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Unofficial translation
Chairman and judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine took part in the first Congress of the Association of Constitutional Justice of the Countries of the Baltic and Black Sea Regions (BBCJ)
On June 30 – July 2, 2016, Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin and judges Ihor Slidenko and Stanislav Shevchuk took part in the first Congress of the Association of Constitutional Justice of the Countries of the Baltic and Black Sea Regions (BBCJ) “Role of the Constitutional Courts in Protecting Democratic Values” that took place in Chişinău (Republic of Moldova).
The first Congress of the Association was held with the participation of its members - Georgia, Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine, as well as representatives of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, OSCE, heads and judges of the constitutional jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Turkey, representatives of the government of the Republic of Moldova, scientific institutions.
The program of the event included working sessions on “Independence of Constitutional Courts – recent developments and challenges", "Effects of constitutional acts (rulings, judgments, decisions)”, “Optimisation of the powers of constitutional control bodies: interpretation of the law - pro or contra?", "Horizontal effect of the constitutional rights, duty to interpret law consistently with the Constitution (indirect effect) and direct effect of constitutional provisions”.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin was the speaker at the first session “Independence of Constitutional Courts – recent developments and challengess” and emphasised on the importance and relevance of the topic.
Chairman of the Court said that the judicial constitutional control as the primary function of constitutional jurisdiction was an essential element of the rule of law and an important part of the national mechanism to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in the legal democratic state. Therefore, independence, immunity of judges is primarily a guarantee of respect on the part of the state and society to the principle of legal and democratic state 
proclaimed at the constitutional level.
With regards to the adopted amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine in justice, the Court’s Chairman spoke about certain features of taking the office by judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, termination of authorities, and dwelt upon further activity of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Yurii Baulin thanked the member Courts for their support in protecting Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity.
During the working session "Effects of constitutional acts (rulings, judgments, decisions)” judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Stanislav Shevchuk delivered a presentation on “Prospects of the effect of acts of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine”.
Judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Ihor Slidenko was the speaker during the session on “Optimization of the powers of the constitutional control: interpretation of the law - pro or contra?".
Participants of the Congress praised the idea of establishing the Association of Constitutional Justice of the Countries of the Baltic and Black Sea Regions, which will be a successful platform for the development of joint projects, and will be important for both member Courts and other institutions of constitutional jurisdiction in the region.
On July 1, 2016 General Assembly of the Association was held. The members approved the official symbols of the Association, the design and content of the newly created website of the Association, discussed further cooperation within the framework of the World Conference of Constitutional Justice, the Conference of European Constitutional Courts and other relevant issues facing constitutional courts today.
According to the Statute of Association, on January 1, 2017 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine will take over chairmanship in the Association. It was decided that the second Congress of the Association will be held in Ukraine in May 2017 and will be dedicated to “The role of the Constitutional Court in the part of harmonising national constitution with acts of international law and EU law, judgments of international courts”.
