Unit summary
- The number of violations of the Rules of Procedure during the adoption of laws remained high in the 12th session, with approximately 66% of laws adopted containing violations.
- The share of violations in the second reading of draft laws increased by 7–8% compared to the 11th session.
- The total share of violations of the constitutional deadline (15 days) for the President to sign laws in the 12th session was 44%. For 38 laws, the deadline for signing (or submitting proposals) was violated, and 9 laws were neither signed nor vetoed.
The volume of legislative procedure violations during the 12th session remained high, with two-thirds of the draft laws adopted containing violations. An increase in violations occurred in the second reading, which has not been observed since the 8th session. The only positive aspect is that, for the first time since 2022, the 12th session did not increase the number of violations of the constitutional deadline (15 days) for the President to sign laws
Violations of the Rules of Procedure
The 12th session showed a partial decrease in violations in some categories. However, the deadlines for submitting the committee’s opinions for the first reading were increasingly violated. The procedures for consideration of about 66% (two-thirds) of the laws were violated during the 12th session.
During the 12th session, the frequency of Rules of Procedure violations varies depending on the first or second reading. For the first reading, the share of violations decreased compared to the 10th and 11th sessions, when considering the timing of the MSED’s opinions. As for the other two violations of the first reading procedure, there were no significant changes, and the violations remained at the level of the 11th session.
For all three violations monitored for the second reading, the share of Rules of Procedure violations increased (by 7–8% compared to the 11th session). The volume of violations for both the first and second readings is still significantly (sometimes twice) higher than the volume of violations before 24 February 2022. The increase in the share of violations is a negative trend that has not been observed since almost the 8th session.
The diagrams and table show what percentage of draft laws were adopted with certain violations of the Rules of Procedure by session.
Violations of the Rules of Procedure concerning adopted laws in the Verkhovna Rada*
*Unlike the previous materials, this monitoring presents data on violations regarding vetoed and non-vetoed draft laws in one table.
| Type of violation | Provision of the Rules of Procedure | Total number of laws checked for violations | Number of laws with violations |
| The committee’s opinion on the first reading (absence of such opinions or violation of the deadlines for reviewing these opinions before their consideration in the session hall) | An opinion shall be provided 7 days before the draft law is considered in the session hall during the first reading. | 108 | 44 (40.7%) violations, 44 – violations of deadlines, including 1 case of adoption of the draft law on the day of submitting the opinion. All opinions are available. |
| MSED’s opinion on the first reading (absence of such opinions or violation of deadlines for reviewing these opinions before their consideration in the session hall) | An opinion shall be provided 7 days before the draft law is considered in the session hall during the first reading. | 108 | 18 (16.6%) violations of the deadline. All opinions are available. |
| Comparative table after the first reading (absence of a comparative table or creation of such a table within the deadlines that does not allow all entities to submit their amendments within the deadlines established by the Rules of Procedure) | Proposals and amendments shall be submitted to the table no earlier than 14 days after the adoption of the draft law in the first reading or 7 days in case of a shortened deadline. | 75 (draft laws adopted in the second reading) | No violations of deadlines. All comparative tables are available. |
| MLD’s opinions (no MLD’s opinions or violation of the terms provided for review with these opinions before their consideration in the session hall) | MLD’s opinions shall be submitted 10 days before the draft law is considered in the session hall during the second reading or 5 days in the event of a shortened deadline. | 75 (draft laws adopted in the second reading) | 45 (60%) violations** of deadlines. All opinions are available. |
| The committee’s opinion for the second reading (absence of committee opinions or violation of the deadlines for reviewing these opinions before their consideration in the session hall) | Committee opinions for the second reading shall be submitted 10 days before the draft law is considered in the session hall during the second reading or 5 days in the event of a shortened deadline. | 75 (draft laws adopted in the second reading) | 45 (60%) violations of deadlines. Committee opinions are available for all laws |
| Comparative table on the second reading (absence of a comparative table or violation of the deadlines for reviewing these tables before their consideration in the session hall) | Tables shall be submitted 10 days before the draft law is considered in the session hall during the second reading or 5 days in the event of a shortened deadline. | 75 (draft laws adopted in the second reading) | 45 (60%) violations of deadlines. All tables are available. |
*The VRU Rules of Procedure do not explicitly require that the MSED’s opinion be mandatory. Along with Article 103(4), which states that no comments are made if no opinions are issued within 14 days, there are also provisions on the need for the MSED’s opinions:
- Article 112 establishes that supporting documents to a draft law shall be provided to MPs no later than seven days before the day of draft law consideration at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada.
