By a decision of the Commission dated August 27, 2025, cognitive abilities testing was scheduled as part of the qualification exam for candidates for the position of local court judge and judges who have expressed their intention to be transferred to another local court.

On September 03, 2025, Yaroslav Dukh, a member of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, took part in an expert discussion entitled “Judicial Reform: Responses to Current Challenges,” organised by the Anti-Corruption Action Center with the support of the GIZ programme “Strenghtening Ukraine’s EU Accession in the Rule of Law”.

According to part one of Article 55 of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”, a judge may, with his or her consent, be seconded to another court of the same level and specialisation to administer justice by a decision of the High Council of Justice adopted on the basis of a submission from the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

Please be informed, that the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine has completed testing of general knowledge in the field of law and specialisation of local commercial court, which lasted from August 11 to 13, 2025.

I. Composition of participants admitted to the second stage of the qualification exam – testing of general knowledge in the field of law and specialisation of the local commercial court.

With a view to supporting the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine (HQCJ) in assessing the compliance of candidates for positions of judges of the Specialised District Administrative Court and the Specialised Administrative Court of Appeal with the criteria of integrity and professional competence for the purposes of qualification assessment, as set forth in Section XII, “Final and Transitional Provisions,” of the Law of Ukraine “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges” (hereinafter – the Law), an Expert

Regular assessment is one type of judge evaluation and is conducted to identify individual judges’ needs for improvement, to encourage them to maintain their qualification at the appropriate level, and to promote their professional growth.

The main task of this assessment is to determine in which areas of professional knowledge a judge needs to improve their qualification in order to perform their duties effectively, which will, in turn, improve the quality of the judicial process in Ukraine.

Please be informed, that on August 27, 2025, the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine decided to introduce cognitive ability testing as part of the qualification exam for candidates for the position of local court judge and judges who have expressed their intention to be transferred to another local court, and set a schedule for its conduction. The Commission also determined the specifics of the procedure for conducting cognitive ability testing and the methodology for assessment of results.

In accordance with Commission’s decision No. 163/zp-25 of August 27, 2025, in order to properly prepare for the qualification exam for candidates for the position of judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court, in particular its Appeals Chamber, within the framework of the competition announced on June 03, 2025, a list of test questions on the history of Ukrainian statehood with correct answers has been published on the Commission’s official website.