On February 13, 2026, a plenary session of the Plenum of the Supreme Court was held in Kyiv to mark the opening of the Judicial year. The event was attended by heads of judicial authorities and representatives of other state institutions.
Andrii Pasichnyk, the Chairman of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, reported on the results of the Commission’s activities in 2025. According to him, this year was the most productive in the entire history of the HQCJ.
Procedures were carried out for 2 400 vacant positions of judges in Ukrainian courts, and more than 9 900 application forms were processed. 10 178 candidates took the qualification exam. A total of 638 interviews were conducted and 2 538 decisions on judicial careers were took.
Such indicators for the year are unprecedented for the Commission, and these results represent a real strengthening of the institutional capacity of the Ukrainian judicial system.
Andrii Pasichnyk emphasised that, for the first time in Ukraine’s history, an open competition was held for administrative and commercial courts of appeal, resulting in
42 winners for administrative courts of appeal and 55 winners for commercial courts of appeal.
The Сommission selected the winners of the competition for vacant positions of judges in general courts of appeal. Recommendations were made for appointments to five courts of the first stage: Zhytomyr Court of Appeal – 14, Sumy Court of Appeal – 19, Zaporizhzhia Court of Appeal – 16, Chernihiv Court of Appeal – 22, and Transcarpathian Court of Appeal – 10. Interviews are currently being held with candidates for judicial positions in second-instance courts, which include the Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Kharkiv courts of appeal.
In addition, the Chairman of the Commission announced the completion of the qualification exam in the competition for the High Anti-Corruption Court, in particular its Appeals Chamber, and the start of special joint meetings of the HQCJ and the Public Council of International Experts.
It is important to note that last year, for the first time, the Commission conducted the competition procedures independently. In previous years, this was impossible, in particular due to the lack of test databases, practical assignment databases, appropriate software and server infrastructure. The Commission consistently took measures to create the necessary organisational and technical conditions for autonomous work, which was identified as a strategic priority and successfully implemented.
2025 was also marked by important achievements of the Commission in the field of digital transformation. In cooperation with the Agency for Legislative Initiatives and with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), a comprehensive digitisation of all the Commission’s work processes was launched. Key tasks include updating the Commission’s official website, implementing an electronic document management system, and creating an electronic office for judicial careers.
"Our goal is to convert 90% of the Commission’s operational processes to digital format. This is a systematic effort that is already underway and will have a long-term effect on the entire judicial system", Andriі Pasichnyk emphasised.
The HQCJ’s participation in the extended meeting of the Plenum of the Supreme Court confirmed the joint position of the judicial authorities on strengthening the courts’ personnel and modernising them.
Photo: Supreme Court.
