On 22 November 2017, the President of Ukraine signed the law introducing substantial amendments to the Codes of Commercial, Civil and Administrative Procedure of Ukraine and certain related legal acts. Such amendments essentially result in the complete overhaul of the abovementioned procedural codes (“New Codes”). Significant amendments into the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine (“CCP of Ukraine”) have also been introduced.
New rules for commercial, civil and administrative litigation
The New Codes establish new procedures for commercial, civil and administrative litigation. Among them are the following:
- rules for commercial, civil and administrative litigation become unified to the extent possible
- sources of evidence expanded to allow electronic evidence and promote use of witness statements
- parties to litigation are allowed to engage their own expert witnesses, the judges’ authority to appoint expert examination is restricted
- settlement procedures significantly improved
For more information on the changes introduced into the commercial, civil and administrative litigation via the New Codes, please follow the link.
Court support of arbitration considerably enhanced
The New Codes also provide for significant improvements in court control and court support of arbitration. The most important ones include the following:
- corporate disputes become arbitrable subject to conclusion of arbitration agreement between the company and all its shareholders / participants
- Ukrainian courts obtain powers to issue interim measures and to obtain evidence in support of arbitration: seated not only in Ukraine but also abroad
- most of the matters related to court control of arbitration are referred to the Kyiv Appellate Court, to promote specialisation of the judges on the arbitration related matters
- the New Codes provide for more streamlined, detailed and sophisticated procedures for setting aside, as well as for recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards by the Ukrainian courts
For more information on the respective arbitration-related changes, please follow the link.
Procedure for investigation of criminal offences amended
Several significant amendments concerning conduct of pre-trial investigation of criminal offences are introduced into the CCP of Ukraine. In particular, these amendments relate to the following:
- deadlines for pre-trial investigations have been introduced (previously investigations were literally timeless until a notice of suspicion was served on a suspect)
- expert examination may be appointed exclusively by an investigating judge
- requirements to an application for a search order and conduct of search tightened
- a notice of suspicion becomes subject to appeal
For more information on the changes introduced into the CCP of Ukraine, please follow the link.
Additional notes
For further information on the topic please contact Mykola Stetsenko, Managing Partner, Glib Bondar, Senior Partner, Dmytro Marchukov, Partner, or by telephone +380 44 591-3355 or via e-mail.
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Holodomor Posters
Avellum, Kyiv, Ukraine, 
