Ukraine

International standards

Well-designed codes of ethics and codes of conduct will help meet the growing expectations from the public, business leaders and civil society for greater transparency and integrity in government, and will places an onus on governments to ensure high ethical standards amongst public officials and elected representatives. As such, they can support the development of trust between the public and government institutions and officials. It is important that codes of conduct are in place for both civil servants and elected officials, and that training and guidance is provided to ensure a full understanding of the codes by all office-holders. Disciplinary measures and sanctions should be clearly stipulated and consistently applied in the event of noncompliance with the codes.

The following international conventions and standards relate to codes of ethics and professional conduct:

• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on Codes of Conduct for Public Officials and the European Code of Conduct for all Persons Involved in Local and Regional Governance are the reference texts for local and regional authorities in Europe for ensuring political integrity.
• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Guidelines on Public Ethics consolidate in one single document Council of Europe core principles, standards and recommendations in this field, covering all categories of public officials, be they elected, appointed or employed. They are complemented by the Guide on Public Ethics: Practical steps to implementing public ethics in public organisations, a living document which provides case studies and examples from Council of Europe member states.
• The OECD Recommendation on Public Integrity shifts the focus from ad hoc integrity policies to a context-dependent, behavioural, risk-based approach with an emphasis on cultivating a culture of integrity across the whole of society.
• The Transparency International paper on Implementing Effective Ethics Standards in Government and the Civil Service provides practical mechanisms for institutionalising high standards of ethical integrity for elected officials and civil servants.

Domestic context

The importance of codes of ethics and conduct for public officials and elected representatives is widely highlighted in the national legislative framework and strongly supported in the work of civil society. For instance, creating a trustworthy public service is one of the objectives of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2014-2017. Article 37 of the Law No. 1700-VII “On Prevention of Corruption” stipulates that local public authorities should elaborate and implement codes of ethical conduct in different fields of public administration. Thus, the introduction of the code of ethical conduct for public officials is becoming an increasingly common practice.

Legislation

The Law No. 1700-VII “On Prevention of Corruption” (Section VI, Articles 37-44) provides rules for the ethical conduct of public servants and state officials. These rules include the respect of the rule of law and ethical norms, priority of the public interests, political neutrality for public servants, impartiality, competence and effectiveness, and abstaining from implementing unlawful decisions. The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) monitors and controls its implementation and provides clarification and guidance on the rules of ethical conduct and prevention of conflict of interests (Article 11).

Ethical principles are defined in the Laws "On Local Self-Government", "On the Status of Local Councillors", and "On Service in Local Government Bodies". On August 5, 2016, the National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service issued an order "On approval of the General rules of ethical conduct of civil servants and local government officials."

Civil servants in their activities are guided by civil service’s principles of ethics, based on the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, legislation on civil service and prevention of corruption, namely:

1. service to the state and society;
2. decent behaviour;
3. integrity;
4. loyalty;
5. political neutrality;
6. transparency and accountability;
7. conscience.

Guidelines

The National Agency of Ukraine for Civil Service provides “General Rules of Ethical Conduct for Civil Servants and Local Government Officials”. The guidelines cover four blocs: general duties of civil servants and local authorities; use of official position; use of state resources; exchange of information and obligation to provide access to public information. Every new public official must be informed about the rules of ethical conduct. Moreover, their compliance with these rules is assessed in an annual evaluation.

Within the project ‘Transparent cities’, the NGO Transparency International Ukraine provides guidelines for the 100 largest cities in Ukraine, based on the assessment of each city in the fields of transparency and accountability. The methodology for assessing the transparency of cities evaluates the existence of local acts that would approve codes or similar documents of deputy ethics, as well as the ethics of officials of local executive bodies and utilities.

Among the main criteria that determine the level of professional ethics are the following:

1. Is the Code of Ethics for Members of the Council or a similar document adopted at the municipal level and published? Does this document contain the principles of non-discrimination and gender equality?
2. Is there a Code of Ethics or a different local act adopted and published which regulates the rules of ethical conduct of local self-government officials, staff of municipal enterprises, institutions and organisations, community-founded associations or organisations where a 50% or higher equity stake belongs to the territorial community, as well as organisations which are partially funded by the community?

Other criteria can be found in the new 2020 City Transparency Ranking Methodology.

International standards

To ensure confidence in the mechanisms, local authorities should endeavour to consider and resolve each complaint promptly and comprehensively. Complaints mechanisms can be made more accessible by applying a one-stop-shop approach so that citizens do not need to search among different offices and websites.

If government takes a proactive approach to pre-empt the repeat of similar causes for complaint, complaints mechanisms can also help governments to identify new approaches to service delivery and to increase citizen participation. To this end, complaints mechanisms should be combined with periodic evaluations of service delivery, including the use of public opinion surveys, and exchange of experience and tools with other local authorities to encourage wider adoption of good practice and tried and tested tools.

There are no specific international standards for complaints mechanisms relating to public services. However, mechanisms and procedures for responding to complaints are incorporated into an international legal guarantee to the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority, and there are a number of helpful civil society guidelines and handbooks. See for example:

• The Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207) provides an international legal guarantee to this right, including the establishment of mechanisms and procedures for dealing with and responding to citizen complaints and suggestions.
• Transparency International’s Complaints Mechanisms: Reference Guide for Good Practice sets out guiding principles and good practices for establishing and implementing complaint mechanisms that provide safe channels for citizens to alert a public or private institution about any corruption risks or incidences.
• The Danish Refugee Council’s Complaints Mechanism Handbook describes how to set up and manage a complaints mechanism.
• World Vision’s Overview of NGO-Community Complaints Mechanisms, with an overview of mechanisms and tools used by development agencies to receive complaints.

Domestic context

Complaints mechanisms fall under the citizens’ right to address public authorities, as enshrined in Article 40 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Since July 2015, when the amendments to the Law “On Citizens’ Appeal” allowed citizens to submit petitions electronically, several local authorities have created e-platforms for citizens’ appeals, which boosted citizen participation.

Legislation

Law No. 393 “On Citizens’ Appeal“ defines (Article 3, paragraph 4) and regulates (Articles 16-19) the application of complaints mechanisms. Both national and local authorities are obliged to objectively consider citizens’ complaints, to compensate citizens for any breach of their rights and to provide justification for any decision taken in the examination of complaints. The violation of the abovementioned Law leads to the disciplinary, administrative or criminal liability of public officials (Articles 24-25).

Guidelines

The manual Tools of e-democracy in Ukrainian cities encourages local authorities to combine online and offline citizen complaint mechanisms. While the online form simplifies the complaints procedure and is mostly addressed to young people, the possibility to submit a complaint offline engages older citizens, or those who are sceptical towards new technologies. The creation of special citizen complaint centres, and the good accessibility and ease of the complaint process are highlighted as good practices.

