The law on government cleansing was signed in October 2014 by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the vetting will affect as many as 1 million Ukrainian officials, including the entire Cabinet, as well as law enforcement personnel.
In mid-December 2014, the Venice Commission, the European Union's advisory body on constitutional law, condemned Ukraine's lustration law, saying it "does not live up" to EU principles.
"Applying lustration measures in respect of the recent period during which Mr. [Viktor] Yanukovych was President of Ukraine would ultimately amount to questioning the actual functioning of the constitutional and legal framework of Ukraine as a democratic state governed by the rule of law," the commission concluded.
The Venice Commission also pointed to the need to "fix an end to the lustration process" in order to avoid creating a "never-ending" story.
Kiev said it was open to making amendments to the law and sought the assistance of the commission.
The lustration of government officials was one of the main demands made after the February 2014 coup in Ukraine, which resulted in ousting of President Viktor Yanukovych and the installation of a pro-Western government.
