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1 Odessa State University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine (corresponding author)
E-mail: 7991960@ukr.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0327-6569
2 Donetsk State University of Internal Affairs, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine
E-mail: nazumuch@ukr.net
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4949-4155
3 Odessa State University of Internal Affairs, Ukraine
E-mail: pavlutinyuriy@gmail.com
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3267-1389

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/2256-0742/2022-8-3-48-52

CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW OF UKRAINE  
IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: PROBLEMATIC 

ECONOMIC AND LEGAL ISSUES, WAYS OF REFORMING
Valentyna Horoshko1, Yehor Nazymko2, Yurii Pavliutin3

Abstract. The subject of the study is the coverage of problematic issues and ways of reforming the criminal 
procedure legislation of Ukraine in the context of European integration. Methodology. The methodological 
basis of the study is a dialectical method of scientific knowledge, through the application of this method the 
legal, functional, organizational and procedural aspects of methodological approaches to the understanding of 
problematic issues are considered and the ways of reforming the criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine in the 
context of European integration are considered. The results of the article analyze the current criminal procedure 
legislation of Ukraine and the legislation of the countries of the European Union. When analyzing the French 
criminal procedure, two main features can be identified, which distinguish it from the Anglo-Saxon legal system 
and are criticized by experts from Great Britain and the United States. In France judges are vested with considerable 
powers. The first feature of French criminal procedure is the institution of preliminary interrogation of the accused 
by the presiding judge. The judge verifies the sufficiency of the evidence for a conviction. Conclusion. So, based 
on the above, it is possible to conclude that the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine was created in the spirit of 
democratic values, but some of its norms need to be reformed in order to improve the mechanism of protection 
of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of an individual. The practical experience of France, the Federal 
Republic of Germany and Great Britain is relevant. The shortcomings of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine 
are highlighted. The prospects for their reform are outlined and amendments to the current legislation in the 
context of European integration are proposed. Prospects for further research: a) the study of the experience of 
individual foreign countries in the context of the improvement of criminal procedural norms; b) analysis of the 
possibility of harmonization of criminal procedural legislation of Ukraine with the norms of the European Union; 
c) development of an effective mechanism of relations between the subjects of criminal proceedings. The issue 
of the relevance and admissibility of evidence is also important. Articles 87-89 of the CPC of Ukraine establish  
the grounds and procedure for declaring evidence inadmissible. However, judicial practice shows a large  
number of criminal proceedings against public persons, which the court had to terminate due to the lack of 
evidence, due to the inadmissibility or improper nature of the evidence. The authors believe that the legislative 
regulation of the process of collecting evidence in the UK is a positive experience for Ukraine.

Key words: court, judicial proceedings, criminal procedural legislation, criminal process, European integration, 
economic and legal issues.

JEL Classification: B22, E22, E24, J24, O15

1. Introduction
Today Ukraine is on the way to cardinal changes 

in the process of European integration. However, 
rapprochement with the countries of the European 
Union creates the need for harmonization of Ukrainian 

legislation with the legislation of the European Union 
member states, implementation in practice effective 
protection of the rights and interests of individuals 
and society as a whole in order to establish a confident 
position of Ukraine on the world stage as a democratic 

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms 
of the Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 4.0



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and lawful state. Judicial practice around the world  
forms an impression of the level of democratic 
government in a country and shapes the level of public 
confidence in it. That is why the quality of criminal 
proceedings and judicial decisions is of exceptional 
importance. Every person in Ukraine has the right 
to legal, fair, impartial justice, appeal against illegal  
actions or omissions of state authorities. 

In Article 3 of the Constitution of Ukraine, 
the legislator proclaims the status of Ukraine as 
a social state, where the person, his life, health, honor,  
dignity, inviolability and safety are the highest social 
value, and therefore the public authorities must  
provide an effective mechanism for the protection of 
violated and (or) unrecognized rights and legitimate 
interests of the individual. Criminal offenses  
constitute a significant public danger (Law 
of Ukraine, 1996). It is the norms of criminal  
procedural legislation that are of particular  
importance in the process of realization of the  
human right to a legal, fair, impartial, objective and 
transparent justice. The European integration vector 
of Ukraine's development determines the need for 
harmonization of Ukrainian criminal procedural 
legislation with the legislation of the European Union.

