How to submit an appeal to the prosecutor’s office and get a response

When you may need this

An or­di­nary appeal to a pros­e­cu­tor’s office is ap­pro­pri­ate when a citizen asks the office to review an ap­pli­ca­tion, pro­pos­al, or com­plaint within its au­thor­i­ty, provide a rea­soned re­sponse, or examine an or­ga­ni­za­tion­al issue. It is not a uni­ver­sal way to over­turn a court de­ci­sion, make the police take a pro­ce­dur­al action, or replace a special com­plaint.

The key is to iden­ti­fy the doc­u­ment’s legal pro­ce­dure, not just its title. If you report signs of a crim­i­nal offense, the Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code applies. If you are already a par­tic­i­pant in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings and ask for a pro­ce­dur­al action, the doc­u­ment may be a motion. If you need a copy of an ex­ist­ing doc­u­ment, you may need a public in­for­ma­tion request. It is better to sep­a­rate mixed issues into dis­tinct doc­u­ments so each part has a clear dead­line and route.

For Lviv and the region, do not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly address every­thing to the Lviv Re­gion­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office. Check whether the issue belongs to a par­tic­u­lar dis­trict pros­e­cu­tor’s office, the re­gion­al level, or the Office of the Pros­e­cu­tor General. Verify the current channel and office name on an of­fi­cial website im­me­di­ate­ly before filing: or­ga­ni­za­tion­al struc­ture and contact details can change.

What time limit or procedure applies

An or­di­nary appeal that needs no further ex­am­i­na­tion must be re­viewed prompt­ly, but no later than 15 days from receipt. The general period is no more than one month from the date it is re­ceived. If the issue cannot be re­solved within a month, an au­tho­rized person may set another period, but the total cannot exceed 45 days, and the ap­pli­cant must be no­ti­fied.

These are three dif­fer­ent bench­marks; they do not give the office an au­to­mat­ic right to choose the 45th day. Use the appeal review dead­line cal­cu­la­tor to see all limits from the con­firmed reg­is­tra­tion date. The cal­cu­la­tor also shows the five-day bench­mark for for­ward­ing a doc­u­ment to the proper au­thor­i­ty.

If you need an ex­ist­ing copy of a doc­u­ment or record­ed data, use the sep­a­rate guide on how to submit a public in­for­ma­tion request. Its cal­en­dar counts working days from con­firmed receipt by the proper in­for­ma­tion holder and does not replace the dead­lines for an or­di­nary appeal.

These dead­lines do not apply to a report of a crim­i­nal offense. Article 214 of the Crim­i­nal Pro­ce­dure Code es­tab­lish­es a sep­a­rate duty to enter in­for­ma­tion in the Unified Reg­is­ter of Pre-Trial In­ves­ti­ga­tions. Pro­ce­dur­al motions, com­plaints about de­ci­sions or in­ac­tion, and public in­for­ma­tion re­quests also have their own rules. That is why you iden­ti­fy the route before cal­cu­lat­ing the dead­line.

How to proceed step by step

First, define one prac­ti­cal ob­jec­tive. In the opening section, provide your name, re­sponse address, contact details, and the re­cip­i­ent. Then briefly set out the time­line: what hap­pened, who made a de­ci­sion and when, which doc­u­ments support it, and what earlier appeals you have filed.

Avoid a vague demand to “take mea­sures” in the request section. Ask for an action within the re­cip­i­ent’s au­thor­i­ty: review a spe­cif­ic com­plaint, provide a rea­soned re­sponse, notify you of for­ward­ing to the proper au­thor­i­ty, or explain the de­ci­sion made. Number the at­tach­ments and refer to them in the text.

Before filing, check the current of­fi­cial channel of the Lviv Re­gion­al Pros­e­cu­tor’s Office or the rel­e­vant dis­trict pros­e­cu­tor’s office. For mail, it is best to use an in­ven­to­ry of en­clo­sures; when filing in person, obtain a stamp on your copy; for elec­tron­ic sub­mis­sion, keep not only the sent message but also con­fir­ma­tion of receipt or reg­is­tra­tion.

What to check before filing

Make sure you are not using an or­di­nary appeal to get around a shorter pro­ce­dur­al dead­line. If the issue is failure to enter in­for­ma­tion in the Unified Reg­is­ter of Pre-Trial In­ves­ti­ga­tions, failure to con­sid­er a motion, or other in­ac­tion in crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings, use the guide on chal­leng­ing an in­ves­ti­ga­tor’s or pros­e­cu­tor’s in­ac­tion and the sep­a­rate 10-day dead­line cal­cu­la­tor.

Match the re­cip­i­ent to your request. The pros­e­cu­tor’s office does not review a court de­ci­sion simply because a citizen dis­agrees with it, and it does not replace the au­thor­i­ty em­pow­ered to decide an ad­min­is­tra­tive, em­ploy­ment, or housing matter. If ju­ris­dic­tion is unclear, ask for the doc­u­ment to be routed to the proper office, while also check­ing the special dead­line for con­tact­ing the com­pe­tent au­thor­i­ty or court.

Check per­son­al data and at­tach­ments sep­a­rate­ly. Do not send orig­i­nal doc­u­ments unless nec­es­sary. Include only in­for­ma­tion needed for review in copies, and explain and protect sen­si­tive data about third parties in pro­por­tion to the purpose of the appeal.

When to consult a lawyer

Consult a lawyer if the doc­u­ment re­sem­bles a crime report, a com­plaint about in­ac­tion, and an or­di­nary appeal at the same time; if a crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ing number has already been as­signed; if the dead­line to apply to an in­ves­ti­gat­ing judge or another court is ap­proach­ing; or if the office keeps for­ward­ing the doc­u­ment without re­solv­ing the sub­stance.

For an ap­pli­cant in Lviv or a com­mu­ni­ty in the region, legal advice is es­pe­cial­ly useful before filing again. A lawyer can sep­a­rate mixed re­quests, match them to the powers of the dis­trict or re­gion­al pros­e­cu­tor’s office, prepare an ev­i­dence list, and de­ter­mine whether you need an or­di­nary appeal, a pro­ce­dur­al com­plaint, or a par­al­lel court step.