The legal system of Ukraine
A civil-law system built on the 2003 Civil and Commercial Codes and extensively reformed since 2014 toward EU alignment, including a new anti-corruption architecture and land-market liberalisation. Martial law introduced in February 2022 has been repeatedly extended and modifies procedural deadlines, mobilisation duties and some rights.
Legal tradition
Ukraine belongs to the civil law tradition. A civil-law system built on the 2003 Civil and Commercial Codes and extensively reformed since 2014 toward EU alignment, including a new anti-corruption architecture and land-market liberalisation. Martial law introduced in February 2022 has been repeatedly extended and modifies procedural deadlines, mobilisation duties and some rights.
How power is divided
Semi-presidential: a directly elected President appoints key security and foreign-policy figures while the Cabinet is formed by and answerable to the Verkhovna Rada.
Where law comes from
- Constitution
- Directly applicable; basis of the constitutional complaint.
- International treaties
- Ratified treaties form part of domestic law under Article 9.
- EU association commitments
- The 2014 Association Agreement drives approximation of Ukrainian law.
- Codes and laws
- Civil Code, Commercial Code, Criminal Code, Land Code.
- Presidential decrees and Cabinet acts
- Including martial-law decrees requiring Rada approval.
- Supreme Court Grand Chamber conclusions
- Must be taken into account by all courts.
The legal profession
Advocates are admitted by the Ukrainian National Bar Association (UNBA) after qualification examination and traineeship; representation before the courts is reserved to advocates in most categories of case.
Law by topic in Ukraine
- Employment & LabourA 1971 Labour Code with a wartime suspension mechanismThe Labour Code of 1971 still governs employment, heavily amended and supplemented by the 2022 wartime law which allows suspension of the employment relationship where work is impossible because of hostilities. Simplified regimes apply to small employers.
- Constitutional LawThe 1996 constitution operating under martial lawThe Constitution of 1996 provides an individual constitutional complaint against statutes applied in a final judgment. Martial law has been in force since February 2022, permitting derogation from several rights, though the constitution forbids amendment while it lasts.
- Business & CorporateA civil and commercial code split, with the commercial code repealedUkraine long ran parallel Civil and Commercial Codes; the Commercial Code was repealed in 2024 as part of EU approximation, leaving the Civil Code as the single basis. The TOV limited liability company has no minimum capital and is registered in the unified state register.
- Family LawThe 2002 Family Code with wartime remote marriageThe Family Code of 2002 governs marriage, parentage and maintenance. Marriage creates joint ownership of property acquired during it, and since 2022 service members may marry remotely by video, with the marriage recorded by the civil registry.
- Tax LawAn 18% income tax with a wartime military levyPersonal and corporate income tax are both 18%, with a 5% military levy on individuals from December 2024 and 20% standard VAT. Small business may elect the simplified single-tax regime, which was temporarily set at 2% of turnover during 2022 and 2023.
- Immigration & NationalityWartime exit restrictions alongside an ordinary permit systemForeigners enter under the 2011 Law on the legal status of foreigners, with employment permits issued by the employment service. Martial law adds a border regime that restricts departure by most male citizens aged 18 to 60 and requires military registration.
- Criminal LawThe 2012 procedure code, plus war crimes and collaboration offencesThe Criminal Code of 2001 and the 2012 Criminal Procedure Code apply, the latter having introduced the investigating judge and a 72-hour detention limit. Since 2022 new offences on collaboration and unauthorised dissemination of troop information have been added.
- Civil ProcedureA 2017 procedural overhaul with a unified Supreme CourtThe 2017 reform rewrote the civil, commercial and administrative procedure codes together and created a single Supreme Court with cassation chambers. Small claims follow a simplified written procedure and electronic filing runs through the judiciary's e-court system.
- Human RightsECHR rights under a formal wartime derogationUkraine has been party to the ECHR since 1997 and notified derogation under Article 15 in 2022. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights is the national ombudsman and the designated national preventive mechanism against torture.
- Property & LandAn open property register and a farmland market opened in 2021Rights in real property are recorded in the State Register of Real Property Rights, which is publicly searchable. The moratorium on sale of agricultural land ended in July 2021, and since 2024 legal entities may also buy, subject to area caps and a ban on foreign ownership.
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