Ensuring compliance of the criminal justice legislation with the Council of Europe standards and best practices is among the priorities of the Organization’s assistance to Ukraine. This is achieved trough providing Council of Europe expertise to the important legal initiatives in the criminal justice area. Such expertise helps Ukrainian authorities to fulfil statutory obligations of Ukraine as a member of the Council of Europe.

On 21 September 2020, the Council of Europe held a meeting with the representatives of the Law Enforcement Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. During the meeting the parties reconfirmed the will to maintain a constructive dialogue between the Committee and the Council with the aim to facilitate effective reform of the criminal justice sector in line with the Council of Europe standards. It was agreed, inter alia, that the Council of Europe will provide expert assessment of recent legal initiatives regarding the functioning of the Public Prosecution System of Ukraine and conduct an analysis of first three months of implementation of the criminal misdemeanours to track any potential areas which may require further legislative changes.