The Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated September 12, 1991 No. 1545-XII “On the Procedure for the Temporary Application of Certain Legislative Acts of the USSR in the Territory of Ukraine” is still in force

The request was submitted in order to obtain official information on whether the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated September 12, 1991, No. 1545-XII, “On the Procedure for the Temporary Application of Certain Legislative Acts of the USSR on the Territory of Ukraine,” is still in force.

This document was adopted during the transitional period, when Ukraine was only beginning to form its own legal system after the declaration of independence. However, already on March 13, 1992, Ukraine signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which explicitly states:

“We, the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation (RSFSR), and Ukraine — as the founding states of the USSR that signed the 1922 Union Treaty — declare that the USSR, as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality, ceases to exist.”

This gives rise to a logical question: can a resolution regulating the application of legislative acts of a state that no longer exists — the USSR — remain in force?

Furthermore, according to paragraph 1 of the Transitional Provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine (Section XV):

“Laws and other normative acts adopted before the entry into force of this Constitution shall remain valid to the extent that they do not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine.”

However, the Constitution does not clarify from which specific point in time normative acts are considered to fall under this provision. Thus, another important question arises — from what moment is the “pre-constitutional” period legally calculated, and does it include documents adopted during the Soviet era?

The official response from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine explicitly confirms that, as of May 2025, no act of the Verkhovna Rada has been submitted to declare Resolution No. 1545-XII null and void. Moreover, this Resolution has not been excluded from the Unified State Register of Normative Legal Acts, which — under the current legal procedure — means that it is still considered valid.

Therefore, despite the historical dissolution of the USSR as a subject of international law, the legal mechanism for the temporary application of its legislative acts — established in 1991 — continues to have legal effect, provided it does not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine.

This means that there is still a normative basis in Ukraine that directly permits the application of USSR legislation, at least in a limited scope. And the key legal foundation for this is Resolution No. 1545-XII.

This highlights the incompleteness of the succession process and allows us to speak of ongoing legal uncertainty and the preservation of Soviet legal elements within the Ukrainian legal system.