Transparency International Ukraine supports bill on the bar
This is stated in an appeal of Transparency International Ukraine to Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy and Justice Ruslan Kniazevych regarding a respective draft law, according to the Yurydychna Gazeta online newspaper.
"It became known from open sources that the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Preventing and Combatting Corruption at a meeting on November 21, 2018 recognized as corruptogenic the draft law 'On the Bar and Practice of Law' submitted by the Ukrainian president on September 6, 2018, to the Verkhovna Rada and registered as No. 9055. Since the committee's decision has not yet been made public and is not available for analysis, experts of NGO TI Ukraine conducted their own anti-corruption expertise of the draft law and evaluate it as being aimed at overcoming and preventing corruption in the practice of law as a whole and in the activities of lawyer's self-government bodies, as well as the justice system as a whole," the statement states.
According to the authors of the appeal, such a conclusion helps analyze at least ten innovations and anti-corruption measures proposed in the bill.
In particular, according to Transparency International Ukraine, the bill envisages the introduction of new principles of advocacy not provided by the current law - integrity and professional dignity, respect for the court and rules of legal proceedings, adherence to the proper standards of quality of legal assistance, and the removal of the positivist principle of legality stipulated by the law - in accordance with the new principles of legal proceedings, based on the rule of law.
According to the bill, a new procedure for access to the legal profession will be introduced through a centralized qualification examination, which will be conducted in the form of written anonymous testing to be recorded with the use of technical video and audio means, as opposed to the current non-transparent procedure, TI Ukraine said.
In addition, the document foresees the elimination of double administration of the single register of lawyers of Ukraine, which currently leads to abuse and actual deprivation of the lawyers' right to engage in advocacy outside the disciplinary procedure, as well as the settlement of a conflict of interests between different clients of one attorney, which is currently not regulated by law, the public organization said.
According to TI Ukraine, the bill proposes granting new control powers to the highest bodies of lawyer's self-government - the Congress of Advocates of Ukraine and conferences of advocates of the regions - namely the powers to cancel the decisions of executive bodies of advocacy self-government - the Council of Advocates of Ukraine and the councils of advocates of the regions.
The bill also forbids the current practice of lawyer's self-government bodies to establish contributions or other payments not provided for by law, Transparency International Ukraine said.
"Thus, NGO TI Ukraine expresses its support for draft law of Ukraine No. 9055 'On the Bar and Practice of Law' dated September 6, 2018, and requests to take into account the above in your further activity," the appeal reads.
On November 1, a round table meeting was held in the Verkhovna Rada at which, in particular, it was stated that draft Law No. 9055 was not transparent and a number of corruption risks were found in it.
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