PRAVO-Justice" and "Support to Comprehensive Public Administration Reform in Ukraine" (EU4PAR) in partnership with the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal, the Association for the Development of Judicial Self-Government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Bar Association with the support of the Ministry of Justice.

Today, there is no single administrative procedure in Ukraine. There are hundreds of special procedures for making administrative decisions by officials that are unpredictable and incomprehensible to citizens, businesses and potential investors. The draft law №3475 “On Administrative Procedure”, which was recommended for adoption in the second reading by the relevant Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is intended to solve this problem. The bill awaits voting in the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada.

"The government's draft Law “On administrative procedure” is almost unique, as it does not seek to expand the powers of government officials, but rather increases their responsibilities. It is a completely people-centric law that gives more rights to citizens and businesses, regardless of which public authority or local government interacts with them. It introduces uniform rules for different life situations, whether taxes, social policy issues, land transactions or licensing. Citizens need a clear and understandable algorithm that minimizes unnecessary bureaucracy and greatly simplifies obtaining administrative services. Now in Ukraine there is no such single regulation, but there should be one", – said Oleksander Banchuk, Deputy Minister of Justice.

"The adoption of the Law on Administrative Procedure will confirm Ukraine's serious intentions to introduce modern and more efficient public administration and the readiness of the public administration to treat citizens as partners. With the adoption of the bill, Ukraine will join the huge community of European Union and partner countries, which have a single administrative procedure. It is crucial that this law increases transparency and reduces opportunities for corruption in public administration. The European Union strongly supports the adoption of this law and is ready to support it during the implementation phase in Ukraine", – said Dr. Frank Paul, Advisor of the European Commission, Support Group for Ukraine (SGUA).

"Why is the Law on Administrative Procedure important? First, it lays down clear rules of the game, which do not yet exist in administrative institutions. Secondly, this law creates a basis for the public administration to realize that it is providing services to people. And that these services are similar in quality to those that citizens receive in the private sector. Third, it is an important element of public administration automation, as it is easier and more efficient to automate one standardized procedure instead of hundreds of different procedures. We hope that the adoption of the law will be an important step towards the introduction of a culture of service provision and a service culture", – commented Dovidas Vitkauskas, Team Leader of the EU Project PRAVO-Justice.

"The Law on Administrative Procedure is one of the fundamental Laws of public administration reform. A large number of Ukrainian and international experts participated in the work on the document. It now corresponds to the best practices of the EU member states, that have been repeatedly noted by experts of the OECD SIGMA Programme", – added Juris Stinka, Key Expert of the EU funded project EU4PAR.

The European Union continues to support the Government of Ukraine in implementing public administration reform as one of the priority reforms. Since 2014, the EU has allocated more than €160 million to support this reform in Ukraine. The European Union has also been supporting judiciary reform in Ukraine for a decade through consultations, training and best practices on establishing the rule of law.

Background information:

More information on the Law “On administrative procedure” (№3475): http://www.adminprocedure.org.ua/

More information on the Public Administration Reform: www.par.in.ua

Ukraine’s current Strategy of Public Administration Reform was adopted in 2016 and extends to 2021. The new Strategy of Public Administration Reform was adopted in July 2021 and extends to 2025. It aims to make the Ukrainian administration more performing by implementing European Principles of Public Administration in Ukraine.

Support to Comprehensive Reform of Public Administration in Ukraine (EU4PAR) is an EU-funded project which supports the Government of Ukraine in implementing the Strategy of Public Administration Reform. It provides advisory, capacity development and hands-on support to the Government in the implementation of Public Administration Reform. The project aims to help build accountable, capable and efficient public administration in Ukraine.

“PRAVO-Justice” is an EU-funded project which supports the reform of the judiciary, the creation of private enforcement and probation services, the creation of electronic registers and the strengthening of property rights. The project partners are the High Council of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor General's Office, the Supreme Court, the Notary Chamber and other justice institutions. The project is implemented by Expertise France. Implementation period: from January 1, 2018 to May 31, 2023.