IN JANUARY 2021, THE DONBAS REGIONAL COUNCIL FOR JUSTICE REFORM SUBMITTED PROPOSALS TO THE DRAFT LAW “ON THE STATE POLICY OF THE TRANSITION PERIOD” DEVELOPED BY THE MINISTRY OF REINTEGRATION OF THE TEMPORARILY OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF UKRAINE. According to the members of the Donbas Council, which includes leading judges, lawyers, academics, political scientists and representatives of other legal professions, the draft law is the first comprehensive document aimed at overcoming the consequences of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation at the state level. At the same time, the draft law needs to be finalized in light of the following comments:

• The text of the document combines framework rules with attempts at special regulation, which is inappropriate. It would be more acceptable to make the draft law a framework law and make appropriate amendments to the Transitional Provisions of existing laws, given the temporary nature of the measures envisaged.
• Combining in one law the regulation of many areas, ranging from national memory to education, benefits in various spheres of legal relations, is unjustified given the cumbersome text as a whole and gaps in the regulation of certain areas. This should be regulated by the relevant bylaws.
• The practical implementation of some of the provisions of the draft law seems problematic.
  In particular, the possibility of financing all transitional measures from local budgets.
• The draft law contains a number of provisions that are inconsistent with the current laws, in particular, the Civil Code of Ukraine regarding the limitation period, the Law on the Judicial System and Status of Judges, etc.
• A number of important issues were left out of the draft law, including the issue of material and moral compensation for victims of the conflict.
• The draft law narrows the rights of citizens crossing the contact line.
  Currently, it is allowed to carry everything that is not prohibited. The draft law, on the contrary, provides for the opposite regime, when everything is prohibited except for what is allowed.

A detailed description of these and other proposals is available in the document: Proposals of the Donbas Regional Justice Reform Council to the Draft Law “On State Policy of the Transition Period”. For reference:The Regional Justice Reform Councils (RJRCs) were established with the support of the EU Pravo-Justice Project and operate in Chernivtsi, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odesa oblasts and Donbas. To date, members of the Councils have been actively involved in the preparation of a draft law on mediation, amendments to the Bankruptcy Code, proposals to improve legislation on enforcement proceedings, the introduction of an electronic court, and discussions on the concept of transitional justice. The RECs act as permanent working groups that promote the implementation of reforms in accordance with the bottom-up principle: by bringing region-specific challenges and their potential solutions to the level of central authorities.