The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has ruled that mandatory electronic declaration of assets by activists fighting against corruption is not constitutional.
This was reported by Liudmyla Denisova, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for human rights, on Facebook on June 6.
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In June last year, she filed a motion at the Constitutional Court following a call from a coalition of NGOs to check whether certain provisions of two laws – on prevention of corruption and on amendments to some laws of Ukraine on financial control of certain categories of officials – are in line with the Constitution.
"I welcome today's decision by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on the unconstitutionality of e-declaration for activists," Denisova said.
"I think that the need to file an electronic declaration of property status makes civil society, which should play the role of a controlling authority, dependent on it," she added.
According to the commissioner, anti-corruption restrictions should be imposed on officials only. "Extending these limitations on individuals is contrary to constitutional rights and the principle of the rule of law in terms of violation of legal certainty," she added.
As reported by UNIAN, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, on March 23, 2017, adopted the law on amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding the peculiarities of financial control of certain categories of officials, according to which members of anti-corruption NGOs, experts and other persons who directly or indirectly receive funding as international technical assistance are obliged to file declarations with details about their assets and property. The adoption of the law caused a significant public and international response, a number of representative offices of foreign states in Ukraine called it a "setback."
On March 22, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada refused to consider three bills that would cancel or postpone the deadline for submitting an electronic declaration by representatives of anti-graft NGOs.
