Implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU by adapting Ukrainian legislation to EU law

Abstract

Ukraine’s integration into the European Union (EU) is one of the most important areas of the State’s development, and therefore one of the conditions for rapprochement between Ukraine and the European Community, as well as a condition for accession to the EU, is the adaptation of Ukrainian domestic legislation to the EU acquis. The purpose of the study was to identify the peculiarities and problematic aspects of the implementation of EU law in national legislation. The research methods used were: historical, periodisation, formal legal and problem analysis methods. The study examined the peculiarities and problems of adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU law. The study found that the legislation is being adapted on the basis of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union, which includes the European Atomic Energy Community and its member states. The implementation process involves the transposition of EU norms into national legislation, while adaptation is the alignment of national law with EU legislation. The current legislation provides for three stages of adaptation of legislative norms, which aim to harmonize with EU law as much as possible. As implementation is a rule-making process, it involves a certain sequence of actions. In particular, it includes the establishment of the acquis communautaire, the creation of a list of legislative acts to be adopted and their preparation for adoption, monitoring of implementation and other sequential actions. In addition, the process of adaptation should be based on the principles of compliance with EU directives, the principle of voluntariness, clarity of terminology and completeness. Among the factors that are obstacles to implementation are the following: Russian aggression, institutional failure of state bodies, high level of corruption, numerous conflicts in legislation