All constitutional courts in Europe are involved in the movement of procedural emancipation that is associated with democracy itself, especially in countries that have rejected it over the past century. The procedure has long seemed to be a secondary branch of the implementation of law. The constitutional procedure, if we take it in a broad sense, is a way of exercising constitutional powers regulated by the Basic Law of Ukraine and current laws. We are talking about such processes as amendments and additions to the Constitution, impeachment proceedings, the procedure for appointing or removing senior officials, mechanisms for organizing and conducting nationwide polls (referendums), the formation of power structures, and the like. This is a general constitutional order, which covers both processes taking place in courts and those that take place outside the court (they are often called parliamentary or electoral, which have a separate constitutional and legal consolidation). Instead, constitutional proceedings in a more limited, narrow sense are specific jurisdictional (i.e. judicial) activities within the walls of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. It is defined as a set of procedural steps carried out by the Constitutional Court during the study and resolution of issues within its jurisdiction (on the basis of a constitutional petition, appeal or complaint). This process is characterized by the presence of well-defined stages, time frames, evidentiary requirements, identified parties, and a final decision.

In the doctrine of constitutional law, the constitutional procedure, or constitutional process, is usually interpreted as a set of rules that regulate the implementation of constitutional and legal prescriptions of a material nature and establish the procedure for carrying out the most important actions in the field of constitutional law. These include, for example, the procedure for adoption, amendment and official promulgation of the Basic Law of Ukraine; the mechanism for electing the President of the state, the formation of the people’s representation (the Verkhovna Rada), the appointment of judges; constitutional proceedings (submission of appeals to the Constitutional Court, consideration of relevant cases, institution of constitutional complaint); as well as procedures related to impeachment, holding a nationwide expression of will (referendum), dissolution of the legislature, and others. In recent years, the topic of constitutional procedure and constitutional proceedings is not a “theoretical” or “academic” topic, but a lively, dynamic, practically demanded field.

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