The presentation of the program of qualification assessment for vacant positions of judges to the Supreme Court took place at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center
On 11 January 2017 with the participation of Mr. Andrii Kozlov and Mr. Taras Lukash, the Members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, the presentation of the program of qualification assessment for vacant positions of judges to the Supreme Court was held at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center.
The event was also attended by the president of the Ukrainian Bar Association Mr. Denys Buhai and Coordinator of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine” Mr. Dovydas Vitkauskas. During the presentation following issues were discussed: special verification of the candidates for vacant positions of judges to the Supreme Court; anonymous written test, and what candidates are expected to know; practical task: what abilities and skills should candidates have; peculiarities of the testing process for personal moral and psychological abilities and general skills of candidates; what can be expected from the verification of the judicial dossier.
The UBA President Mr. Denys Buhai, who was the moderator of the event, noted the unexampled openness of the Commission in all matters relating to the competition to the new Supreme Court.
The Members of the Commission reported that candidates for vacant positions of judges to the Supreme Court would have written tests on 30 January 2017 and on 2 February 2017 the practical tasks will be performed. Further the personal moral and psychological qualities and the IQ of candidates will be tested, followed by the interviewing of each candidate. Final results will be published in March on the official website of the Commission.
Mr. Andrii Kozlov, the Member of the Commission said, that all tests are depersonificated. From almost 1,500 candidates who applied for electronic registration to the Commission to take part in the competition to the Supreme Court, proper admission was received only by 653 participants.
The test consists of 120 questions, each of which contains 4 possible answers. Testing will lasts 4 hours. “Testing is anonymous. We have taken actions to prevent any manipulations with the booklets like re-sticking of identification codes. Each candidate will learn about his unique code only when he gets his examination task”, Mr. Andrii Kozlov has noticed. As an example, some questions without given answers were published on the official website of the Commission.
Mr. Andrii Kozlov has also informed that questions base would be further supplemented and improved. During the testing process the usage of legal acts, phones and laptops will be prohibited. Immediately prior to the testing, each candidate will be assigned a unique code. During checking of examination papers a complete anonymity of a candidate will be kept.
According to Mr. Taras Lukash, the Member of the Commission, the results of written anonymous test will be calculated by computer via reading marks on the answer sheet, which should be expressive and straightforward to ensure right check by computer. The questions for the competition were prepared and reviewed by external experts. “The Commission didn’t prepare questions. There was created a special group of experts. Tests have been passed through 4 reviews, and the cross-reviewing of the questions was held in the group,” - said a Member of the High Qualification Commission. According to Mr. Kozlov, the majority of the test questions concerns topic within specialization chosen by the candidate, the rest of the questions relates to the constitutional law, anti-corruption legislation and the European Court of Human Rights decisions.
The second part of assessment consists of a practical task, which aims to see the legal personality of a future judge. “It is important to determine the ability of the candidate to create a source of law. The candidate’s abilities to organize and processing the information will be discovered as well as abilities of the wording of their position, breaking the problems, finding gaps in the legislation. Clarity and predictability of decisions are crucial for the understanding of the process by the parties and by observers of the process, by members of society. It is always important to understand why one argument is reasonable and another one is not. The understanding of justice isn’t less important than the justice itself, "- said Mr. Dovydas Vitkauskas, coordinator of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”.
According to Mr. Taras Lukash court decisions of the first instance and appellate instance court’s decision plus cassation complaint together with a descriptive part will be given to candidates. Candidates are expected to prepare judgment of the Supreme Court with incentive and operative parts in five hours. During the preparation printed regulations, resolutions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, newsletters of the courts may be used. The results will be examined by the Commission. At this stage, the assessment also remains depersonificated. The maximum number of points that a candidate can receive for a fulfilling of practical tasks is 120.
Mr. Dovydas Vitkauskas, coordinator of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine” focused attention on a set of criteria to be met by a candidate. He also noted that during the preparatory phase there was a question: “How a candidate should write a draft decision: as the Supreme Court of Ukraine does it now or to develop a new approach, which the Supreme Court will benefit in the future?” As a result, the parties of discussion concluded that the right approach should be the second one.
Maximum score the candidate can get when his moral and psychological qualities and general skills are tested is 200 points. In accordance with the results of personal moral and psychological qualities and general ability test, psychologist prepares his professional opinion. The Commission at this stage doesn’t participate; the results of this part will not be published.
The process of qualification assessment of a candidate ends by interviewing, during which the Commission will use the materials contained in the dossier.
