On 8-9 November 2023, a two-day approbation of the training course for judges "Application of the principle of legal certainty in administrative proceedings, including in the context of legitimate expectations regarding social benefits" was held in Lviv. The event took place within the framework of the Council of Europe projects "Support to the functioning of justice in the war and post-war context in Ukraine" and "Enhanced social protection in Ukraine" in cooperation with the National School of Judges of Ukraine.
During opening remarks, Tetiana Fuley, the Head of the Department of scientific research of judicial issues and scientific and methodological support of judicial education of the National School of Judges of Ukraine, and Oleh Zaverukha, the Head of the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal, addressed the importance of the topic of legal certainty as an element of the rule of law.
Iryna Kushnir, the Manager of the Council of Europe project "Support to the functioning of justice in the war and post-war context in Ukraine", noted that the present course for judges is a new stage in the study of the European Convention on Human Rights: not in the context of a specific right, but according to the principle which is crosscutting for the entire Convention. The training course also covers certain issues related to social rights.
Siuzanna Mnatsakanian, the Senior Officer of the Council of Europe project "Enhanced social protection in Ukraine", emphasized the important role of the European Social Charter and the case law of the European Committee of Social Rights when dealing with cases regarding legal certainty in the context of social benefits.
The first participants of the course were the judges of the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal, Volyn District Administrative Court, Zakarpattia District Administrative Court, Ivano-Frankivsk District Administrative Court, Lviv District Administrative Court, Rivne District Administrative Court, Ternopil District Administrative Court.
The training covered the following topics:
- Legal certainty as an element of the rule of law;
- Application of the principle of legal certainty in the administrative proceedings;
- The quality of the law as an element of legal certainty;
- Legitimate (justified) expectations;
- Limitation of social benefits in the context of legitimate expectations.
We would like to remind you that this summer a delegation of Ukrainian judges-trainers visited Vilnius during the development of a course on issues of legal certainty and legitimate expectations in the context of social benefits.
