During the last decade of the 21st century, the national civil service paradigm has been under scrutiny by various participants of public life, from legal scholars to ordinary citizens. Scientific research on the civil service is one of the most relevant because of the importance of improving and developing the existing civil service system and its compliance with generally accepted European and international standards. Given that Ukraine continues to implement reforms to optimise the civil service, including civil service under martial law, and the active spread of modern digital influences resulting from the digitalisation of various processes in public administration, the place and role of the institution of disciplinary responsibility is undoubtedly one of the essential elements in ensuring the proper functioning of the entire civil service mechanism in our country. Successively, this raises quite reasonable considerations regarding the need to highlight the existing problems that arise in the implementation of the provisions of disciplinary liability of civil servants under the current Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service”.

The article aims to study the peculiarities of disciplinary liability of civil servants to identify shortcomings and problematic issues and propose the author’s concept of ways to address them. It is found that the leading duty of a civil servant is to comply with official discipline and not to carry out public professional, politically impartial activities for the practical fulfilment of the tasks and functions of the State, as is stated in the law. The article emphasises and highlights the main elements of the legal content of the concept of “official discipline”, which exists in the form of a civil servant’s duty and, at the same time, is protected by administrative law. The author establishes that the primary duties of a civil servant are those directly related to their activities in the civil service following the requirements set for it, in particular, publicly, professionally, and politically impartially. The author emphasises the expediency of supplementing this list with a comprehensive duty – compliance with service discipline. It is stated that the concept of “executive discipline” is used to denote the efficiency and effectiveness of civil servants’ activities. It is noted that using this concept to assess a manager’s performance in a civil service body leaves out the issue of ethical behaviour, which should also be a performance criterion. It is found that the content of the legislative provisions indicates that disciplinary responsibility is exclusively for committing a disciplinary offence by a civil servant.

The authors propose several amendments to the current legislation which will make it possible to establish a dialectical relationship with the categories used in the Law of Ukraine “On Civil Service” (in particular, “official discipline”, “duties of a civil servant”, “disciplinary offence”, “disciplinary liability”).

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Korotkyx A, Yurydychna vidpovidalnist derzhavnykh sluzhbovtsiv za trudovym zakonodavstvom Ukrainy: teoriia, praktyka, problemy (Konstanta 2019) (in Ukraine).

Edited books

2. Novak O, Zuj V (red), Pravovi zasady dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti derzhavnyx sluzhbovciv v Ukrayini (Pravo 2015) (in Ukraine).

Journal articles

3. Humenyuk T, ‘Problemy dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti derzhavnyx sluzhbovciv’ (2019) 20 Naukovo-informacijnyj visnyk Ivano-Frankivskoho universytetu prava imeni Korolya Danyla Halyckoho: Seriya Pravo 135 (in Ukrainian).

4. Maksymovych A, ‘Administratyvno-pravove rehulyuvannya dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti pracivnykiv Derzhavnoho byuro rozsliduvan’ (2021) 1 Naukovyj visnyk publichnoho ta pryvatnoho prava. 128 (in Ukrainian).

5. Sayuk V, Kramar D, Krakovska A, ‘Problemni pytannya dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti derzhavnyx sluzhbovciv (2022) 14 Visnyk studentskoho naukovoho tovarystva Doneckoho nacionalnoho universytetu imeni Vasylya Stusa 133 (in Ukrainian).

Theses

6. Bodnarchuk R, ‘Administratyvno-pravove rehulyuvannya procedury prytyahnennya suddi do dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti’ (dys kand yuryd. nauk, 2021) (in Ukrainian).

7. Vapnyarchuk N, ‘Pravove rehulyuvannya dyscyplinarnoyi vidpovidalnosti derzhavnyx sluzhbovciv v Ukrayini’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2010) (in Ukrainian).

8. Hlushkova D, ‘Pravove rehulyuvannya dyscyplinarnyx provadzhen za trudovym zakonodavstvom Ukrayiny’ (dys. d-ra filosofiyi, (in Ukrainian).

9. Yermolenko-Knyazyeva L, ‘Dyscyplinarna vidpovidalnist derzhavnyx sluzhbovciv v Ukrayi ni: problemy administratyvnoyi teoriyi ta praktyky’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2014) (in Ukrainian).

10. Kupriyanova A, ‘Pravove rehuliuvannia dystsyplinarnoi vidpovidalnosti derzhavnykh vykonavtsiv’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2019) (in Ukrainian).

11. Maksymovych A, ‘Administratyvno-pravove rehuliuvannia dystsyplinarnoi vidpovidalnosti pratsivnykiv Derzhavnoho biuro rozsliduvan’ (dys d-ra filosofiyi, 2021) (in Ukrainian).

12. Panov V, ‘Administratyvno-pravove rehuliuvannia dystsyplinarnoi vidpovidalnosti detektyviv Natsionalnoho antykoruptsiinoho biuro Ukrainy’ (dys d-ra filosofiyi, 2021) (in Ukrainian).

13. Panov O, ‘Pravove rehulyuvannya zastosuvannya dyscyplinarnyx styahnen do pracivnykiv Nacionalnoyi policiyi’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2021) (in Ukrainian).

14. Semenko B, ‘Pravove rehuliuvannia dystsyplinarnoi vidpovidalnosti posadovykh osib orhaniv prokuratury’ (dys kand jurid nauk, 2021) (in Ukrainian).

Websites

15. Khrypun V, ‘Jak ta za shho karajut’ ukraїns’kih derzhavnih sluzhbovcіv: іnformacіja NADS’ <https://sud.ua/uk/news/publication/271081-kak-i-za-chto-nakazyvayut-ukrainskikhgosudarstvennykhsluzhaschikh-informatsiya-nads> (accessed: 08.09.2023 (in Ukrainian).