The purpose of the article is to highlight the 
problematic issues and ways of reforming the  
criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine in the  
context of European integration.

During the Soviet period the closest approach to 
this topic was represented in the fundamental work by 
L.B. Aleksieeva devoted to issues of the effectiveness  
of the criminal procedural law (Aleksieeva, 1979). 
Among modern works, the collective monograph 
"Theoretical foundations of ensuring quality of  
criminal legislation and law enforcement activities 
in the sphere of fighting crime in Ukraine" should 
be highlighted (Zelenetskyi, 2011). Despite the lack 
of comprehensive developments, almost all works 
of modern proceduralists devoted to the study of 
aspects of criminal proceedings also analyze the 
relevant regulatory framework of their regulation and, 
consequently, explore certain issues concerning the 
quality of criminal procedural legislation.

In terms of research, the definition of the concept 
of quality of criminal procedural legislation is 
a necessary primary theoretical task on the way to the  
development of the scientific concept of standards 
of quality of criminal procedural legislation with the 
prospect of its practical implementation. The authors of 
the article aim to formulate the main theoretical tasks.

However, despite the in-depth research of the above 
scholars, to date, there is a problem of reforming the 
norms of the current criminal procedure legislation 
of Ukraine in the context of European integration 
processes through the positive experience of countries 
belonging to the European Union.

In terms of research, the definition of the concept  
of quality of criminal procedural legislation is a  
necessary first theoretical task on the way to the 
development of the scientific concept of quality 
standards of criminal procedural legislation (CPL) 
with the prospect of its practical implementation.  
The authors of the article pursue to formulate the  
main theoretical provisions related to the definition  
of the category "quality of criminal procedural  
legislation," and these provisions will be the 
methodological basis for further scientific research 
and formulation of standards of quality of modern 
criminal procedural legislation in the light of 
updated national legal doctrine, taking into account 
European standards in terms of the perception of the  
fundamental requirement of the rule of law. The high 
quality of criminal procedural law is a fundamental 
condition for the effective implementation of the 
purpose of criminal proceedings. Only a high-quality 
criminal procedure law can organize the activities in 
criminal cases in such a way that its system is simple, 
understandable for all subjects of legal proceedings,  
and that those of them who apply the law can do so 
quickly and to a high standard. 

L. Loboiko notes that ensuring the effectiveness  
of criminal procedural activity is one of the elements 
of the functional purpose of quality of the criminal 
procedural law (Loboiko, 2017).

According to O.G. Yanovska, the right to appeal 
the decisions of a judge, an investigating judge, 
the investigator, the prosecutor is one of the most  
important guarantees of protection of rights and 
legitimate interests of a person (Yanovska, 2013). The 
relevance of this topic is the need to form an effective 
mechanism to protect the rights, freedoms and  
interests of the individual in criminal proceedings by 
reforming the norms of existing criminal procedural 
legislation.

2. Criminal and procedural legislation  
of Ukraine in the context  
of European integration

Today Ukraine is going through a difficult path of 
European integration, which makes it necessary to 
study a number of acts of international legislation in 
order to adapt Ukrainian legislation to the legislation 
of the European Union. If to consider the criminal 
and criminal procedure law of the European Union 
(hereinafter – EU), it should be noted that there 
is no single normative act that would regulate 
criminal and criminal procedure relations of the 
EU member states. Scholars note the heterogeneity 
of EU criminal law and divide it into the following  
categories:
1) EU administrative and criminal law (norms  
containing the main EU prohibitions and some 



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procedural norms, which for formal and political 
reasons belong to the administrative law norms);
2) Rules of EU law defining the specifics of criminal 
law and criminal procedure, which require EU member 
states to take certain measures in a certain way;
3) Criminal Procedure Law of the European Union, 
which contains certain standards of criminal  
procedure, as well as peculiarities of international 
cooperation, extradition, etc;
4) Draft norms of the unified criminal law  
(Pashkovskyi, 2017).

Despite this, the countries of the European Union 
have experience in effective criminal proceedings,  
which can serve Ukraine in the process of reforming  
the norms of existing criminal procedure legislation.

