Perspectives for Development of Electronic Justice in Ukraine

The article is devoted to the actual problem of trends in changes in the legal regulation of justice in Ukraine. The purpose is to analyse the changes that have occurred in the justice system, their impact on the further improvement of the justice system. During the research, general and specialized scientific methods were used to perform the tasks, in particular, the historical and hermeneutical method was used to study the trends of introducing changes in the legal regulation of justice in Ukraine, the method of formal logic and system analysis for the correctness of amendments to the legislation, the method of scientific analysis, the system method was used in the study of relationships between normative acts. As a results of the study, previously documented violation of the requirements of legislative engineering by the law of Ukraine “About the judiciary and status of judges” from the 2.06.2016 year. It is pointed out that the parliament initially voted for and only after that approved amendments to the Constitution (regarding justice). In fact, the law was adopted for the previous wording of the Constitution of Ukraine. By the decree of the President of Ukraine of 20 May 2015, the strategy of reforming the judicial system, judicial and allied legal institutes was approved for 2015–2020, which provides for the implementation of reforms in two stages. The first is to update the legislation, and the second one – in systemic changes to the Constitution of Ukraine and complex building of institutional capacities of the respective legal institutions in Ukraine. Conclusion. Positive trends of amending the legal regulation of the administration of justice in Ukraine mark the adaptation of the legislation on the judiciary to the international requirements, adoption of the law of Ukraine “About the judicial system and status of judges”, “About the High Council of Justice”, “About the Constitutional Court of Ukraine”, amending the Constitution of Ukraine to the powers of the President of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on justice, improvement of procedural codes in accordance with international standards, return of powers to the Supreme Court, establishment of the Supreme anticorruption court and adoption of the law of Ukraine “About the Supreme anticorruption court”.

The main goal of Ukraine in the direction of integration into the European Union is the adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to the legislation of the European Union, the gradual adoption and implementation of regulations of Ukraine, developed taking into account the legislation of the European Union. The state policy of Ukraine on the adaptation of legislation is formed as an integral part of legal reform in Ukraine and is aimed at ensuring common approaches to rule-making, mandatory consideration of European Union legislation in rule-making, etc. The purpose of the article is to determine the content of the concept and system of European standards of the judiciary and the status of judges, which can be applied in the legislation of Ukraine, taking into account the peculiarities of the judicial system. The article deals with the legal nature of standards, so the following definition is formulated: a legal standard is a set of rules of conduct of entities in a particular area, established by regulations. When applying European standards in the field of the judiciary and the status of judges, the following must be taken into account: the standard must be regulated by international law and enshrined in Ukrainian law; may be mandatory or recommended; a single approach to the content of this standard will ensure the unity of case law. The article proposes a system of European standards of the judiciary and the status of judges, which consists of two groups: 1) generally accepted European standards, mandatory European standards; 2) special European standards in the field of the judiciary and the status of judges, those of a recommendatory nature. The importance of adhering to European standards in the field of the judiciary and the status of judges, as well as their impact on judicial practice in democracies, is difficult to overestimate. Their comprehensive implementation in the judiciary is relevant, as it ensures the democratic development of Ukraine and the rule of law. The existence of a unified approach to defining the content of the concept, the system of European standards, their enshrinement in international and European legal acts will ensure the unity of case law.

The article analyses the main aspects of justice in Ukraine. It is noted that the justice system is a crucial element of the national legal protection mechanism, and the level of its legitimacy is an indicator of the effectiveness of its functioning through the prism of Article 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine, which states that the establishment and ensuring of human rights and freedoms is the main duty of the State and determines the content and focus of its activities, in particular, ensuring the right to a fair trial for everyone. The article analyses the main aspects of the Decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine (NSDC) "On Accelerating Judicial Reform and Overcoming Corruption in the Justice System" No.359/2023 dated 23 June 2023, which marks a strategic step in improving the judicial system of Ukraine. In general, this NSDC Decision reflects Ukraine's aspirations for a fair and independent judiciary, which is a key factor in building a just and lawful society. The term justice is defined − is the principle and system of ensuring the observance of law and justice in society through the consideration of court cases and the issuance of decisions on the basis of established laws and norms of law. The article presents the term "justice" in three main meanings of its interpretation. The author identifies the main components of justice in Ukraine, which are designed to ensure the observance of justice, rights and freedoms of citizens. They are based on the principles of democracy and the rule of law.

