The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents.

Some 305 deputies voted for bill on ratification (No. 0032) at a plenary meeting on Wednesday.

The Convention guarantees the right of access, upon request, to official documents that are at disposal of state bodies.

The Convention regulates possible restrictions on the implementation of this right, defines the mechanisms for the procedure for access to official documents.

The bill clarifies that Ukraine, as a result of armed aggression of the Russian Federation, does not guarantee the full implementation of the obligations stipulated by the convention in the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Crimea and Sevastopol until the constitutional system of Ukraine is fully restored in these territories.

The Convention was adopted in the city of Tromsø (Norway) on June 18, 2009. Currently, it has been signed by 17 member states of the Council of Europe, and ratified by nine member states of the Council of Europe. A representative of Ukraine signed the convention on April 12, 2018.