Ukraine is implementing comprehensive legislative and institutional reforms as part of its EU integration agenda. Current priorities include legislative approximation with EU standards, legal quality control, and ensuring the timely transposition of EU legal acts into national law.

Given the complexity, scope, and technical nature of these legal reforms, technical assistance is required to conduct comprehensive legal reviews of draft legislation, analyze Concordance Tables, evaluate transposition accuracy and perform continuous monitoring of the National Programme's execution.

The Legal Analyst will provide day-to-day operational legal support, research and drafting capacity across the Ministry's portfolio. The Legal Analyst will work closely with Ministry counterparts and the mAIDan team and, when mobilised, with the Senior Expert, who will provide complementary strategic guidance, peer review and quality assurance on selected legal outputs and complex EU acquis-related matters.

Objectives and desired results

1)     General objective

Provide flexible analytical and operational legal support to the Ministry and the Senior Expert in implementing responsibilities under the National Programme for the Approximation of Ukrainian Legislation to European Union Law and drafting high-quality legislation aligned with the EU acquis.

2)     Specific objectives

The assignment is structured around 2 phases:

Phase 1. Legal compliance review, concordance verification and strategic planning

Outputs:

• Assist in legal reviews of draft laws and regulatory acts prepared by the Ministry to assess compliance with relevant EU legal acts.
• Populate, analyze and support the verification of Concordance Tables between Ukrainian legislation and the EU acquis.
• Conduct initial legal research, baseline mapping and legal risk identification regarding assigned National Programme measures.
• Draft initial legal briefs, position papers and analytical material to address legislative gaps or inconsistencies.
• Prepare legal briefs, analytical notes and draft recommendations addressing identified legislative gaps or inconsistencies

Phase 2. Accession negotiation support, interagency coordination and capacity enhancement

Outputs:

• Prepare background legal research, analytical notes, and presentation materials for EU accession negotiations and consultations.
• Support interagency coordination and working group meetings through data synthesis and documentation preparation.
• Assist in the continuous legal tracking and monitoring of the National Programme to identify operational bottlenecks or legislative delays.
• Update and refine legal briefs and opinions based on feedback from the Senior Expert, European Commission, and domestic stakeholders.

3)     Anticipated results

Results foreseen in relation to phase 1 of the mission:

• Draft regulatory texts undergo preliminary legal review with identified inconsistencies highlighted for resolution.
• Draft Concordance Tables for selected EU legal acts are populated, checked and prepared for Senior Expert validation.
• Legal gaps, risks and implementation bottlenecks in national legal frameworks are mapped and supported by preliminary recommendations.

Results foreseen in relation to phase 2 of the mission:

• Analytical notes, legal research and background materials are prepared on short notice for accession negotiations and interagency meetings.
• Reporting and monitoring inputs for the National Programme are regularly updated and maintained.
• Feedback from European Commission consultations is integrated into refined legislative drafts and technical notes.

Description of the assignment

4)     Planned activities

The Legal Analyst shall work in close cooperation with Ministry officials, the Senior Expert, and the Monitoring Expert.

The scope of work is intentionally broad to accommodate changing Ministry priorities. Specific task assignments, deliverables and workloads will be defined on an ad-hoc basis via individual Purchase Orders.

Activities implemented under the phase 1 aim to establish baseline legal assessments, support initial draft legislation, and verify concordance mapping for priority EU acquis.

Activities implemented under the phase 2 aim to provide responsive analytical support for ongoing EU accession negotiations, refine draft legal acts, and track execution of approximation commitments.

 Phase 1. Legal compliance review, concordance verification and strategic planning

• Perform preliminary legal evaluations of draft legislation and regulatory acts, preparing initial legal notes, gap analyses and textual amendments under the direction of the Senior Expert.
• Draft, populate and cross-check Concordance Tables between national law and EU directives/regulations to evaluate transposition completeness.
• Gather legal data and track measure-level progress under the National Programme to flag legal risks, overlapping provisions or procedural delays.

Phase 2. Accession negotiation support, interagency coordination and capacity enhancement

• Draft briefing notes, analytical summaries and presentation materials for accession working groups and consultations with the European Commission.
• Provide rapid-response legal research, literature reviews and administrative-legal support as requested by the Ministry or Senior Expert.

5)     Anticipated deliverables

Deliverables will be determined flexibly and issued on a task-by-task basis through individual Purchase Orders. Anticipated deliverable types include:

1. Completed or updated Concordance Tables.

2. Preliminary legal notes, analytical memos, and comparative legal reviews.

3. Draft amendments and legal text proposals.

4. Briefing materials, presentation decks, and meeting synthesis notes for accession consultations.

5. Monthly/assignment activity briefs detailing performed tasks under active Purchase Orders.

6)     Coordination

The Legal Analyst provides core research, drafting and analytical work. The Legal Analyst is responsible for the day-to-day legal research, drafting and analytical work assigned through individual Purchase Orders. When mobilised, the Senior Expert provides strategic guidance, peer review and quality assurance on selected outputs, particularly those involving complex EU acquis interpretation, high-level policy considerations or accession-related processes.

Expert team and working arrangements

The technical assistance will be delivered through a complementary team of three experts:

·        Senior Expert on EU Law and Legislative Approximation (the position of these ToRs): provides strategic guidance, high-level expertise on EU law and accession processes, peer review and quality assurance of key legal outputs, and targeted support to the Ministry on complex approximation and accession-related issues.

·        Legal Analyst: provides day-to-day legal research, analysis and drafting support, including preparation and review of draft legislation, Concordance Tables, legal notes and related analytical materials.

·        Monitoring Expert: supports the systematic monitoring of the Ministry's commitments under the National Programme, including progress tracking, consolidation of information, identification of delays and bottlenecks, and preparation of monitoring tools and progress analyses.

The three experts shall operate as one integrated technical assistance team and work closely with the designated Ministry counterparts, the mAIDan Facility Coordinator and the designated mAIDan Project Officer.

The Legal Analyst and Monitoring Expert may be mobilised from the beginning of the assignment to initiate the analytical, drafting and monitoring work. The Senior Expert may be mobilised subsequently and/or intermittently, according to the needs identified by the Ministry and mAIDan, including for strategic guidance, peer review, quality assurance and specific accession-related assignments.

Tasks shall be allocated through individual Purchase Orders according to the nature of the requested support. Purchase Orders may mobilise one or several experts and shall specify the expected contribution and level of effort of each expert concerned.

The experts shall ensure regular coordination, exchange relevant working documents and avoid duplication of tasks. Where several experts contribute to the same output, responsibilities for drafting, review and finalisation shall be clearly agreed at the beginning of the relevant assignment.

Whenever feasible, the assignment will promote peer-to-peer cooperation between Ukrainian experts and practitioners from French or other EU Member State public administrations, with a view to combining in-depth knowledge of the Ukrainian institutional and legislative context with practical EU Member State experience of EU law implementation and accession-related reforms.

The reports and deliverables are to be submitted to and approved by the mAIDan Facility Coordinator, with day-to-day coordination of the experts ensured by the designated mAIDan Project Officer, in close cooperation with the designated Ministry counterpart(s).

Place, duration and terms of performance

7)     Implementation period: October 2026 to February 2027 

8)     Start date: October 2026

9)     End date: February 2027

10)  Effective duration per assignment: 100 days (mobilized incrementally via Purchase Orders) 

11)  Schedule/programme: to be precised by way of purchase order

Assignment reports

The consultant shall submit reports as precised by purchase order. 

Monitoring-evaluation 

Performance indicators