According to part one of Article 72 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, in order to participate in the selection process, a candidate for the position of a judge must submit, inter alia, a declaration of a person authorized to perform the functions of the state or local self-government.
Military personnel and persons in respect of whom financial control measures are organized and carried out in accordance with the procedure determined by the National Agency on Corruption Prevetion (hereinafter - the National Agency) and in a manner that makes it impossible to disclose the affiliation of such persons with the relevant state bodies or military formations may also participate in the selection. The declarations of these persons shall be removed from the public access of the Unified State Register of Declarations of Persons Authorized to Perform State or Local Government Functions (hereinafter - Register).
Parts seven to fourteen of Article 45 of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” (hereinafter - Law) define the list of declaring entities whose declarations are not publicly available.
According to the National Agency’s explanations, if there are circumstances provided for in parts seven to fourteen of Article 45 of the Law, the National Agency will apply protection measures to a person who has not previously been a declarant, until the declaration is submitted, if that person creates an account in the Register.
After creating an account, the candidate applies to the person (initiator of the submission) who has the right to submit to the National Agency a submission to remove the declaration from the public part of the Register. The list of such persons is defined in clause 3 of the Procedure for Removing the Declaration of a Person Authorized to Perform the Functions of the State or Local Self-Government from Public Access, approved by Order of the National Agency on Corruption Prevention №. 221/23 dated October 12, 2023 (hereinafter - Procedure).
Please be informed that the initiator of the submission with respect to the declaration subjects specified in parts seven (except for persons referred to in paragraphs 1-4), nine to fourteen of Article 45 of the Law, from among the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (except for persons seconded to other bodies (institutions, enterprises) is the Chief (Deputy Chief) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (subparagraph 5 of paragraph 3 of the Procedure).
Pursuant to clause 8 of the Procedure, in case of receipt of a submission from a person referred to in clause 3 of this Procedure, the National Agency applies protection measures to the person specified in the submission (except when the submission is left without consideration on the grounds specified in clause 9 of the Procedure), after which the declarations and other documents submitted to the Register will not be displayed in the public part of the Register.
The declaring entity may apply to the initiator of the application for protective measures even after the candidate’s declaration has been submitted.
Judicial candidates who have previously filed declarations, if there are grounds for removing their declarations from the public part of the Register, have the right to apply to the initiator of the application for appropriate protection measures in the same manner.