On March 20, 2006, the President of Ukraine signed into law Law No. 3477-IV "On the Procedure for Enforcement of Decisions of the European Court for Human Rights." This law is a further step in the process of bringing Ukraine's enforcement system in line with international standards.
Because Ukraine is a party to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, dated November 4, 1950 (also known as the European Convention on Human Rights), any natural person or legal entity which has reason to believe that his or her or its rights have been violated under the Convention by the State of Ukraine may take a case to the European Court of Human Rights (the "ECHR"). Technically, natural persons and legal entities are allowed to apply to the ECHR only in cases where all national means of defense against an allegedly incorrect decision have been exhausted.
The number of applications to the ECHR seeking the reversal of decisions of Ukrainian national courts has been increasing tremendously in recent years. In 2005, Ukrainian citizens submitted 2,457 applications to the ECHR.
Both Ukrainian and foreign legal entities may also apply to the ECHR to reverse the decisions of Ukrainian national courts, and have been doing so quite successfully. Probably the most well-known case is Sovtransavto Holding vs. Ukraine in which the ECHR ordered the State of Ukraine to pay Sovtransavto, a Russian company, EUR 625,000 in damages.
Despite the success of applicants to the ECHR, the enforcement of decisions in Ukraine has proved to be very time consuming and unpredictable. The new law emphasizes Ukraine's obligation to diligently enforce the decisions of the ECHR and would generally appear to be an important step towards harmonization of Ukrainian law with international norms and principles in the area of human rights.
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