Co-authored by Anton Havryk
The long-lasting story surrounding the adoption of new procedural codes and the beginning of the work of the new Supreme Court has finally found its end.
15 December 2017 is going to be the starting point at which the new procedural codes will come into force and the new Supreme Court will start functioning.
We cannot exclude the scenario under which the formation of the apparatus and material and technical base of the new Supreme Court is not entirely completed until 15 December 2017. Given this fact, as well as the large balance of the unresolved cases (about 50 thousand), the easy launch of the new Supreme Court will be very unlikely to happen.
As for tax disputes, from 15 December 2017 on they will be dealt with under the new wording of the Code of Administrative Proceedings of Ukraine (CoAP Ukraine). The Highest Administrative Court of Ukraine will cease its activities on 15 December 2017. The tax disputes undergone the cassation appeal will be considered by the Administrative Court of Cassation in the capacity of the subdivision of the Supreme Court.
The most painful moment is that the new CoAP of Ukraine does not provide for virtually any transitional provisions. All disputes will be considered under the new rules irrespective of the court in which they are pending, and regardless of whether the proceedings have been or not opened before or after the entry into force of the new CoAP of Ukraine.
The exception is set forth only for already filed applications on the review of court judgements by the previous Supreme Court of Ukraine on the grounds of ambiguous application of the rules of law and inconsistency of the contested judgment with the opinion of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.
Such applications will be considered by the Administrative Court of Cassation under the rules of the old version of the CoAP of Ukraine.
By the way, some time ago we analyzed then draft of the CoAP of Ukraine and published our brief descriptions of the most striking changes having bearing on tax litigation. Undoubtedly, the final version of the new CoAP of Ukraine and its draft are different. However, in their majority the novelties described by us have not lost their relevance as of today.
If interested, the review of the novelties is available at following links: Novelty No 1, Novelty No 2, Novelty No 3, Novelty № 4, Novelty No 5, Novelty No 6, Novelty No 7, Novelty No 8, Novelty No 9, Novelty No 10, Novelty No 11, Novelty No 12, Novelty No 13, Novelty No 14, Novelty No 15 and Novelty 16 .
Photo from http://pvo.com.ua/
