Some issues of the development of civil procedural law of Ukraine.

Abstract

The article examines certain trends in the development of civil procedural legislation. Two main directions of changes to the Civil Code of Ukraine, which are due to European integration processes and the improvement of the implementation of electronic justice, are singled out. The latter is happening within the general digitalization of Ukrainian society. The stages of the development of electronic justice in the EU are defined. A description of electronic civil justice in Ukraine is given. Changes related to conducting court hearings in the video conference mode are considered separately. In addition, a number of other changes to the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine are analysed, as well as proposed changes designed to facilitate the provision of the right to a fair trial, in particular in the field of international judicial cooperation and the specialization of judges in the consideration of cases arising from family legal relations and related to the protection of children’s rights. The positive points in the effort to ensure access to justice, to simplify and adapt the administration of justice despite the martial law are noted. However, taking into account the isolated aspects, the conclusion of necessary changes to the legislation which reflect universal trends in the development of civil procedural law, in particular, regarding the unification of court hearings in the video conference mode, the continued improvement of electronic justice, is made. This refers to the proposal to implement the possibility of judges holding a court session outside the court premises in the mode of video conference. However, such a possibility will violate the procedure of conducting civil proceedings, the principles and guarantees of civil procedural law, in particular the confidentiality of the consultation room. It is also determined that changes regarding the specialization of judges in resolving cases involving children require clear regulations regarding the election of such specific judges and the procedure for conducting the relevant hearings. Moreover, another problem concerning the appointment of one judge is specified. In particular, it should be clarified what will the algorithm of action be when determining cases, for example, during the illness or vacation of a judge, and how to solve the issue of insufficient number of judges in practice. In order to avoid such problems, the specified mechanisms should be discussed and fixed in the civil procedural legislation. Currently, it is pointed out that any changes must be justified by the need to ensure the effectiveness of the consideration and resolution of cases, and therefore further research on the specified subject is a necessary prerequisite for this. Key words: civil process; civil procedural legislation; European integration; digitization; electronic justice; judicial cooperation; protection of children; specialization of judges; conducting court hearings in the mode of video conference.