The Department of Legislative Development plays a leading role in the activity of the Commercial Law Center Project, with most of the aims of the CLC being realized through the work of this department. In carrying out the mission of the project, the department promotes:

• increasing the possibility of Ukrainian legislators to initiate reforms of commercial law and carry out said reforms by way of providing concrete and targeted technical assistance;
• strengthening the operational foundations of Ukrainian organisations to participate in the development of commercial legislation and to disseminate relevant information;
• widespread transparency in the process of preparing and implementing commercial legislation.

Creating a commercial legal infrastructure, which is critical in conducting economic reforms, requires that the department exercise an integrated strategy of support for commercial law reform. This entails the ongoing study and constant monitoring of trends, with a mandate of reacting directly and immediately to any changes in this area.

A unique feature of the CLC and of the work of the department in particular is their capability of working simultaneously in many legislative areas, with the awareness of the necessity of carrying out an overall integrated reform of commercial law in Ukraine. The CLC Department of Legislative Development pays close attention to the following areas of commercial law: foundations of private law (the Civil Code), antimonopoly (competition) legislation, bankruptcy legislation, securities and stock market legislation, financial law (selected aspects), corporate law (selected aspects), land law (selected aspects), and legislation on intellectual property, procedural arbitration, and enforcement of judgments. Recent work has focused on mortgaging (hypothec), pledging, and IP as elements of the Civil Code, court procedure, concessions, and other topics. The priorities of the department's work are under constant scrutiny, and are modified depending on changing conditions and essentialities in Ukrainian commercial law.

The Department of Legislative Development concentrates its attention on supporting reform plans and measures proposed by Ukrainian organisations and the general community. This represents a fundamental difference between the CLC Project and other projects, which have been mainly initiated, planned, and implemented by donor organisations.

The initial focus of the department on the adoption of certain legislative instruments and on developing specific institutions was a necessary first step in eliminating the contradictions inherent in the command and market economies. Such individual measures generally assisted in improving the situation in the area of commercial law in Ukraine. However, laying the foundations for the continuous development of commercial law requires much more. Thus, one of the objectives of the department is, in joint efforts, to make the widest possible use of especially valuable Ukrainian organisations and specialists from various regions, both in their knowledge and their experience; they have already agreed to work together with us as experts in order to carry out specific legislating and analytical work, as well as work on overall commercial law reform.

Based on the above-described approaches, the department has formulated a strategy for legislative development that ensures: the creation of a forum for dialogue on commercial law reform, aiming to promote the acceleration of said reform; widespread participation of the general public in this process; increasing the possibility for donors to react immediately to inquiries from the Ukrainian side; assuring independence from the influence of any vested interest or ideology; application and combining of programs and resources at the disposal of our Ukrainian partners; cooperation with other projects connected with commercial law; and implementation of the proposed changes in legislation.

In this way, the department of legislative development strives to have a positive effect on commercial law reform in Ukraine, and to safeguard its further stable development potential within the country.

In promoting open discussion (round tables, conferences, seminars, hearings, and working groups), dialogue, and consensus between various key private interests, institutions of higher learning, legislative bodies, the executive, and the courts in Ukraine, we believe in the possibility of finding means of joint action, and we encourage you to submit any proposals you may have regarding any aspect of commercial law reform to the CLC Department of Legislative Development.