Registration of Religious Communities in the Ukraine.

Abstract

This article deals with the analysis of the administrative and legal mechanism of the procedure for the registration of religious communities and current changes in the legislation of Ukraine. Based on the texts of constitutions and regulatory-and-legal acts, the author conducts a brief analysis of religious legislation in the era of the Soviet Union, comprehensively characterises the modern legislation of Ukraine in the sphere of freedom of conscience and religion, and indicates that the legal status of religious communities in Ukraine is conditioned by the constitutional and administrative-and-legal principles of relations between the state and religious communities. Th e author provides the latest statistical data on the religious situation in Ukraine and analyses the fi rst international treaty of independent Ukraine with a religious community – the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Keywords: Confessional law, freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, legislation of Ukraine, registration of religious communities, religious associations, church, legal regulation, legal entities