International standards

Redress mechanisms serve as a frontline service to be used by citizens to effectively resolve complaints and/or grievances. Furthermore, business organisations can use GRMs to mitigate risks to their business operations and GRMs can become a prompt and effective mechanism for dispute settlement short of legal action.

Effective redress mechanisms can serve to identify patterns of corruption and malpractice, and to forge corruption prevention policies. To ensure greater access, it is important to raise public awareness about GRMs and to provide free advice to citizens on the formulation of grievance claims and how to proceed when seeking redress.

Standards for grievance redress mechanisms are mostly set by international organisations such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and European Commission. These standards are mostly connected with setting the legal framework for the protection of citizens’ rights. These standards are presented in the following guidelines:

 

International standards

Most whistle-blowers raise their concerns internally or with regulatory or law enforcement authorities rather than blowing the whistle in public. The protection of whistle-blowers, and an organisational culture that prioritises transparency and dialogue, serves to promote accountability, builds confidence in the integrity of government, and encourages the reporting of misconduct and corruption. Whistle-blower protection can motivate employees to report wrongdoing without fear of reprisals, and fosters transparency and trust within an organisation as well as outwards to citizens that ethics are upheld and misconduct detected and remedied.

The rights of whistle-blowers can be strengthened by stipulating clear processes and providing secure confidential channels for disclosure. Explicit remedies, including penalties, to redress reprisals against whistle-blowers should be introduced and consistently applied. Training of human resources staff in local government and government agencies needs to be complemented by awareness-raising among the public so that citizens and government employees alike understand the positive results from whistle-blowing in terms of sustained value for money, trust in public authorities, and quality of services.

The following international conventions and standards relate to the protection of whistle-blowers:

• Creating comprehensive and effective mechanisms to protect those who disseminate information in the public interest is a recommendation of both the United Nations and the Council of Europe, as well as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s resolution and recommendation on The protection of whistle-blowers Challenges and opportunities for local and regional government call on ”local and regional authorities to establish and disseminate a whistleblowing policy, with appropriate internal and anonymous reporting channels and to ensure that independent designated institutions exist to oversee and process the disclosure of information.”
• The United Nations Convention against Corruption is the only legally binding universal anti-corruption instrument.
• It is supported by the Technical Guide to the Convention.
• The EU Directive on the Protection of Persons who Report Breaches of Union Law requires EU governments to meet minimum standards for establishing reporting channels and ensuring legal protection for whistle-blowers.
• The Council of Europe’s Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 173) aims to co-ordinate criminalisation of corrupt practices and to improve international co-operation in the prosecution of offences.
• The Council of Europe’s Civil Law Convention on Corruption (ETS No. 174) defines common international rules for effective remedies for persons affected by corruption.

Domestic context

Nowadays, the protection of whistleblowers in Ukraine is a very relevant issue. The legal ground for the creation of guarantees for whistleblowers protection is represented in article 60 of the Constitution of Ukraine, according to which “no one is obliged to execute obviously criminal orders or regulations”. Furthermore, under certain provisions of the anti-corruption legislation, whistleblowers are exempted from the liability for disclosure of information. However, the above-listed provisions are not enough for whistleblower protection, as to a greater extent, the provisions have declarative rather than of procedural nature. So there was a request for the law to create the legal basis for whistleblower protection.

Legislation

On 1 January 2020, the Law of Ukraine № 198-IX “On Amending the Law of Ukraine “On Corruption Prevention” Concerning Whistleblowers” came into force.[i] The new amendments established additional protection for the whistleblowers and their families.

The Law is a significant step forward in the protection of whistleblowers and gives strong incentives for reporting corruption, for example:

1. whistleblowers are released from legal liability for good faith reporting of corruption; 
2. whistleblowers entitled to pro bono (free of charge) legal help, psychological assistance and confidentiality;
3. whistleblower's employers are prohibited from imposing disciplinary sanctions, dismissing;
4. whistleblower's employers are prohibited from rejecting a whistleblower or a relative from consideration for a job because they reported corruption.
5. whistleblowers have the right to report possible facts of corruption anonymously as well as receive monetary remuneration for a report etc.

A whistleblower reporting corruption or a corruption-related offence where the estimated amount of the benefit or damage caused to the state exceeds 5,000 times the minimum living wage for able-bodied persons (i.e., more than UAH 11 million as of July 2021) has the right to receive monetary remuneration. The amount of the remuneration shall be 10% of the estimated amount of the benefit resulting from the offence or damage caused to the state.

The law established the legal foundation for NACP to create and administer an anonymous, secure unified government-wide Whistleblower Reporting Channel (or “Portal”). The Portal will make it easier and safer for whistleblowers to report corruption and reduce the risks of unauthorized access to their communications.

Guidelines

In cooperation with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, NACP presented the training course “Detector in law” to the attention of civil society.

The training course aims to help viewers to learn about:

1. whistleblowing (rights and guarantees of protection under the law);
2. corruption in general and how to report corruption through government websites, etc.

TI Ukraine prepared the first “Handbook for Corruption Whistleblowers” with practical aspects of protecting whistleblowers’ rights. TI Ukraine also participated in the follow-up work on the eventually approved draft of Methodical Guidelines for NACP on Organisation of Work with Whistleblower Reports on Corruption.

International standards

Disclosure requirements can build citizens' trust in the transparency and integrity of local decision-making. They also assist public officials in having regularly updated information that prevents conflicts of interest arising among employees. Disclosure of financial assets also provides important information to help clarify if elected officials or civil servants do not have wealth that is disproportionate to their income, either protecting them from false accusations or serving as evidence in the case of suspected illicit enrichment.

Service delivery at the local government level, whether it be construction or tendering of waste-management services, is often subject to conflicts of interest due to the proximity of local entrepreneurs to government officials.  Confidence of the public and business that competition for local government tenders, for instance, is open to all without discrimination will be much greater if both elected officials and civil servants involved in design of the tenders and assessment of tender submissions have completed declarations of assets and interests (including of close family members).

It is important that the institutions responsible for gathering and monitoring declarations are provided with protection against political or other interference in their work, for instance through oversight by independent ethics committees. Likewise, local government officials should be provided with clear guidance on what to declare, and also on prevailing anti-corruption legislation. A well-implemented and regularly updated and monitored assets declaration system can complement the work of an effective prosecution service.

