Council of Europe experts believe that Civil Code should include additional guarantees for journalistic investigations - Stefanchuk

Council of Europe experts believe that the new Civil Code should include additional guarantees for journalistic investigations.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk announced this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

In particular, Stefanchuk reported that the Verkhovna Rada received an important and generally positive legal opinion from the Council of Europe on the media component of the draft new Civil Code (No. 15150).

According to him, European partners support Ukraine's desire to modernize civil legislation, highly appreciated the comprehensive approach to regulating digital rights, as well as the clear distinction between the right of reply and the right of refutation.

"At the same time, the Council of Europe experts proposed a number of recommendations. In particular, they are talking about additional guarantees for journalistic investigations, OSINT analytics and anti-corruption control, so that the rules for data processing do not create obstacles to socially important activities," he said.

Also, according to Stefanchuk, the conclusions pay special attention to the implementation of effective mechanisms for countering SLAPP lawsuits (lawsuits against public participation), taking into account the practice of the European Court of Human Rights regarding wider limits of permissible criticism of public figures, as well as the proportionality of methods for protecting violated rights.

Stefanchuk noted that the working group is already working on proposals from the media community, experts and international partners, and further professional dialogue and consultations with all parties affected by the provisions of the new Code are ahead.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in May, an electronic petition to Zelenskyy asking him to prevent the adoption of the new Civil Code garnered over 29,000 votes in a day, with 25,000 votes needed for consideration. Zelenskyy responded to the petition that he could not withdraw the draft from the Verkhovna Rada's consideration and asked the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, to work on the proposals set out in the petition.

In April, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft of the new Civil Code in the first reading.

In September 2025, the Speaker of the Parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, stated that he had developed proposals for updating the Civil Code to make it a real "supermarket of legal opportunities" for every Ukrainian.

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