Courts of the first instance and courts of appeal were reformed

Courts of the first instance and courts of appeal were reformed

On 29 December 2017, the President signed a range of decrees, reforming the courts of the first instance and courts of appeal.

Thus, under the Decree No. 449/2017 117 district courts in towns of regional significance were liquidated, and 50 district courts were established instead.

Decree No. 450/2017 substitutes the city and city district courts in Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Zaporizhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Luhansk, Odesa, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Kherson and Cherkasy regions with circuit courts.

With another Decree No. 451/2017 205 circuit courts were established by the merger of district, city and city district courts.

Decree No. 452/2017 liquidates regional courts of appeal and establishes courts of appeal in circuits.

Also, pursuant to Decree No. 453/2017 27 economic courts in regions, Kyiv and Sevastopol were reformed as 27 relevant circuit economic courts.

By Decree No. 454/2017 Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Rivne, Sevastopol and Kharkiv economic courts of appeal are liquidated, and Eastern, Central, Southern, South-Western, Northern, North-Western and Western economic courts of appeal are established within appellate circuits.

In addition, Decree No. 455/2017 liquidates Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Sevastopol administrative courts of appeal and introduces administrative courts of appeal in circuits.

As regards to the judicial reform, the only court of cassation in Ukraine shall be the Supreme Court operating as of 15 December.