On March 26, 2020 an Expert discussion on improving the National Strategy №1218-р**  and its Action plan №210-р* designed to address the problem of non-execution of judgments as tools for implementing the necessary general measures to execute the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the cases “Yuriy Mykolayovych Ivanov v. Ukraine” and “Burmych and others v. Ukraine” was held. This event was organised by the Council of Europe Project “Further support for the execution by Ukraine of judgments in respect of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights” (Project) which is funded by the Human Rights Trust Fund.

The event was attended by over 40 participants: MPs and representatives of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the Pension Fund of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine, judges and representatives of the Supreme Court, the High Council of Justice, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, representatives of the civil society and international organizations, representatives and experts of the Council of Europe.

Ms Olena Lytvynenko, Deputy Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine, noted in her welcoming remarks: “We are pleased to observe the positive results achieved. In particular, we are talking about two important strategic documents adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in order to address the long-term problem of non-execution of national courts judgments, namely the relevant National Strategy and Action Plan for its implementation. It should be noted that these documents were developed in cooperation with the Project, which provided comprehensive and detailed expert recommendations on the necessary measures, which were later integrated into these official documents”.

Mr Ivan Lishchyna, Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine – Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, stressed in welcoming speech: “Implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan should be a priority. Among other things, the formation of the Commission on execution of ECtHR judgements should be the next step. Three working groups within the Commission are to ensure the implementation of the above mentioned strategic documents with regard to specific directions”.

Mr Roman Babii, Chair of the Subcommittee for the execution of the ECtHR judgments of the Committee on Legal Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine positively assessed the adoption of these strategic documents and stressed that addressing the problem of non-execution of judgments requires a coordinated effort of all branches of power. In addition, it was stated that the Parliament will further work to improve the legislative regulation of certain issues, including social legislation, moratoriums, enforcement proceedings, bankruptcy proceedings of state-owned enterprises, etc.

Mr Pavlo Pushkar, Head of Division of the Department for the Execution of Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe mentioned the challenges and obstacles that may prevent the successful implementation of the necessary measures to execute the judgments in the Ivanov/Burmich cases. He also noted several possible ways to address the problem of non-execution of judgments, namely by narrowing the state's responsibility, including reducing the state's liability for debts of individual state-owned enterprises, and applying a sectoral approach to solving the problem.

Project experts Mr Mart van de Ven and Mr Ruslan Sydorovych also made their contributions to the event. They presented the conclusions and recommendations for improving the Ukrainian strategic documents aimed at solving the problem of non-execution of national judgments and ensuring their further effective implementation. It was emphasized that the National Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation serve as a roadmap. However, only adoption of these documents is not a measure that is expected to be taken by the Council of Europe.  Without proper implementation of these strategic documents, adoption of the documents only indicates the intention to take the necessary general measures.

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Expert Discussion on Improving the National Strategy on Addressing the Problem of Non-execution of Judgments and its Action Plan became a logical continuation of the round table ‘Latest developments in the context of the general measures required for the execution of judgments of the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of “Yurii Mykolayovych Ivanov v. Ukraine” and “Burmych and Others v. Ukraine’ which was held place on March 23.

*Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On approval of the National Strategy for addressing the problem of non-execution of judgments, when debtors are a state body or state enterprise, institution, organisation, for the period up to 2022" adopted on September 30, 2020 № 1218-r, at the link: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1218-2020-%D1%80#Text

**Order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On approval of the action plan for the implementation of the National Strategy for addressing the problem of non-execution of judgments, when the debtors are a state body or state enterprise, institution, organisation, until 2022" adopted on March 17, 2021 № 210-p, at the link: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/210-2021-%D1%80#Text