Disclosure is an important element in the conventions and standards against corruption listed elsewhere in this handbook. Of particular relevance are:

• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on Codes of Conduct for Public Officials and the European Code of Conduct for all Persons Involved in Local and Regional Governance require private interests to be declared, made public and monitored.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Conflicts of interest at local and regional level call on local and regional authorities to promote the proactive disclosure of declarations of interest prior to public request and to ensure that disclosure policies are accompanied by appropriate measures for resolving conflicts of interest.
• The OECD’s Managing Conflict of Interest in Public Service: Guidelines and Country Experiences provides practical instruments for modernising conflict-of-interest policies.
• The OECD’s Asset Declarations for Public Officials: A Tool to Prevent Corruption identifies the key elements of asset declaration systems.
• Consultation, Participation & Disclosure of Information, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank.

Domestic context

The launch by NACP of the electronic asset declarations system (public.nazk.gov.ua), which represents the single state database of asset declarations, and making these declarations accessible online are considered crucial accomplishments in the area of fighting against corruption in Ukraine. Further positive developments include the technical upgrade of the e-declaration system and strengthening the NACP’s capacity to support system users.

The system became not only a tool of public scrutiny and transparency but also an instrument for law enforcement bodies to hold accountable those liable for corruption offences. Despite several attempts to sabotage the system and obstruct its implementation, an unprecedented number of public officials have disclosed their assets and declarations of conflicts of interest.

The introduced system is relevant and applicable to local elected representatives and public officials.

Legislation

The legal regulation for the disclosure of assets declarations is provided in Chapter VII “Financial Control” (Articles 45-52) of the Law No. 1700 “On prevention of corruption”. Since 15 July 2016, two Regulations of the Ministry of Justice announced the process of disclosure and initiated the launching of the electronic asset declarations system for those persons authorised to perform public functions, either at national or local level.

National, regional and local authorities, as well as members of their families, are obliged to disclose their assets (real estate, monetary funds, cash, loans, etc.) and to declare possible conflicts of interest (job position, contracting services, participation in the civil council, etc.).^[i] This data remains open and available on a single state database of asset declarations.

The NACP controls the deadlines, examines lawful submission of declarations, the accuracy of the information, and monitors whether the declared assets correspond with the public official’s lifestyle. In case of misconduct, the NACP informs the special anti-corruption agencies. The misconduct leads to disciplinary, administrative (Article 172-6 of the Administrative Code) or criminal (Article 366-1 of the Criminal Code) liability.

Guidelines

On its website, NACP provides practical guidelines and extensive manuals for public officials on requirements as to the assets’ declaration and disclosure of conflict of interest and how to use the single state database of asset declarations. NACP has also launched the Integrity Building Office responsible for awareness-raising and training activities and a convenient website “Declare 2021”, containing answers to the most frequently asked questions among those who fill out asset declarations. The website was developed in collaboration with TI Ukraine. Besides, NACP provides interactive voice support for the preparation of e-declarations.

International standards

Access to information supports accountability, oversight of government, and monitoring of corruption. It is also critical to informed citizen participation in decision-making, and is therefore fundamental for the effective functioning of democracies. Free access to information empowers civil society to monitor and scrutinise the actions of local authorities, it serves to prevent abuse of power by public officials, and provides data for informed public debate.

The proactive publication of the maximum amount of information in the most accessible formats serves to reduce the need for citizens and stakeholders to file individual requests for the release of information. As well as providing the maximum amount of information electronically, local authorities should prioritise the designation of Freedom of Information officers in their municipalities. Such officers should prepare and publish detailed recommendations for both citizens and local authorities, and provide clear guidance on the appeals process in the event that a request for information is not granted. It is also important to analyse information requests from citizens and stakeholder groups, in particular trends and duplication, so that the authorities can subsequently release such information on a proactive basis.

Access to information is a fundamental component of a number of the conventions and standards against corruption listed elsewhere in this handbook. It also underpins a number of key UN human rights documents. The following specifically relate to Access to Information:

• The Council of Europe’s Convention on Access to Official Documents (CETS No. 205) affirms an enforceable right to information.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Transparency and open government call upon local and regional authorities to increase the use of open data and records management by their administrations, and to publish these in comprehensive, accessible and reusable ways.
• The Aarhus Convention grants rights, including access to information, in decisions concerning the environment.
• The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government identifies on-demand provision of information and proactive measures by the government to disseminate information as an initial level of citizen participation.

• Directive 2003/98/EC on the re-use of public sector information, nowadays called the Open Data Directive, previously known as the PSI Directive, encourages EU member states to make as much public sector information available for re-use as possible.

Domestic context

Advanced legislation on access to information allowed journalists and activists to reveal multiple corruption cases. Nevertheless, there are still challenges in the enforcement of the right to access information, most of them relating to public servants’ lack of knowledge of legal requirements and how to put them into practice. It was reported in 2017 that responses to the requests for access to public information may be of poor quality, incomplete or provided with delay, and such problems still remain relevant. In 2020, the report on the provision of public information concerning COVID-19 showed that 34% of the answers to the relevant requests were provided late, and 30% of the answers were provided not in the form requested by the applicant. Finally, there is no system to address the problem of public authorities systematically underperforming or failing to properly disclose information.

To overcome these challenges, leading NGOs in Ukraine initiated the Fund of the Right for Information Protection, and over 150 lawyers joined the Network of Defenders of the Right to Access Information which was founded back in 2012. The Network provides free expert legal assistance with the aim to guarantee legal protection of the right of access to information, as well as supports the implementation and ratification of the Tromsø Convention in Ukraine. The Tromsø Convention was ratified by Ukraine in May 2020. It is the first international document of binding nature that recognises a general right of access to official documents held by public authorities.

Legislation

The Constitution of Ukraine guarantees citizens’ right to access to information (Article 34, paragraphs 2 and 3). The Laws No. 2939 “On Access to Public Information”, No. 2657 “On Information”, and No. 183 “On State Secret” regulate access to information. In line with the Law “On Access to Public Information”, no information held by public authorities can be restricted unless the information is confidential, secret, or for internal use only. The access to information may be provided (1) via official publications, websites and information stands or (2) at the individual requests (Article 5 of the Law No. 2939).

In particular, according to the Law No. 2939 “On Access to Public Information”, national and local authorities are obliged to publish accurate, exact and complete information, as stated in Article 14. They are required to disclose different categories of information as listed in Article 15, including accessible information about the structure, mission, functions, budget of the organisation, laws that regulate their work, decision-making process, list of the mechanisms through which citizens can advocate their interests, reports about the sessions and the institutional work, action plans, etc.

Restriction of access to information must be based on the so-called “three-part test” (tryskladovyi test) of public information, as stipulated in Article 6, paragraph 2 of the Law No. 2939. The Law provides for the obligation to create structural units or appoint freedom of information officers by public authorities. The Law assigns some monitoring functions to the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman’s Office). However, international organisations recommend setting up or designating an independent authority to supervise and enforce regulations on access to public information.