Problem setting. The adoption in Ukraine of the “National Economic Strategy for the period up to 2030” (hereinafter – the “Strategy - 2030”) encourages a comprehensive analysis of the implementation of previous programs and sectoral “strategies” and “concepts” completed in 2020 and the development of ways to implement certain sections of the strategic course of economic development of the state, in particular their transformation into judicial legislation. The approach of the authors-developers of the “Strategy - 2030” and the selection as one of the key areas of “rule of law” with the goal of “ensuring fair justice in Ukraine based on the rule of law, protection of human rights and freedoms, individuals and legal entities “is commendable”, while emphasizing the problem of “ low level of trust in the judiciary”; “Imperfection of electronic services in the activities of courts” and “only partial introduction of electronic justice”. That is why the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development intends to launch a project in Ukraine in 2021 to establish online courts. The implementation of such an innovative program creates the preconditions for the reality of the announced state course on the “court in a smartphone” and stimulates urgent measures to develop a regulatory framework for the implementation of grand strategic plans. The purpose of the article is to study the relationship between innovation processes in the economy with the introduction of the Ukrainian model of e-court and find ways to digitize access to justice while developing proposals for ways to transform the provisions of “Strategy - 2030” into specific bills due to the introduction of modern information technologies. Analysis of resent researches and publications shows that until 2021, researchers of innovation and ways to improve economic development did not link these processes with the state of the rule of law, not to mention the relationship with the introduction of electronic justice . The works of V. Bilous, O. Bryntsev, I. Bogolyubsky, O. Golovchenko, N. Golubeva, I. Izarova, A. Kalamaiko, N. Kushakova - Kostytska, N. Loginova and others are devoted to the issue of introduction of modern information and communication technologies in the Ukrainian judiciary with analyzes of certain aspects of digitalization of courts of Ukraine. Article’s main body. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the practice of adopting various sectoral strategies and concepts, the need for proper regulation of procedures for the development and adoption of program documents is emphasized. At the same time, the previously expressed proposal supported the strategy of socio-economic development of the country to understand the formed for the long term certain areas of economic and legal development of the country. Building a sustainable e-government system in the country is the key to the simultaneous development of e-court as one of the key components of the overall digitalization of society. Among the main problems is the absolute unpreparedness of the existing legal framework for the introduction of artificial intelligence in court proceedings and the emphasis on the validity of legislative adjustments to the e-court system in Ukraine. Conclusions. In essence, they are reduced to organizational proposals for the formation of a research unit in the Academy of Legal Sciences of Ukraine, which would study artificial intelligence in the judiciary and develop programs of information technology support of e-court in Ukraine and specialized programs for digitization of judicial activity. At the same time, the need to complete the formation of the structure of courts and judicial jurisdictions has been further substantiated by developing amendments to the procedural legislation regarding the national model of judicial precedent.

One of the key aspects of the development of electronic administrative justice in Ukraine is its compliance with European standards, which define important principles, methods, and recommendations aimed at ensuring the efficiency, accessibility, and quality of judicial activities in a digital environment. That is why the purpose of this article is to analyze European standards and foreign experience in the field of electronic administrative justice and the possibility of their implementation in national legislation. The conduct of this research is extremely important and relevant, as it will help to adapt the Ukrainian judicial system to international standards and norms. The methodological basis of the research is a set of general scientific and special methods of cognition, namely the methods of dialectics, comparative law, system-structural, formal-logical, etc. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that significant attention should be paid to the protection of personal data, confidentiality, information security, as well as ensuring access to justice, impartiality, independence of judges, and justice. The article also highlights the experience of implementing information and telecommunications technologies in the system of administrative justice in such European Union member states as Estonia, Lithuania, and Austria, as well as Korea and China. It is noted that in these countries, electronic justice has become an important part of justice, and in view of this, the key aspects of their experience that can be useful for Ukraine are revealed. In addition, a comparative analysis of foreign and domestic experience in the functioning of electronic justice was carried out and the main reasons that slow down its development in Ukraine were identified. It has been proven that the involvement of advanced experience and best practices of foreign countries will significantly contribute to the successful implementation of electronic administrative justice in Ukraine. At the same time, it is important to take into account the unique context, capabilities, and needs of the national judicial system.

