26 million court decisions may be "at risk" due to one name: the Rada identified a problem in UJICS
Modern judiciary in Ukraine is impossible without automation, yet digitalization itself has become a source of unprecedented legal risk. As noted in the Verkhovna Rada, by 2026 a rather controversial situation has developed, the roots of which go back to 2017 when the implementation of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System began. In 2022, the Verkhovna Rada decided to replace the word "telecommunication" with "communication" in all procedural codes.
Thus, procedural codes operate with the concept of the "Unified Judicial Information and Communication System" (UJICS), while similar changes were not synchronously made to the Criminal Code, specifically Article 376-10, and laws on the judiciary. As a result, the High Council of Justice has not approved the Regulations on UJICS for over two years, citing the absence of relevant powers in the profile law.
Therefore, courts found themselves in a situation where they use a system whose name in the Criminal Code does not correspond to the system’s name, interference with which entails criminal liability.
To correct the situation, bill 15447 was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, proposing to eliminate the inconsistency between procedural codes.
The explanatory note states that this situation allegedly calls into question the legality of all court compositions determined by automated distribution after January 1, 2024, and therefore this may be grounds for canceling court decisions made by an unlawful court composition.
The author also claims that this may concern a significant number of court decisions of the High Anti-Corruption Court and its Appeals Chamber. The document asserts that the Unified State Register of Court Decisions may contain over 26 million decisions that, according to the bill’s author, could potentially be challenged on these grounds.
The explanatory note also emphasizes the need to establish deadlines within which the High Council of Justice must approve the relevant regulations after the law comes into force.
Editorial note: at the same time, the conclusions presented in the explanatory note regarding the illegality of the court composition and claims about the possibility of canceling millions of court decisions represent the author’s position as stated in the explanatory note and are not an official conclusion of the Verkhovna Rada, the High Council of Justice, or judicial practice.
What is proposed to be changed?
The bill proposes to align the terminology of the Criminal Code by replacing the mention of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System with the Unified Judicial Information and Communication System and/or provisions defining the functioning of its separate subsystems (modules).
Although the project proposes changes to part one of Article 376-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the author also stresses the need to promptly adopt amendments to the laws "On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges" and "On the High Council of Justice," which will allow the HCJ to approve the relevant regulations on UJICS and, in his opinion, eliminate the existing legal uncertainty.
In addition, the explanatory note proposes improving the regulation of criminal liability for submitting false or untimely information to UJICS and its separate subsystems, as well as, prospectively, unifying electronic document flow in courts to reduce costs and speed up case consideration.
According to the bill’s author, eliminating the legislative collision will allow the HCJ to approve the necessary regulations on UJICS, more actively apply criminal liability for manipulations with judicial information systems, and create conditions for introducing a unified electronic document flow in justice bodies, which should reduce budget expenditures.
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