The violation of the right to request and obtain information from public authorities can be punished by a fine of up to 80 non-taxable minimum income (UAH 1,360), as stated in Article 212.3 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences. The unlawful refusal to provide journalists with access to public information can be punished by a fine or up to 3 years imprisonment (Article 171 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Those persons whose rights and legal interests to access public information were violated are entitled to receive compensation for material and moral damages (Article 24.2 of the Law No. 2939 “On Access to Public Information”).

Guidelines

International standards

The promotion of open data through one-stop portals can further increase the scope for interoperability of datasets in terms of search and analysis. The results can improve the efficiency and reach of service delivery and reduce corruption. Awareness-raising among stakeholder groups, the media, businesses, and the wider public can result in effective co-operation among different stakeholders and improvements in solutions on transportation, recreation facilities, parking zones, health services, and much more.

It is important to adopt consistent open data standards for all open data to ensure maximum interoperability and searchability of data. Local authorities should also ensure that qualified staff manage the municipality's open data publication, and train relevant employees in open data standards.

Open data is a relatively new phenomenon without officially endorsed standards. However, a number of useful guidelines exist:

• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Open data for better public services explain its importance for improving local democracy.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Transparency and open government call upon local and regional authorities to increase the use of open data and records management by their administrations.
• The United Nations Guidelines on Open Government Data for Citizen Engagement introduce policy guidelines and good practice recommendations.
• This World Bank Toolkit starts from the basics, through to planning and implement, as well as avoiding common pitfalls.
• The Five Star Open Data Deployment Scheme provides five steps to fully opening data, explaining the costs and benefits of each.
• The International Open Data Charter sets out six principles for open, timely and interoperable government data.
• The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government identifies on-demand provision of information and proactive measures by the government to disseminate information as an initial level of citizen participation.

Domestic context

Ukraine has a well-developed open data ecosystem, and keeps improving it. At this stage, the EU Open Data Maturity Report 2020, prepared by the European Data Portal on an annual basis, places Ukraine in the category of fast-trackers. It includes assessment of four dimensions of open data: (1) ‘policy’ covering relevant national strategies and policies, (2) ‘impact’ measuring the impact of the re-use of open data in terms of political, social, environmental, and economic impact, (3) ‘portal’ assessing how the national open data web portal is tailored to the needs of its users, and (4) ‘quality’ focusing on such properties of open data as data formats, machine-readable, high-quality and suitable to a linked data approach. With these estimation criteria, Ukraine has a maturity score of 84%, whereas the average score in Europe is 78%.

On 9 April 2015, a major step was made towards open data in Ukraine with the adoption of the Law No. 319-VIII “On amendments to some laws of Ukraine on access to public information in the form of open data”, introducing significant changes in other relevant legal acts. These changes obliged public authorities and local governments to publish and update on a regular basis public information in the form allowing automated processing of such data by electronic means. What is even more important, the Law No. 319-VIII clearly stipulated that any person is free to copy, distribute and use such open data, including for commercial purposes, separately or in combination with other information, or by including in their own products.

Open data must be provided free of charge on the webpages of the authorities and on the single state open data website (data.gov.ua), which was updated in 2021. Alongside the update of the single state open data website, the Ministry of Digital Transformation also launched a chatbot in Telegram @DataGovUa_bot, where the function of notification about the update of selected data sets is available.

The provision of open data in Ukraine has enabled significant progress in the public control of the state and local budgets, public procurement and beneficial ownership disclosure. They also boosted many private initiatives and businesses in the field of data analytics and monitoring, such as Opendatabot, Vkursi and YouControl, further promoting business openness and convenient access to data.

In 2019, the Ministry of Digital Transformation was created instead of the State Agency for E-Governance. Now it is responsible for the implementation of the Open data policy, providing support to local public authorities and raising awareness among the citizens.

In May 2021, the Ministry of Digital Transformation launched the Centre of Competencies in the field of open data “Diia.Open data”. It is intended to raise awareness of different groups of society as to the access to open data, help people monitor the work of public officials and create new services with the use of open data.

Legislation

The provisions on open data constitute an integral part of the legislation on access to public information. In particular, Article 10-1 of the Law “On Access to Public Information” sets the regime for ‘public information in the form of open data’ meaning the data in the form allowing its automated processing by electronic means, free access to it, as well as its free further use. To bring these provisions to life, the Cabinet of Ministers issued the Decree No. 835 as of 21 October 2015, defining the sets of data to be published in the form of open data. These sets of data are available on the official websites of relevant state bodies and on the Unified State Web Portal of Open Data. Such provisions have substantially reduced the workload of the information administrators concerning requests for public information and made the work of specialists more efficient.

In March 2021, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Decree No. 407 adding the financial statements of the companies to the list of public information in the form of open data. This step was highly anticipated in society. Although starting from 1 January 2018, the Law “On Accounting and Financial Reporting in Ukraine” clearly stated that the financial statements of enterprises do not constitute a trade secret/confidential information/or information with limited access, and should be provided at request, both the companies and tax authorities refused to provide them when requested. The Decree No. 407 eliminated this problem, and the financial statements are now publicly available on the single state open data website.

Guidelines

Since March 2017, the Open Data Roadmap for Ukraine provides an extensive list of practical recommendations that public authorities can follow in order to comply with international standards on open data. All these recommendations are based on six major principles: data should be open by default; timely and comprehensive; accessible and usable; comparable and interoperable; for improved governance and citizen engagement; and for inclusive development and innovation.

The detailed recommendations on publication of the specific sets of open data were developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. In particular, they include recommendations for the publication of 14 different sets of open data managed by public authorities and 64 sets managed by local governments. The information administrators may also familiarise themselves with the methodological recommendations on depersonification of the sets of open data.

In addition to the available guidelines, the Ministry of Digital Transformation has training and educational programs on open data both for private professionals and information administrators.

Alongside the recommendations developed by governmental bodies, documents drafted by NGOs and private initiatives also provide helpful guidance on how to handle open data. In particular, the independent media texty.org.ua published a manual “Open data: formats and rules of creation”, whereas the team of the “Data of the cities” project introduced a handbook on “Open data for cities. Practical aspect ”.

International standards

As procurement involves a large proportion of public expenditure and the transfer of public resources to the private sector or non-profit organisations, it is particularly vulnerable to corruption. Public authorities should deploy new technologies to increase transparency over public procurement and encourage new economic actors to enter bidding processes in the confidence that free and fair competition is applied. By posting all tenders on a common online platform, the occurrence of unpublished tenders and direct awards will be minimised. Use of open contracting and open bidding solutions also allows greater scrutiny of the process, further reducing the scope for corrupt practices. Open contracting systems include a preventive effect, because officials will refrain from manipulating the contracting process if they know that comprehensive disclosure of the bidding and contracting processes will be revealed.

