Preamble
The Constitution of Ukraine is the Superior or Fundamental Law of Ukraine. It was adopted on 28 June 1996 by the 5th session of the Supreme Council of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) of the 2nd convocation. The Constitution of Ukraine came into force from the date of its adoption. On this date, became invalid the 1978-year Constitution and the Constitutional agreement between Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine dd 8 June 1995.
The Constitution of Ukraine is made up of a Preamble and 14 Chapters. The preamble emphasises that Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine shall adopt this Constitution as the Superior Law of Ukraine, on behalf of the Ukrainian people - Ukrainian citizens of all nationalities.
The Constitution of Ukraine
“The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on behalf of the Ukrainian people - Ukrainian citizens of all nationalities, expressing the sovereign will of the people, relying on the centuries-old history of Ukrainian state-building and upon the right to selfdetermination realised by the Ukrainian nation, all the Ukrainian people, aspiring to ensure human rights and freedoms, and life conditions worthy of human dignity, supporting the strengthening of civil harmony on the Ukrainian soil, and confirming the European identity of the Ukrainian people and the irreversibility of the European and Euro-Atlantic course of Ukraine, striving to develop and strengthen a democratic, social, law-based state, realising the responsibility in the eyes of God, before our own conscience, past, present and future generations, guided by the Act of Declaration of the Independence of Ukraine of 24 August 1991, approved by the national vote on 1 December 1991, adopts this Constitution as the Fundamental Law of Ukraine.”
The Constitution of Ukraine has a rather strict introduction procedure for its new amendments and supplements. The dedicated changes to its Chapters require the approval from 2/3 to 3/4 votes out of the constitutional composition of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Constitution of Ukraine shall not be amended, if the amendments foresee the abolition or restriction of human and citizen rights and freedoms, or if they are aimed at the liquidation of the independence or violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine (Article 157).
Since its adoption, the Constitution of Ukraine has been changed eight times.
From 2 March 2014 and nowadays, the valid Constitution of Ukraine is the one adopted by the fifth session of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on 28 June 1996 with the amendments and supplements introduced by the Ukrainian Laws as follows: No 2222-IV dd 8 December 2004, No 2952-VI dd 1 February 2011, No 586-VII dd 19 September 2013 and No 742-VII dd 21 February 2014.
To commemorate the Constitution adoption, every year Ukraine observes the holiday nationally – the Constitution Day of Ukraine.