Despite the democratization of the norms of the 
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter –  
CPC of Ukraine), practice shows that there 
are significant shortcomings in the process of 
implementation of the norms of criminal procedural 
legislation (Law of Ukraine, 2013). Article 214  
of the CPC of Ukraine provides for the procedure 
for filing and registration of a criminal complaint.  
The legislator has determined that a criminal  
complaint must be filed by an investigator or  
prosecutor no later than 24 hours to the Unified  
Register of Pre-Trial Investigations. However, such 
a norm does not eliminate the problem of untimely 
submission of information about a criminal offense, 
since investigators and prosecutors have a habit of 
"sorting" such statements, which leads to a violation 
of the right of a person to a timely response of state 
authorities to the committed criminal offense.

Also, Article 284 of the CPC of Ukraine provides 
that one of the grounds for termination of criminal 

proceedings is a verdict in the criminal proceedings. 
In the previous Criminal Procedure Code of  
Ukraine (Law of Ukraine, 2013), the legislator  
provided that the refusal to initiate criminal  
proceedings or termination of criminal proceedings 
in the absence of the elements essential for the 
corpus delicti (corpus delicti) makes it impossible to 
initiate similar criminal proceedings. Currently, the  
procedure under the current CPC of Ukraine poses 
the problem of initiating criminal proceedings on the 
same fact. At the same time, it is enough to submit  
an application to the Register of Pre-Trial Investi-
gations. This practice shows that even in the case of 
termination of criminal proceedings, it is not excluded 
to conduct repeated investigative actions in full.

Scientists note that one of the innovations in the 
current CPC of Ukraine is to strengthen judicial 
control over the observance of the rights, freedoms 
and interests of citizens. This control consists in the 
application by the investigating judge of measures 
to ensure criminal proceedings. Statistical data show  
that the most frequent applications for securing the 
rights, freedoms and interests of citizens are in the form  
of petitions for temporary access to things and 
documents. Such motions are usually filed by persons 
acting for and on behalf of the accused. Access is  
granted only on the basis of the decision of the 
investigating judge. To date, in our opinion, the legal 
gap of the legislator is the lack of an exhaustive list of 
documents that must be attached to the above petition. 
This problem is the reason for a large number of court 
decisions to deny access to these things and documents. 
Sometimes judges themselves are negligent about 
attaching the necessary documents to the relevant 
application, which may be of great importance in the 

 
Figure 1. The number of crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine (from 2001 to 2020)



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consideration of a criminal case. There is also no clear 
mechanism for proving the need to seize documents 
and/or things due to the threat of their destruction. 
Therefore, the authors believe that it is necessary to 
define in the CPC of Ukraine a rule on the procedure 
and grounds for the seizure of things and documents 
(Leheza et al., 2022).

3. Foreign experience criminal  
and procedural legislation of Ukraine  
in the conditions of euro-integration

In the opinion of the authors, one of the short- 
comings of the CPC of Ukraine is the possibility 
to protect the rights, freedoms and interests of an  
individual exclusively by lawyers. The experience of 
foreign countries (in particular, Germany) provides 
for the possibility to perform this function not only 
by a lawyer, but also by other specialists in the field 
of law. According to Paragraph 138 of the CPC of the 
FRG, teachers of law in higher education institutions 
in Germany also have the right to defend the rights, 
freedoms and interests of individuals. In our opinion, 
this practice makes sense in the criminal procedural 
legislation of Ukraine, because teachers in the field 
of jurisprudence constantly improve their scientific 
level in the process of teaching and can effectively 
protect the rights and interests of individuals in court 
(Holovnenkov, 2012).

Lawyers note the shortcomings of Articles 220-221  
of the CPC of Ukraine. Article 220 of the CPC of 
Ukraine defines the procedure for consideration of 
applications for any procedural actions. Petitions by 
the defense, the victim and his or her representative 
or legal representative, or a representative of a legal 
entity with respect to which proceedings are being 
conducted, must be considered within no more than 
three days from the time of filing and, if there are 
appropriate grounds, the petition must be granted. The 
results of the consideration of the respective petition 
shall be communicated to the person who submitted 
the petition. If there are grounds provided for by 
applicable law, a reasoned ruling is issued, a copy of 
which is served to the person from whom the petition 
was filed, or, if service is impossible due to objective 
reasons, is sent to that person. Article 221 of the CPC 
of Ukraine stipulates the procedure for familiarization 
with the materials of the pre-trial investigation before 
its completion. The investigator and (or) the prosecutor 
shall be obliged, at the request of the defense, the 
victim, the representative of the legal entity in respect 
of which the proceedings are conducted, to provide 
them for familiarization with the pre-trial investigation 
materials, except for materials on the application of 
security measures to persons involved in the relevant 
criminal proceedings, and also except for materials 
which, if provided for familiarization at an appropriate 

