First private court officers could appear in Ukraine early 2017, a board member of the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA) and partner of ARIO law firm Yulian Khorunzhiy has said.

"The preparation for introducing the law starts today. First private court officers will appear in January or February [2017]," he said at a press breakfast organized by the UBA in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Khorunzhiy said that the approximate volume of collections by private officers would be around UAH 260-280 billion.

"If we take average rate of 5% [remuneration from the collected sum], this is a good market and profit-making business," the lawyer said.

He said that at present only 20% of court rulings are executed in Ukraine. If around UAH 560 billion is to be collected, in fact some UAH 10 billion a year is collected.

"Earlier they collected more, but the State Enforcement Service 'understood,' that they can earn more not on collecting, but on non-collecting, and this service was sold well. The current reform aims at executing the court decisions," he said.

Khorunzhiy said that it is important to give access of professional lawyers to the profession, but people with soldiering tools.

"Collection should not be blackmail using force, but intellectual work," he said.

Private court officers are restricted in their actions and this aims at preventing abuse of office, while state-authorized officers have a wider range of powers.