Local authorities should ensure that there is a comprehensive system in place to monitor compliance with public procurement legislation, and that there is a responsive mechanism for reviewing appeals and complaints, including prompt and comprehensive replies. Authorities should also monitor contract implementation, in particular time extensions and cost increases, to ensure that the benefits in terms of value for money and quality of delivery are not compromised during contract implementation.

The following international conventions and standards relate to public procurement:

• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Making public procurement transparent at local and regional levels and the OECD Checklist for Enhancing Integrity in Public Procurement provide guidance for enhancing transparency and promoting integrity in procurement.
• The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement promotes a strategic and holistic use of public procurement systems across all levels of government and state-owned enterprises. The online Public Procurement Toolbox provides policy tools, specific country examples as well as indicators to measure any public procurement system.
• The WTO Agreement on Government Procurement establishes rules requiring that open, fair and transparent conditions of competition be ensured in government procurement.
• The EU Directive on Public Procurement ensures the best value for money for public purchases and guarantees the respect of the EU’s principles of transparency and competition.
• The UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement is a legal template available to governments seeking to introduce or reform public procurement legislation for their internal market.
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) Guide to Electronic Procurement Reform provides information on and assistance with designing and implementing domestic eProcurement reforms.

 

Domestic context

Created in 2016, the ProZorro e-procurement system has significantly enhanced transparency in public procurement and contributes to fighting corruption at all levels of governance. Owing to the high level of transparency of the ProZorro platform, all users are able to detect procurement procedures that may entail a violation of law, as provided for in Article 9 of the Law No. 922-VIII “On Public Procurement” which concerns civic oversight. However, improvements to the public procurement system are still needed. In particular, mechanisms for citizens requests for investigation and information on actual payments per procurement agreement, in order to further increase transparency indecision-making.

Legislation

In 2015, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law “On Public Procurement”. Since then, this law has facilitated the creation of an e-procurement system, bringing e-democracy and e-governance to a new level. Open procedures and competitive selection now take place exclusively on the electronic platform ProZorro, which has boosted transparency and has significantly improved Ukraine’s position in the international E-Government Development Index scale. Similarly, the DoZorro portal (dozorro.org) creates a database of real assessments of purchasers, suppliers and individual tenders that allows to monitor public procurement effectively.

Ukraine continued on its path to reform by becoming a fully-fledged member of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Government Procurement in 2016 and by adopting the Resolution No. 175 of the Cabinet of Ministers “On the Public Procurement Reform Strategy and Action Plan (Roadmap)”,  which addresses the development of the public procurement system from 2016 to 2022 in compliance with the provisions of the “EU – Ukraine Association Agreement”.

In September 2019, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted a number of amendments to the Law “On Public Procurement” with the aim of complying the national legislation with the Directives 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement. On 19 April 2020, those amendments came into force. The amendments which have been introduced are generally deemed positive, as they aim to increase the level of control and transparency of the procurement procedure and eliminate a number of existing critical issues that were widely abused and taken advantage of. The law introduces a number of significant changes to public procurement procedures:

• Below-threshold procurements are now regulated by the introduction of simplified procurements, which contracting authorities are to make using the electronic procurement system ("Prozorro");
• As a general rule, if the value of a procurement item equals to or exceeds UAH 50,000 but is less than UAH 200,000 for goods/services or less than UAH 1,500,000 for works;
• For natural monopolies, if the value of a procurement item equals to or exceeds UAH 50,000 but is less than UAH 1,000,000 for goods/services or less than UAH 5,000,000 for works.

The new version of the law also introduced measures for identifying price dumping more easily, adopting non-price criteria for assessing proposals, enabling to organise more professional procurement due to the transition from “tender committees” to “authorised procurement officials”. Besides, the new version of the Law significantly expanded the list of violations for which officials will be held administratively liable, as well as increased the amount of fines for such violations.

Moreover, according to Article 62 of the Law “On Prevention of Corruption”, legal entities participating in public procurement procedures in which the expected value equals or exceeds UAH 20 million must have established and authorised anti-corruption programmes (that is: a set of rules, standards and procedures for detecting, combating and preventing corruption within a legal entity’s list of activities).

Public procurement efficiency is also enhanced by the Law ”On Electronic Documents and Electronic Document Management”, “On Electronic Trust Services”, “On Access to Public Information”, “On the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine” and a number of by-laws enforcing transparency and efficiency in the public procurement system in Ukraine.

To respond to the challenges caused by COVID-19 and the need to ensure the procurement of goods and services, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Aimed at Preventing the Occurrence and Spread of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)” which amends the Law “On Public Procurement” to ease the procurement process for goods, works or services necessary to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.

Guidelines

The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine (MEDT), in line with the Law “On Public Procurement”, created a special Information Resource of the Authorised Body in the field of public procurement. Its aim is to disseminate information on the application of public procurement legislation, as well as on the effective implementation of the state procurement policy by the Authorised Body.

The ProZorro Infobox (infobox.prozorro.org), a knowledge centre on public procurement, provides information for customers and suppliers about all the innovations in the ProZorro system and get answers to all their questions. It also shares methodological materials, explanatory notes, online training courses and a forum for discussing public procurement issues among customers, suppliers, and representatives of the ProZorro team and the MEDT.

In 2019, the MEDT developed the “Guidelines on ethical conduct in public procurement” for public authorities, local self-governments and other organisations engaged in public procurement. These Guidelines are not a legally binding document, yet it provides important recommendations for public authorities and local self-government to ensure accountability and transparency. Specific sections of the Guidelines relate to openness and transparency during all stages of public procurement, non-discrimination and prevention of corruption.

International standards

• The International Public Sector Accounting Standards focus on the accounting, auditing, and financial reporting needs of central, regional, and local governments, related governmental agencies, and the constituencies they serve.
• The International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions website contains a complete collection of professional standards and best practice guidelines for public sector auditors.
• A number of the conventions and standards for combatting corruption include provisions and clauses relating to external audit.

Domestic context

In the course of sweeping decentralisation reforms, local budgets grow significantly, but the external audit of local public authorities remains underregulated. As stated in the studies by OECD “Maintaining of the momentum of decentralisation in Ukraine”, “there is no adequate system of indicators for monitoring, evaluating and controlling the finances and budget of the subnational level”. As a result, there is an increasing number of educational initiatives that empower citizens and teach local authorities to properly develop, implement and control public budgets.