Growing concerns about the credibility of scientific findings have sparked a debate on new transparency and openness standards in research. Management and organization studies scholars generally support the new standards, while emphasizing the unique challenges associated with their implementation in this paradigmatically diverse discipline. In this study, I analyze the costs to authors and journals associated with the implementation of new transparency and openness standards, and provide a progress report on the implementation level thus far. Drawing on an analysis of the submission guidelines of 60 empirical management journals, I find that the call for greater transparency was received, but resulted in implementations that were limited in scope and depth. Even standards that could have been easily adopted were left unimplemented, producing a paradoxical situation in which research designs that need transparency standards the most are not exposed to any, likely because the standards are irrelevant to other research designs.

Background: The paper offers the analysis of implementation of legal certainty principle and access to justice in Ukraine. Both are regarded in connection to the rule of law principle; their coordination is shown in cases when the application of rule of law is required to patch the holes of imperfect judicial system facing the challenges of the ongoing war. Methods: The methods of legal reasoning and analysis are used to present the main approaches to legal certainty principle as well as to the access to justice. Additionally, with the help of comparative method their meaning and influence on the legal practice are established. The method of analogy is used to predict the possible solutions in order to improve access to justice in Ukraine. Results and Conclusions: Legal certainty is an element of the rule of law, it provides predictability in legal regulation, the clarity of legal norms, and demands the propriate way of legal acts enforcement as well as prohibits retroactivity. It challenges respect to the legitimate expectations and provides stability in legal regulation. The improvement in the application of the right to access to justice is beneficial for the legal certainty and vice versa. When legal certainty is violated due to the gap in legislation, unclarity of legal norms or controversy of legislative provisions and violated rights of the claimant could be restored, if the right of access to court is fully guaranteed. It is stated that res judicata, a requirement for legal certainty is a demand that is also common to access to justice.

The article considers an important problem – the creation of an autonomous system of administrative courts as a means and an opportunity to unload local general courts by refusing to consider administrative cases in these courts. The role and place of each judicial link in the system of administrative legal proceedings is determined. The main issue is to regulate the effectiveness of the lawsuit. The problem of the effectiveness of the lawsuit has been repeatedly considered in the works of Ukrainian scientists, but the effectiveness parameters are still not clearly defined. The issue of judicial jurisdictions (administrative, economic and general) is also subject to justification and a clearer delineation. The practice of consideration by general district courts of administrative cases or the so-called public law disputes raises many questions. That is, we are talking about the functioning of common courts of the first link at the same time as criminal, civil and administrative. The author makes a proposal to establish on the basis of district administrative courts in each regional center of appeal. At the same time, the local courts should be the newly created inter-district courts, the jurisdiction of which should extend to at least 3 adjacent regions. The article argues the feasibility of reforming the Supreme Court as a cassation instance. The proposal of the parliamentarians to reduce the Supreme Court by 100 judicial units before a real reform of administrative proceedings will not result. We do not see what the composition of the Cassation Administrative Court will be, what its procedural powers will be, and the like. However, by signing an association agreement with the EU, Ukraine has committed itself to adapt its legislation to the level of European standards, including in terms of legislation on the judicial system, legal proceedings and the status of judges. And above all, this concerns compliance with the requirements of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms regarding the independence and impartiality of the court.

The development of administrative legal proceedings in Ukraine determines the search for optimal ways to improve the system. Each country has its own strategy for the functioning of administrative justice, which depends on cultural, historical, national, integration processes, as well as the gradual formation of the legal system of a particular state. The main purpose of the study is to analyse the Italian experience of the administrative justice functioning. To achieve this goal, various theoretical methods are used. The method of legal forecasting allowed to identify areas for improvement of administrative justice in Ukraine. The author presents the concept and features of administrative justice operation in Italy in matters of protection of violated rights, freedoms and interests of individual and citizen by decisions, actions and omissions of the authorities; analyses the system and structure of administrative justice in Italy, its specialisation; features of some categories of public law disputes and delimitation of jurisdiction of administrative courts and general courts in resolving certain categories of administrative cases, features of their reading in administrative courts of Italy of first and appellate instance; powers of the Italian State Council in resolving public law disputes, and powers of quasi-judicial tribunals of Italy, which perform the functions of justice. It is revealed that the administrative courts of Italy are empowered with the rights to assess the activities of public administration. Based on the experience of other countries, including Italy, we can conclude that a well-built system of administrative justice can help protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens and the rule of law. But it is important not only to focus on foreign countries, but also to take into account the peculiarities of the legal system of Ukraine

