CONCERNING THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES BY THE SECRETARIAT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF UKRAINE IN PERFORMING ITS FUNCTIONS

Abstract

Introduction. In accordance with the Law of Ukraine on the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine shall provide, in particular, managerial, information and logistics support for operations of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Court). Currently, Ukraine is developing in the era of post-industrial society, where the development of modern technologies, artificial intelligence, the provision of innovative services, etc., play an important role. Undoubtedly, such development of society requires the transformation of all spheres of life, in particular, regarding the implementation of constitutional justice.

Despite Russia’s continued full-scale aggression against Ukraine, national and European governments have been developing certain steps regarding the current and post-war development of Ukraine. One of these steps was the approval by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on December 14, 2022 (CM/Del/Dec (2022)1452/2.4) Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine «Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction» 2023-2026 that is dated November 29, 2022. According to this plan, one of the proposed action is to support the efficient functioning of the Court and development of the constitutional justice. The objective of the proposed action is to support to the Ukrainian authorities in the reform of the Court during the war and in the post-war context in line with the recommendations of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and Council of Europe standards [4; P.10]. In our opinion, implementation of this direction is impossible without effective use of information and communication technologies during the performance of the Court’s functions.

Summary of the main research results. Improving the work of the Court’s Secretariat with the use of information and communication technologies is seen in the enhancement of communication between citizens and the Court as a condition for increasing public trust in the Court’s activities, the improvement the Court’s electronic document management, legal regulation of the implementation of the Court’s e-justice in order to comply with the principles of transparency and openness in carrying out its activities. 

Conclusions. The article concludes the condition for a wider use of information and communication technologies in the activities of the Court’s Secretariat is first of all the adoption of the relevant legal regulation, development of the necessary software, training of staff on its use, provision of the Court’s Secretariat with a sufficient number of technical resources, premises and equipment for effective performance of its functions. Digitization of all spheres of public life, in particular the progressive development of e-justice, should definitely affect the legal regulation of relevant processes in the Court’s Secretariat.