154 CONCLUSIONS 1. Ukraine has launched operation of the national preventive mechanism (NPM) in the format “Ombudsman +”, which envisages visits of custodial settings by representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office jointly with the civil society. The key elements of the “Ombudsman +” are the Ombudsman, the Department for matters of NPM implementation (NPM Department) of the Ombudsman’s Secretariat, the Expert Council for matters of NPM implementation and civic observers (monitors). The Expert Council is to serve as a bridge between the Ombudsman and the civil society, to define the mechanisms of public involvement in monitoring visits, to develop and approve the monitoring methodology and to participate in the analysis and consolidation of the reports on the monitoring results. The Provisions on the Expert Council were drafted, and the composition of the Council is approved. The first meeting of the Expert Council is scheduled for the first half of January 2013. 2. In 2012 monitoring visits to custodial settings were mostly conducted by NPM Department staff. Civic representatives began participating in monitoring visits only as of November 2012, when the relevant amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights” came into effect. A standard mechanism of involvement of the representatives of the public in monitoring visits is expected to appear at the end of the first quarter of 2013, as a result of joint elaborative effort with the Expert Council and with consequent approval of all necessary documents (Provisions on monitors, Code of ethics for monitors, etc.). 3. The effort of development of the monitoring methodology is nearly over. There are standard reporting forms for each of 42 kinds of custodial settings, to be filled out during monitoring visits and further serve as the basis for recommendations and proposals to the leaderships of relevant public authorities. The regulations on operation of relevant institutions have also been analyzed and consolidated.