The article is devoted to the problem of improving the legislation of Ukraine in terms of regulating disciplinary offenses of officials of the diplomatic service. It is emphasized that the Law of Ukraine “On the Diplomatic Service” does not contain any articles specifically devoted to disciplinary responsibility, and the issues of disciplinary responsibility of officials of the diplomatic service are regulated by the general norms of the legislation on the civil service. In particular, the fact that the Law “On Diplomatic Service” lacks regulation of special disciplinary offenses of the diplomatic service officials is noted as a drawback, which is inconsistent with the specifics of the legal status of this type of civil servant, the specifics of the diplomatic service performing, and, consequently, has a negative impact on the effectiveness of implementation of disciplinary responsibility.

The author set himself the goal of making proposals for improving the legislation of Ukraine on the settlement of disciplinary offenses by officials of the diplomatic service of Ukraine. Along with the general disciplinary offenses of officials of the diplomatic service (disciplinary offenses of civil servants), the author proposed to define also special offenses – disciplinarypunishable acts, for which the officials of the diplomatic service are the subject of responsibility.

Taking into account the domestic model of the diplomatic service, taking into account the specifics of the legal status of officials of the diplomatic service, as well as the specifics of this type of public service, the following special disciplinary offenses were distinguished and analyzed: 1) refusal of an official of the diplomatic service to participate in the rotation without valid reasons or from the third consecutive offer to participate in the rotation in the presence of good reasons, as well as the refusal of an official of the diplomatic service without valid reasons to leave the Ukraine within the established time frame in the case of her being sent on a long-term business trip or to return to Ukraine in the case of her recall from a long-term business trip; 2) a one-time gross violation of official duties by an official of the diplomatic service, which caused damage to the image of Ukraine abroad or the development of relations with the relevant state or international organization; 3) a family member of a diplomatic service official, who is with her in the host state, commits actions that harmed the image of Ukraine abroad or the development of relations with the relevant state or international organization.

In the conclusion, it is proposed to supplement the Law of Ukraine “On the Diplomatic Service” with a new Article 111 “Disciplinary responsibility of officials of the diplomatic service”, as well as formulate the author’s suggestions regarding its appropriate legislative version.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Anishchenko T, Dystsyplinarna vidpovidalnist derzhavnoho sluzhbovtsia: vid teorii dystsyplinarnodeliktnoho prava do osoblyvostei zastosuvannia (Helvetica 2023) (in Ukrainian).

2. Kivalov S, Bila-Tiunova L, Kornuta L, Dystsyplinarna vidpovidalnist derzhavnoho sluzhbovtsia: pytannia teorii i pravovoho rehuliuvannia (Feniks 2013) (in Ukrainian).

Edited books

3. Kolomoiets Т, Kolpakov V (red), Dystsyplinarno-deliktne pravo Ukrainy (In Yure 2016) (in Ukrainian).

Websites

4. ‘Derzhavnyi sekretar MZS Ukrainy Andrii Zaiats pro problemy ta reformy u zovnishnopolitychnomu vidomstvi’ (19.12.2018) <https://zn.ua/ukr/international/diplomatichnasluzhbaukrayini-versiya-2018-297341_.html> (accessed: 22.09.2023) (in Ukrainian).