Although the external audit remains not a very common practice, the requirements as to the public information enhance the accountability of the local governments, as well as provide citizens with necessary tools to control the use of public funds. For example, to ensure the proper implementation of the principle of transparency and publicity of the budget process (Article 7 of the Budget Code), the Parliament adopted the Law No. 183-VIII “On Open Use of Public Funds”. According to this Law, public authorities, local government bodies, state and municipal enterprises must publish information about the use of public funds on the Single web portal on the use of public funds.

Additionally, in 2018, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine initiated the creation of the state web portal of the budget for citizens so that to implement the ‘Concept of creating an integrated information and analytical system "Transparent Budget"’ adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.The portal provides information about the budget process and its participants and presents state and local budgets indicators. The portal also contains the BOOST-analysis tool developed according to the World Bank methodology. It is designed to analyse budgets at all levels: from the small village to the big city and state, in terms of both revenues and expenditures.

Legislation

The Chapter V of the Budget Code of Ukraine sets rules on the control and audit of public finances. In line with the Code’s Article 110 and Article 15 of the Law No. 576 “On Accounting Chamber”, the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine (ACU) provides financial audit of the money transferred between the state and local budgets. The ACU defines the equity, lawfulness and effectiveness of such transfers between administrators and recipients of public funds.

While the ACU acts on behalf of the Parliament, the State Audit Service of Ukraine,  the State Treasury of Ukraine and local finance authorities perform financial control on behalf of executive bodies (Articles 111-113 of the Budget Code). They control the compliance of local authorities with budget legislation even though the co-ordination of these institutions remains poorly regulated.

The violation of the budget legislation (all forms of violation are listed in Article 116 of the Budget Code) leads to administrative (Article 164-12 of the Administrative Code) or criminal (Articles 210-211 of the Criminal Code) liability.

Guidelines

As part of an assessment of fiscal risks associated with local governments, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommends local authorities to roll out the internal audit function to all budget entities: ”international experience suggests that seeking to strengthen the internal control framework within budgetary institutions — where managers are given greater flexibility but in an environment of robust transparency and accountability — is the best solution to promoting good public financial management outcomes”.

According to the IMF, the key elements of a strong and modern internal control regime are:

• Enhanced flexibility for managers in executing their budgets;
• A shift away from control over inputs toward attainment of outcomes;
• A clear legal requirement for senior managers in budgetary institutions to establish a sound internal control regime;
• Strengthened reporting regime, requiring agencies to produce a publicly released annual report with Annual Financial Statements;
• External audit of the annual reports of all agencies.
• The OECD recommends Ukrainian authorities to extend the remit of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine to subnational governments in order to improve external audit and the governance of public investments across levels of government for regional development in Ukraine.

Also, under the auspices of the United Nations Peacebuilding and Reconstruction Program, a handbook on financial activities of the local government was prepared. It contains a separate chapter dedicated to the transparency and accountability in the system of financial management of local governments. The handbook provides helpful guidance on how local governments can effectively initiate and facilitate the system of citizen’s control and participatory audit of the local budget and financial assets of the municipal enterprises.

International standards

Clear rules and transparent reporting of political campaign financing and expenditures are essential to sustain trust in political candidates, political parties and government institutions. An imbalance in funding of political parties may result in an unfair advantage, handing undue influence to powerful narrow interests, running the risk that policies will be "captured" by narrow private interests, serving their goals over the public interest.

Mechanisms and rules on limits on party political financing, and on state financing of political campaigns, should be designed in a way that provides a level playing field for the different political candidates and parties competing in elections and serves to preserve the political forces' independence from financial supporters.

The following international conventions and standards relate to the financing of political parties:

 

Domestic context

Nowadays, political parties in Ukraine may be funded from two sources: (1) contributions from individuals and legal entities and (2) state financing. The state financing of political parties was introduced as part of the overall anti-corruption reforms launched after the Euromaidan Revolution. The new provisions were designed to ensure accountability of the funding of political parties and reduce the influence of private capital. They took force on 1 July  2016. The legislation meets international standards for establishing effective financing and ensuring the transparency of party finances. It was positively assessed by the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Venice Commission and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

In May 2021, NACP officially launched the Unified State Register of Political Parties Reporting – the POLITDATA (https://politdata.nazk.gov.ua). It simplifies the reporting process for political parties, as well as enhances the level of transparency of the funding process. The register is designed to provide citizens with free access to the information and constitutes a convenient tool to scrutinize the revenues and spendings of the political parties. The information from the register is available in the form of open data and can be automatically processed via open API.

Legislation

Financing of political parties is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Political Parties” (Sections IV and IV-1). Although generally, political parties are allowed to receive private contributions, the Law imposes a number of limitations on the sources of private financing. In particular, the parties cannot get contributions from state and municipal enterprises, public authorities and local governments, minors and incapacitated persons, foreign states, foreign legal entities and citizens, unregistered civic organisations, charity and religious foundations, and other political parties. Furthermore, to prevent lobbyism and corruption, Article 15 of the Law sets conditions for the private funding of political parties.

The state funding of political parties constitutes another source of their income. At the expense of the state budget, Ukraine finances the statutory activities of political parties, as well as reimburses the expenses related to the election campaigns (Article 17-1). State financing is provided to the parties which received not less than 5% of the total number of the votes and got into the parliament (Article 17-3).

The political parties are obliged to conduct an annual internal financial audit of their activities. A political party that has received state funding must also undergo an external independent audit of its financial statements. Finally, the political parties and their local branches are required to quarterly submit their financial statements to NACP. The statements are submitted electronically and are further included in the Unified State Register of Political Parties Reporting (Article 17 of the Law).

The state control over compliance with statutory restrictions on the financing of political parties is executed by NACP. The violations of the applicable requirements as to the sources of funding of political parties, as well as reporting obligations, may lead to administrative (Articles 212-15, 212-21 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences) or criminal liability (Article 159-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Guidelines

TI Ukraine, together with the TI Latvia, Latvian anti-corruption experts and other NGOs, published a handbook on Latvian Experience in control of political finance “Control of Political Finance. From A to Z. The Latvian Experience” where they described the best practices of Latvia in this area. The handbook aims to provide Ukrainian state authorities, local governments, civil society and media with special instruments.

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems created a Manual on political finance for political parties in order to raise awareness of Ukrainian political parties on issues of the reform of the financing of political parties and its nuances. The manual contains practical advice to party representatives on how to comply with the new legal requirements and avoid common mistakes in financial compliance.

On its website, the Integrity Building Office of NACP also features the guidelines and video instructions on the reporting obligations of the political parties and operation of the Politdata register.

International standards

Open policy making approaches enable governments to reach more informed and better designed policy outcomes through collaborative approaches that draw on a variety of perspectives and expertise. Different digital tools and analytical techniques are deployed so that policy is more evidence-based and data-driven. Models of engagement can include a representative citizens panel, crowdsourcing of policy ideas, or the use of collective intelligence to draw on the knowledge and expertise of a diverse public.