This article focuses on and weighs the main benefits and risks of introducing and deploying technological instruments for justice, as well as their potential effect on fairness. The replacement with and complementary use of technological solutions in light of their application in the judicial system in the digital age are considered. The explicit and implicit risks that arise from the introduction and deployment of technology instruments are analysed. Taking an axiological approach that assumes the a priori value of human rights, justice, and the rule of law, we evaluate the main dangers that the use of technological solutions in the justice system entails. With the help of formal legal and comparative legal methods, as well as the analysis of scientific literature and contextual analysis of open sources on the capabilities of artificial intelligence and the bias of algorithms, the article fills in the gaps regarding the potential of technology to improve access to justice and the use of algorithms in decision-making. It is noted that some technological solutions, as well as the usual behaviour of all actors in the digital era, change the nature of interactions, including those in the justice system. The question of the possibility of algorithmic justice is considered from the standpoint of fairness and non-discrimination. The article shows how the use of algorithms can improve procedural fairness but emphasises a careful and balanced approach to other elements of fairness.

The right to appeal to a court, including an administrative one, is one of the key rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. Apart from the general constitutional right to judicial protection, Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine No. 1402-VIII “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” dated June 2, 2016, guarantees everyone the protection of their rights, freedoms, and interests within a reasonable time by an independent, impartial, and fair court established by law. Considering the relevance of this study, its purpose was to establish the main reasons for improper recognition of the legal status of all participants in administrative proceedings at the legislative level. The study used a set of methods and techniques of scientific cognition. The principal ones are as follows: the dialectical method, which determines the essence and content of the administrative legal status of Ukrainian citizens, foreign citizens, and stateless individuals; the comparative legal method, with the application of which the Ukrainian and foreign regulatory framework governing the status of foreign citizens and stateless individuals were compared; the formal legal method, which, together the method of logical analysis, allowed comprehensively investigating the modern system of legal norms that establish administrative procedural legal personality and the procedure for citizens and subjects of authority to exercise their rights and duties in an administrative court; the logical-semantic method allowed developing proposals for improving the legislation of Ukraine in the field of administrative proceedings. It was stated that access to justice for every person is ensured according to the Constitution of Ukraine and according to the procedure established by the laws of Ukraine. However, along with the guaranteed right to appeal to the court of foreigners, stateless individuals (refugees, migrants, immigrants), such a category of subjects of administrative proceedings as stateless individuals stayed outside the limits of Ukrainian legislation. The paper considered the administrative legal status of Ukrainian citizens, foreign citizens, and stateless individuals as subjects of administrative proceedings. To eliminate the shortcomings of the legislative regulation of the legal status of stateless individuals in Ukraine, the author concluded that it is necessary to eliminate the existing deficiency by amending the Law of Ukraine No. 3773-V “On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Individuals” dated September 22, 2011. The practical value of the obtained results is that the theoretical propositions, conclusions, and proposals formulated in the article can be used: in the research field (for further developments aimed at investigating the issues of administrative justice in Ukraine), in the law-making field (to improve the current legislation of Ukraine), in the field of law enforcement (to improve the activities of administrative courts, state executive authorities, local self-government bodies), in the field related to ensuring the rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities.

The article analyzes the principles of administrative justice in Ukraine, the main function of which is to promote domestic justice to ensure the realization of citizens' rights and freedoms, as well as the responsibilities imposed on participants in the trial. The existing concepts of principles existing in the special legal literature are considered in fragments. The important role of the principles of administrative justice in protecting the rights and legitimate interests of foreigners and stateless persons is noted. The principles of administrative justice established by the Constitution of Ukraine, the Law of Ukraine «On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges» and the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine are analyzed. Attention is paid to the problematic aspects of ensuring the principle of using the native language in court proceedings and the principle of free legal aid in resolving cases in the administrative court.
 It is noted that at present, when considering cases in court with the participation of foreigners and stateless persons, the state does not fully ensure compliance with the principle of using the native language in court proceedings. This principle, along with the principle of free legal aid in resolving cases in the administrative court, are of paramount importance. However, the state is not yet able to fully ensure the implementation of these principles in litigation involving foreigners and stateless persons. Despite the existing problematic issues, during the consideration of an administrative case it is necessary to adhere to these principles, the implementation of which gives legitimacy to court decisions, and ignoring them leads to a violation of the rights of the individual to judicial protection.

