Ministries are rejecting applications from civil society organisations that do not include a digital signature
This was reported by Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.
According to Lubinets, civil society organisations gather evidence, draft petitions and send them to state bodies. However, instead of having their petitions registered and considered, they sometimes receive a reply stating that the petition will not be registered because it lacks a qualified electronic signature.
The Ombudsman emphasised that the right to submit appeals is guaranteed by Article 40 of the Constitution of Ukraine. This right should not be rendered invalid simply because an email does not contain a qualified electronic signature or an electronic seal.
This is particularly important for civil society organisations, which represent people’s interests, defend their rights and are often the first to alert the state to problems that have not yet come to the attention of officials.
The Ombudsman stated that certain central executive bodies continue to refuse to register appeals from civil society organisations, citing the rules on electronic document management.
Among the examples he cited were the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture of Ukraine, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
According to Lubinets, following his intervention, such appeals are eventually registered and considered. However, he does not regard this as a systemic solution, but rather as a manual resolution of individual cases.
What the law says
The right to submit a petition is enshrined in Article 40 of the Constitution of Ukraine: citizens have the right to submit individual or collective written petitions to public authorities, and officials are obliged to consider them and provide a reasoned response.
The Verkhovna Rada’s website also explicitly states in its guidance on citizens’ petitions that an electronic petition must include an email address for a reply or other means of contact, but the use of a qualified electronic signature is not required.
In other words, a qualified electronic signature may serve as an additional means of verification, but it must not automatically become a barrier to the very right to be heard.
The Supreme Court’s position
Lubinec also referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling of 31 October 2019 in case No. 813/1960/18. In this case, the court considered a petition from a civil society organisation and concluded that the absence of a specific procedure for dealing with such petitions does not exempt the authorities from their duty to consider them.
In its clarification regarding this ruling, the State Migration Service also notes that the Supreme Court’s conclusions concern the application of the Law ‘On Citizens’ Appeals’ to appeals from civil society organisations and their leaders.
In practice, a refusal on the grounds of the absence of a digital signature may mean that appeals concerning human rights violations, or issues affecting internally displaced persons, military personnel, children, people with disabilities or other vulnerable groups, simply will not be taken up by the relevant state body.
Lubinec believes that the right to submit a petition should be guaranteed automatically, rather than depending on whether a civil society organisation has sought assistance from the Ombudsman.
Where to turn
The Ombudsman has called on civil society organisations to inform his office of any instances where they are refused registration of their complaints solely due to the lack of an electronic digital signature.
You can contact the Ombudsman via the hotline on 1678 or by email at [email protected]. These contact details are also listed on the official government websites for contacting the Ombudsman.
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