The state should outsource court decision enforcement – Ruslan Sidorovych, MP

Oct 01, 2018 | Justice

September 05, 2018

Original in Ukrainian: Yuridicheskaya Praktika

Panel discussion “Achievements and Prospects of Ukraine in the Court Decisions Enforcement” of the III International Forum on Enforcement Proceedings continues its work. PEO from Serbia, international expert of the EU Pravo-Justice Project, Damir Site noted that the state must ensure the enforcement of judgments so that they do not remain just an illusion. The right to have a court decision enforced is one of the unalienable human rights. He emphasized that most European countries are in transition to the private enforcement system.

As for the interaction of private and state enforcement officers, Oleksandr Sivokozov, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Private Enforcement Officers of Ukraine, was quite laconic: there is no such interaction. A number of issues arise when transferring enforcement documents from the state to the private enforcement officer, or when lifting the property arrest. According to Mr. Sivokozov, one of the most important problems is the security of the private enforcement officer. At the stage of the relevant legislation drafting, much attention was paid to the issue of interference with the activities of PEO, but these provisions were removed at the stage of the first reading. Now the safety of the PEO is determined in broad and vague terms in two articles, but there are no effective mechanisms that could prevent interference, prohibit investigative bodies from meddling with enforcement proceedings. The current situation threatens the PEO activities. There were cases when the “enforcement file” was seized by the investigator at the request of the debtor, there are blatant facts of holding searches even in the homes of the PEO’s parents. “We must to do something about it. Such facts cannot be left unaddressed", Mr. Sivokozov is convinced. "If you do not defend your place under the sun, nobody will make it available to you”, member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Legal Policy and Justice Ruslan Sydorovychh told to a representative of the Council of Private Enforcement Officers. "Those who at least once used the private enforcement officer services, let's be frank, will hardly go to the state enforcement office. This shows that the reform of the court decisions enforcement system was justified", said Vladimir Boeru, chairman of the "Agency for Court Decisions Enforcement" LLC. He believes that it is necessary to take actions to popularize the profession of a PEO. Why are candidates who have successfully completed training and internships, do not take the exam? First, they saw that their predecessors "did not become millionaires," and secondly, there is still no trust. "There is no judicial power without proper enforcement of decisions. There is no judicial power if one of the pillars of democracy is missing", Mr. Sydorovychh emphasized. He recalled that the reform of the system of enforcement of court decisions was very difficult, many attempts were made to curtail the reform. Nevertheless, the relevant legislation was adopted, but many problems are still outstanding, and the MP is not ready to tell when they are going to be resolved, especially if we take into account the conditions on the eve of pre-election race. For example, the issue of access to accounts was raised even at the stage of drafting legislation, but then this problem was taken out of the scope of the reform, there are also problems related to consolidated enforcement proceedings.

“The work of a PEO is a tool for identifying assets. If the debtor is aware of the inevitability of enforcement proceedings, he will comply with the decision on his own, without waiting while enforcement costs are accrued”, emphasized Ruslan Sydorovychh. He is convinced that the state should outsource the enforcement of judgments, retaining only some specific categories of cases.