By the use of open data and citizen engagement, more informed, inclusive decisions can be reached, and more innovation applied in both the policymaking process and the resulting policy decisions. To maximise the possible gains of open policy making, local authorities could set up an open policy making team that publishes the data used to inform and shape policy decisions. and trains public officials in working with data to inform policymaking.

Although there are no specific open policy making standards, the following are useful points of reference:

• The Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207) provides an international legal guarantee to this right, including the establishment of measures to ensure citizen participation.
• The Council of Europe’s Guidelines for civil participation in political decision making sets out standards for engaging with citizens and civil society.
• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on the participation of citizens in local public life.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution and Recommendation on Transparency and open government provide standards and mechanisms to enhance transparency and promote the involvement and participation of citizens in the local public life.
• The Code of Good Practice for Civil Participation in the Decision-Making Process, adopted by the Conference of International NGOs of the Council of Europe.
• Civil Participation in Decision-Making Processes. An Overview of Standards and Practices in Council of Europe Member States, European Center for Not-for-profit Law (ECNL) for the European Committee on Democracy and Governance.
• The OECD Recommendation on Open Government helps to design and implement successful open government strategies and initiatives.
• The OECD’s Guiding Principles support the development of a culture of openness.
• The OECD’s Focus on Citizens: Public Engagement for Better Policy and Services explores how to put open policy making into practice.
• The OECD’s Observatory of Public Sector Innovation lists useful toolkits and resources.
• The Open Government Partnerships Guide and Toolbox provide an extensive range of support.
• The OECD Background Document on Public Consultation defines consultation and provides a summary of consultation tools.
• Both Australia and the UK have both produced useful toolkits.
• The Royal Society of the Arts, UK, and the Forum for Ethical AI addressed some of the AI challenges posed by new technology in Democratising decisions about technology. A toolkit.

Domestic context

Open policymaking became a regular practice in Ukraine after the 2014 Revolution. Both local governments and public authorities set up civic councils to involve citizens in the decision-making process. 

In May 2021, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine also introduced a powerful tool for e-government and open policymaking – the "SVOI" platform to improve the interaction between the local governments and citizens (https://toolkit.in.ua/). With the help of the SVOI platform, local governments can easily build their website, run a chat bot in Viber and Telegram to communicate with the citizens, launch their own system for electronic petitions, allow for an effective system of participatory budget and electronic consultations, as well as use an ‘Open City Geosystem’. 41 Ukrainian communities have already participated in the project. Among the largest cities using the provided toolkit, there are Odesa, Lutsk, Vinnytsia, Kamyanske, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi and Sievierodonetsk.

Legislation

Several laws in Ukraine contain provisions on open policymaking, such as the Law No. 2862-VI “On Social Dialogue”, the Law No. 1160 “On Principles of Public Regulatory Policy of Economic Activity”, and the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 996 “On Ensuring Public Participation in the Formulation and Implementation of Public Policy”. Furthermore, a more relevant draft law “On public consultations” is currently under development.

The Decree No. 996 regulates general procedures for public consultations, policy expertise and the involvement of stakeholders in advisory bodies. The resolution is not compulsory for local governments, which means they can choose whether or not to transpose such regulations into their by-laws.

The Decree No. 996 also defines typical provisions on civic councils – temporary advisory bodies established in public authorities and local governments to promote citizens participation in the policymaking. In May 2019, the Cabinet of Ministers amended Decree No. 996, updating the method and principle of forming such civic councils. Thanks to this decision, it became possible to elect the composition of the civic council by online voting. This change constitutes a useful tool to enhance the transparency of the process.

Guidelines

Within the project ‘Transparent cities’, the NGO Transparency International Ukraine provides guidelines for the 100 largest cities in Ukraine, based off individual assessments provided for each city.^[i] The guidelines for open policymaking encourage city councils to allow citizens to participate in their consultation and commission meetings; and to publish draft bills 20 working days before being discussed and the full agendas of the sessions 10 days ahead of the plenary session.

The “Civic Activist’s Handbook” developed by experts of the USAID project “Citizens in action” in collaboration with the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research provides recommendations and an overview of mechanisms to involve citizens in open policymaking. For instance, it provides model regulations for local self-governance that allow the implementation of best practices of local democracy in line with European standards of good governance.

International standards

Participatory budgeting began in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in the late 1980s and has spread worldwide. To ensure that participatory budgeting is inclusive and reaches out to different groups, including minority groups and the disadvantaged, both online and in-person information events need to be organised, and support provided to citizens and different community groups and stakeholders in how to prepare a proposal for consideration. The introduction of gender-sensitive participatory budgeting can increase outreach and accessibility and can be planned in close co-operation with local civic groups with a focus on inclusion.

Although there are no specific standards for implementing participatory budgeting, the following serve as important reference materials:

• The Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207) provides an international legal guarantee to this right, including the implementation of measures that would facilitate its exercise.
• The Congress of the Council of Europe’s Resolution on Gender budgeting recommends introducing gender budgeting methods in the annual budgets at local and regional levels.
• The OECD Policy Brief No. 22 provides a series of policy recommendations for how key stakeholders can contribute to successful participatory budgeting.
• The World Bank’s book Participatory Budgeting provides an overview of the underlying principles, analyses current practice and includes seven in-depth case studies.
• The UN Habitat’s 72 Frequently Asked Questions about Participatory Budgeting explores how to implement participatory budgeting.
• The World Atlas of Participatory Budgeting represents the widest compilation of data on the situation of these processes worldwide.
• The UK’s Participatory Budgeting Unit has a useful list of resources and toolkits.
• The Subnational Open Budget Survey Questionnaire of the International Budget Partnership sets out a range of metrics for measuring the openness of local government budgets.
• The Principles of Public Participation in Fiscal Policy of the Global Initiative for Fiscal Transparency.

Domestic context

In 2015 and for the first time in Ukraine, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, and Poltava introduced participatory budgeting. To date, the vast majority of and amalgamated communities are now implementing this process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. The participatory budgeting suggests that local councils allocate a certain amount of the local budget to citizens. For these purposes, cities may use their own websites or special e-platforms allowing citizens to create and vote for the projects to be funded from the local budget, for instance, “Public Project” or “E-Dem. Public Budget”.

Other ways of citizen participation in budget planning processes supplementing the participatory budget include open plenary sessions on budgeting, citizens’ written suggestions and requests on development and use of the local budget, public monitoring and effectiveness assessment of budget spending.