stage of the criminal proceedings, may harm the  
pre-trial investigation. Refusal to provide for familia-
rization a publicly available document, the original of 
which is in the materials of the pre-trial investigation, 
shall not be allowed. During familiarization with the 
materials of the respective pre-trial investigation, the 
person in respect of whom this pre-trial investigation  
is conducted, has the right to make the necessary 
extracts and copies. Lawyers emphasize a gap in 
the legislation in terms of the lack of deadlines for  
notifying the person of the results of the consideration 
of his/her application (Tymoshyn, 2016).

Article 303 of the CPC of Ukraine significantly 
narrows the range of persons who have the right to  
appeal the decisions, actions or inactions of the 
investigator or prosecutor during the pre-trial 
investigation, as well as the grounds for such an appeal 
(Law of Ukraine, 2013). In particular, there is no norm 
that would regulate the possibility of appealing the  
failure to comply with the reasonable time of the 
investigation, as well as the procedure for filing 
complaints by persons who do not have the status of 
a suspect or a victim (Leheza et al., 2022).

Conciliation agreements are also of academic  
interest. Lawyer Kyrylo Nominas analyzes the 
expansion of possibilities for conciliation agreements. 
He notes that such broad possibilities contribute  
to the spread of corruption offenses and, as a  
consequence, the failure to fulfill the objectives of 
criminal proceedings. At the same time, he emphasizes 
that, despite these circumstances, such situations  
can be avoided if the court carefully examines the 
materials of the criminal case (Leheza et al., 2020).

When analyzing the criminal procedure in France, 
one can single out two main features that distinguish  
it from the Anglo-Saxon legal system and are subject  
to criticism by experts from Great Britain and the  
United States of America (Arkusha et al., 2020). In 
France judges are vested with considerable powers. 
The first feature of French criminal procedure is 
the institution of a preliminary examination of the 
accused by the presiding judge. The judge verifies the  
sufficiency of the evidence for a conviction. However, 
if the judge doubts the decision in a criminal case, the 
judge has the right to conduct an investigation himself, 
to visit the scene of the crime (Leheza et al., 2022).

4. Conclusions
So, based on the above, it is possible to conclude  

that the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine was 
created in the spirit of democratic values, but some 
of its norms need to be reformed in order to improve 
the mechanism of protection of the rights, freedoms 
and legitimate interests of an individual. The practical 
experience of France, the Federal Republic of  
Germany and Great Britain is relevant.



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Vol. 8 No. 3, 2022
According to the authors, such practice is  

appropriate for Ukraine as well. An important issue is 
the relevance and admissibility of evidence. Articles 
87-89 of the CPC of Ukraine establish the grounds 
and procedure for declaring evidence inadmissible. 
However, judicial practice shows a large number of 
criminal proceedings against public persons, which 
the court had to terminate due to lack of evidence, on 
the grounds of inadmissibility or improper nature of 
the evidence. The authors believe that the legislative 
regulation of the process of evidence collection in  
Great Britain is a positive experience for Ukraine. 
Under UK criminal procedure law, every private  
person, including lawyers, has the right to conduct  

their own investigation and has the right to collect 
evidence, and this evidence will be taken into account 
by the court if the court deems it appropriate, even if it  
was collected in criminal proceedings and would have  
been declared inadmissible in Ukraine (Berladin, 2012).

Prospects for further research are as follows:
1) studying the experience of individual foreign 
countries in the context of the improvement of  
criminal procedural norms;
2) analyzing possibilities to harmonize the Ukrainian 
criminal procedural legislation with the norms of the 
law of the European Union;
3) developing an effective mechanism of mutual 
relations between criminal procedure entities.

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Received on: 4th of August, 2022
Accepted on: 12th of September, 2022

Published on: 30th of September, 2022