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Constitutional Court of Ukraine prohibits from “double” cassational appeal of court decisions

Based on the results of consideration of the constitutional application of 46 Ukrainian parliament members (case No. 1-1/2010) the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has officially construed the notions of the “supreme judicial authority”, the “highest judicial authority” and “cassational appeal” which are given in articles 125, 129 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

In its decision dd. 11.03.2010 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine elaborated that review of the rulings of the highest judicial authorities by the Supreme Court of Ukraine in cassation proceedings contravenes the provisions of the Constitution and defined that:

1) “guarantee of … the cassational appeal of court decisions” as the judicial principle reflected in cl. 8 of art. 129 of the Constitution of Ukraine implies only one time cassational appeal and review of court decisions;

2) the highest judicial authorities act as cassation courts with respect to decisions of corresponding specialized courts on the basis of and under the laws on judicial proceedings;

3) constitutional standing of the Supreme Court of Ukraine does not imply that it has legally granted powers of the cassation court with respect to decisions of supreme specialized courts which use their cassational authority.

Considering the fact that decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding on the territory of Ukraine, irrevocable and are not open to appeal, the authority mentioned by its decision dd. 11.03.2010 on the case No. 1-1/2010 made an attempt to prohibit from “double” cassational appeal of court decisions. At the same time neither the Code of Economic Procedure nor the Code of Administrative Court Procedure of Ukraine, the very provisions of which imply the possibility of cassational review of rulings of the Supreme Economic Court and Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine by the Supreme Court of Ukraine, have been amended by the Supreme Counsel of Ukraine. Corresponding provisions of the both mentioned codes were not ruled unconstitutional that is no objection to the work of the Chambers of the Supreme Court of Ukraine for commercial and administrative disputes.