Legislation

No specific legislative acts on participatory budgeting were adopted at the national level. Article 9 of the Law No. 280/97-VR “On Local Self-government” allows citizens to submit their own initiatives to the local council. Article 26, paragraph 20, states that, at plenary sessions of a city, town or village council, the council can provide self-organised citizens with specific powers of self-governance and transfer funds for the realisation of their initiatives. In practice, each city, town or village that introduces participatory budgeting provides the necessary local regulations for the subsequent implementation of projects.

For example, in its Regulation on the Public Budget, Ternopil City provides for the specific procedures for projects submission, review and consideration, further voting for the projects and determination of the winning ideas, as well as for the subsequent realization of those projects. It is defined that to be funded at the expense of the public budget, projects should be aimed at improving community infrastructure (for example, streets, parks, roads, sports or children's playgrounds, institutions: schools, clinics, kindergartens, etc.). The submission of the projects, as well as voting for them, can be conducted online or in paper form. The result of the project must be publicly available, and all residents of the community should have free access to it.

Guidelines

In the course of implementation of the Strategy for reforming the public financial management system for 2017-2020, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance issued “Guidelines on mechanisms for public participation in the budget process at the local level”. These Guidelines provide the recommendations for the local governments on the development of their local regulations on participatory budgeting.

A handbook “Implementation and Improvement of the Participatory Budget: Practical Advice” drafted by the experts of the Polish-Ukrainian Foundation PAUCI within the Partnership for Local Economic Development and Democratic Governance Project implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities  describes step-by-step algorithms by which communities can implement the participatory budget independently and successfully. It provides recommendations for seven stages of participatory budgeting:

1. Preparatory stage
2. Information and educational campaign
3. Discussion, preparation and submission of projects
4. Review of the projects
5. Selection of the projects through an open and public voting procedure
6. Projects’ realisation
7. Assessment and improvement

No doubt, effective participatory budgeting is impossible without active citizens who possess enough knowledge and skills to prepare and submit projects. To improve the awareness of local communities, some cities choose to run special education and training programs. For such purposes, Odesa City prepared helpful “Guidelines for organisation and conduct of training of community residents on the submission of projects under the “Public Budget” tool”.

International standards

Different forms of consultation range from informing and consulting citizens to crowdsourcing ideas for policies, deliberative debates and assemblies where citizens can develop potential policy solutions to inform decision-making, and collaboration where social enterprises, civil society organisations or expert groups either participate in the design or delivery of services.

To improve both the inclusiveness and efficiency of public consultations, each local authority should aim to have a unit that takes responsibility for co-ordinating the guidelines and procedures for implementing public consultations, and for ensuring that they are in accordance with the prevailing legislation. Such a unit could also train officers in different departments on running public consultations. In the case of smaller local authorities with more limited resources, a unit in the central government’s responsible ministry, such as a ministry of regional development, could provide such training and support on co-ordinating and updating guidance and procedures for public consultations at the local level.

Although there are no specific standards for implementing public consultations, the following are useful reference materials:

• The Additional Protocol to the European Charter of Local Self-Government on the right to participate in the affairs of a local authority (CETS No. 207) provides an international legal guarantee to this right, including the establishment of measures to ensure citizen participation, such as consultative processes and local referendums.
• The OECD Background Document on Public Consultation defines consultation and provides a summary of consultation tools.
• The Council of Europe’s Guidelines for civil participation in political decision making set out the different types of civil participation in decision making.
• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on the participation of citizens in local public life.
• The OECD Recommendation of the Council on Open Government supports initiatives for designing and delivering public policies and services, in an open and inclusive manner.
• Reaching Out: Guidelines on Consultation for Public Sector Bodies sets out good practice in the Republic of Ireland.

Domestic context

The practice of public consultations evolved significantly as part of the Ukraine’s Open Government Partnership action plans. In line with recommendations from the European Parliament Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, an online platform for public consultation of the Parliament (itd.rada.gov.ua) of Ukraine was created and duly incorporated into national legislation. The Government of Ukraine also launched a thematic web platform for communication with civil society and public consultations (kmu.gov.ua/gromadskosti). Among the other functions, this web platform features indicative schedules for public consultations organised by the executive authorities. At local level, the Kyiv City Council regularly uses public consultations to involve citizens in the decision-making process.

Multiple electronic platforms, such as a platform for online public consultations "Electronic Democracy. Public Consultations" (consult.e-dem.ua) and a system for public opinion polls "Your opinion" (vdmk.org) that can be used during offline public consultations and hearings, bring open policy-making to the fore by providing diverse tools for interaction between citizens and public authorities.

Legislation

The legal basis for public consultations is evolving. In fact, the draft Law “On public consultations”, which aims to provide a legally binding procedure for public consultations, is currently being developed. Herewith, legislative acts in different fields may require public authorities to organise public hearings in some specific cases.

General procedures for public consultation are set out in two Decrees of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine: No. 996 “On the Procedure for Consulting the General Public on Establishing and Implementing the Public Policy and No. 976 “On the Procedure of Civic Expertise of the Activities of the Executive Bodies”. The Decree No. 996 regulates general procedures for public consultations. However, the Decree is not compulsory for local governments, which means they can choose whether or not to follow such regulation on a local level.

According to this Decree, public consultations are announced and conducted by the executive authorities responsible for drafting acts. They can take place in the form of offline public discussions, e-consultations and surveys, as indicated in paragraph 11 of the Decree No. 996.

There are particular fields where public authorities are obliged to organise public consultations and take propositions into consideration, such as in the course of regulatory impact assessment in the field of economic activity, when considering the urban development and environmental issues. The complete list of such fields is defined in paragraph 12 of the Decree No. 996.

As relates to the local level, the Law of Ukraine No. 280/97-VR “On Local Self-government” allows citizens to arrange public hearings where they can discuss urgent issues and submit their propositions to public authorities (Article 13).

Guidelines

Based on the Council of Europe analysis of civil participation in decision making, it is recommended that local public authorities conduct public consultations on a regular basis in the form of online consultations, expert working groups and public hearings, in order to give citizens, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders a sense of ownership in decision making. Public authorities have to ensure that public consultations participants have at least 30 days to provide their comments at each stage of the review process. As a result, public consultations also enhance impact assessment exercises, and improve the quality and sustainability of the resulting decisions and laws.

Two online courses were developed by the public authorities and leading NGOs in the field, explaining how to effectively organise public consultations. One is available on the Diia platform and provides helpful guidance on online public consultations. The second is published by open courses provider “EdEra” and focuses more on the offline format. EdEra also presented a handbook “Public consultations: step by step” that contains not only general explanations on the matter but also practical advice, templates, tools, checklists and additional online resources.

Experts of the USAID project “Citizens in action”, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Centre for Independent Political Research, developed model regulations for local self-governance that allow the implementation of best practices of local democracy in line with European standards of good governance, including the model regulation on public consultation.