The article is devoted to the study of the problem of establishing age restrictions for persons holding judicial positions and their impact on the quality of justice in Ukraine. It is shown that in modern conditions of martial law in Ukraine, there is an acute shortage of judges, which negatively affects the state of judicial administration. One of the factors leading to this is the automatic termination of judicial powers by persons who have reached the maximum age of holding the office of a judge established by law. It has been proven that the age of a judge, more than 65 years old, under the condition of proper mental and physical health, is rather an advantage, rather than a disadvantage compared to judges of a young age, given the acquired experience and high professionalism. A comparative analysis of the norms of the current legislation regarding age restrictions for the positions of judges and other authorities was carried out. Based on the study of the experience of foreign countries, a tendency towards a high age limit for the position of judge in order to terminate their powers was revealed. It was established that the most acceptable for Ukraine is the experience of the USA, where there are no age restrictions for holding the position of a judge. It was concluded that holding the office of a judge without age restrictions contributes to the elimination of the personnel shortage of judges, the preservation of an experienced and highly professional corps of judges. Attention was drawn to the fact that the forced dismissal of a judge on the basis of an age limit bears signs of discrimination in the labor sphere. It is proposed to make appropriate changes to the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” regarding the removal of restrictions on the tenure of a judge by age and the establishment of control over the state of their mental and physical health. To do this, stipulate the duty of judges (regardless of their age) to undergo medical examinations once every five years, including in drug and psychiatric institutions, and to attach to the materials of their judicial file documents of the established form on the state of physical and mental health.

Problem setting. Legal regulation is an integral component of the administrative and legal mechanism for ensuring the functioning of juvenile justice, through which the state regulates relevant social relations through law and the totality of legal means. Recent research and publications analysis. The following Ukrainian scientists tried to conceptually solve these issues: Ya. Kvitka, V. Levchenko, O. Maksimenko, N. Lesko, I. Ishchenko, O. Navrotsky. Paper objective. The purpose of the study is to obtain scientific and applied results on the presentation of options for legislative support of juvenile justice in other countries and to formulate proposals for improving the administrative and legal regulation of juvenile justice in Ukraine. Paper main body. The analysis of the legislation of other countries indicates that there are several conditional models of legal regulation of the peculiarities of ensuring the rights of the child in the exercise of juvenile justice. This division is based on the following criteria, such as the existence of a law in the country that establishes the general principles of the judicial and extrajudicial, administrative and legal protection of children’s rights; the existence of a separate law on juvenile justice, which codifies all the rules of law that determine the peculiarities of criminal proceedings against children; the existence of a separate law on juvenile justice, but which establishes the general principles of the operation of juvenile justice, public administration in this area, prevention of offenses, etc. Conclusions of the research. The expediency of adopting the Law on Juvenile Justice in Ukraine, which, in its content, will mainly be an act of administrative and legal nature, the Law «On Ensuring the Rights of the Child in Ukraine», the Law «On the Ombudsman of Ukraine» is substantiated. Keywords: child, minor, legal regulation, administrative law, juvenile justice, justice.

[full article, abstract in English, abstract in Russian]
 During the reform of 2014–2017 Ukrainian legislation was approved significantly, among them the Constitution, laws, related to judiciary and litigation, enforcement as well. The advocacy reform is last. This has led to the evolutionary renewal of justice in Ukraine, which was positively faced by the international community. This article proposes to consider some components of civil justice reform, which were substantially updated, as well as to analyse their compliance with international and European standards. This refers to (1) a general review of judicial statistics and (2) new approaches to the trial of a court of first instance – order, simplified, general proceedings, criteria for demarcation of civil cases (3), and (4) peculiarities of settling a dispute with the participation of a judge. The conclusions summarize the most progressive results of reforms, as well as make suggestions on further development of the potential of civil justice.