Parliament approves simplification of enforcement proceedings through digitalization as Ukraine Facility benchmark

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has adopted, in the final reading, bill No. 14005 on optimizing and digitalizing procedures for the enforcement of court decisions. The measure is a benchmark under the Ukraine Facility and is aimed at modernizing asset recovery processes and implementing Council of Europe expert recommendations to ensure the right to a fair trial.

According to the live broadcast of the session, 250 members of parliament voted in favor of the decision during the plenary sitting on Tuesday, April 7, with 14 voting against and eight abstaining.

According to the explanatory note, the adopted changes foresee expanding the functionality of the Automated Enforcement Proceedings System (AEPS), in particular in terms of direct interaction between enforcement officers and government bodies, banks, financial institutions, and nonbank payment service providers. In addition, automated interaction between the Unified Register of Debtors and other state registers is being introduced.

Under the document, the presence of information about an individual in the Unified Register of Debtors becomes grounds for refusing to carry out any actions related to the alienation or pledging of their property. At the same time, the process of lifting restrictions is being automated: once funds are credited to the account of the state enforcement service or a private enforcement officer, the AEPS will automatically generate a notification of debt repayment. This notification will serve as the basis for the immediate removal of the debtor's data from the register and the lifting of seizures on funds, electronic money, and securities.

The bill introduces amendments to a number of legislative acts, including laws on road traffic, notaries, banks, and the depository system. It is expected that the implemented digital tools will reduce the time required for enforcement actions and improve the efficiency of enforcing court decisions on both pecuniary and non-pecuniary obligations.

As noted in the explanatory materials, implementation of the law will help restore the violated rights of individuals and legal entities by removing bureaucratic barriers in the process of compulsory enforcement of court rulings.