- Article 99(2)(3) establishes that expert opinions on a draft law are part of the supporting documents.
Thus, it can be concluded that the VRU Rules of Procedure are imperfect and contain contradictory provisions. For example, the MSED can provide an opinion after the 14-day deadline (due to its workload), and in this case, it is unclear what the main committee should do – consider that there are no comments or take them into account.
**No MLD’s opinion on the draft state budget, but this was not considered a violation due to the established practice of not having MLD’s opinion on budgets for different years.
Violation of the Constitution in terms of the deadline for signing laws
In addition to the usual violations of the Rules of Procedure, the monitoring included violations of the Constitution, specifically the 15-day deadline for the President to sign adopted laws (Article 94 of the Constitution). 108 laws adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during the 12th session were monitored. The deadline for signing (or submitting proposals) was violated in respect of 38 laws, i.e., in 35% of cases. In addition, another nine laws were neither signed by the President, vetoed, nor received proposals (although the deadline for their signature had already passed). If we combine all these violations, they amount to almost 44% of all laws passed during the 12th session, which is almost the same as the value in the 11th session, when it was 45%. Thus, almost half of all laws passed during the 12th session violated the deadlines stipulated by the Ukrainian Constitution The deadline for the President’s signature was also violated regarding the repeatedly vetoed draft law No. 11150 of 4 April 2024, which was not included in the monitoring report due to its adoption and first veto during the 11th session. .
Of course, it does not matter whether the deadline was violated by two days or a hundred and two days – it is a breach in both cases. If we look at the record-breakers in this regard, the signing period of 77 days was record-breaking.
Since the introduction of martial law, the trend towards an increase in the share of constitutional procedure violations has been growing. During the first six months of martial law, 16.4% of laws violated constitutional procedures. The next 8th session demonstrated stabilisation of the work of the Verkhovna Rada and executive bodies, but the share of laws in which the President violated the constitutional deadline increased to 22.4%. This figure was already 36% during the 9th session. It rose to 42% in the course of the 10th session. During the 11th session, this figure reached 45%. This figure is 44% in the 12th session. Of course, a minimal decrease in the number of such cases is better than an increase. However, it is too early to discuss any significant changes in the existing trend of constitutional procedure violations. The volume of violations during the 12th session remains quite high, higher than during the first six months of martial law. These violations cannot be explained by regulatory and procedural shortcomings According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the President has 15 days to sign the law and officially promulgate it or return it with their reasoned and formulated proposals to the Parliament. The government arranges for the expert examination of the law submitted to the President for signature, per the president’s decision. According to the CMU Regulations, the government has a maximum of 7 days to submit its proposals for the President to sign the law or substantiated and reasoned proposals on the expediency of the President’s veto. The time required to prepare generalised comments and proposals depends on the scope and complexity of the law, as well as other factors such as the day of the week and time of receipt of a copy of the law, the number of ministries involved in the expert examination, differences in their positions on the adopted law, internal bureaucratic procedures in the ministries, technical reasons, etc. Any combination of these factors could delay the submission of the government’s proposals for the law and, consequently, the President’s decision to sign the law or return it to parliament. , as the relevant norms have not been changed.
During the 12th session, the President vetoed and submitted proposals for five draft laws on time (without violating the 15-day deadline). The Verkhovna Rada has so far considered only one (No. 11150 of 4 April 2024), which was re-adopted with the President’s proposals.
Four of the five vetoed draft laws were initiated by representatives of the Servant of the People faction, and one was initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers, so it seems that in these cases, the positions of the initiators and the President were not agreed upon or the draft laws were technically flawed.
