Strasbourg, 11 December 2015                                                                                                          

CEPEJ(2015)16

europEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF Justice (CEPEJ)

26th plenary meeting (10 – 11 December 2015)

Abridged report

A.   FOREWORD

The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) held its 26th plenary meeting in Strasbourg on 10 – 11 December 2015. The meeting was chaired by Mr Georg STAWA (Austria), President of the CEPEJ.

The agenda appears in the Appendix.

B.   LIST OF ITEMS DISCUSSED AND DECISIONS TAKEN BY THE CEPEJ

The CEPEJ:

  1. Information by the President of the CEPEJ, the CEPEJ members and the Secretariat

§  took note of the information provided by its President, its members and its Secretariat who had participated in various fora where the work of the CEPEJ had been presented and discussed and noted with satisfaction that this concerned 76 events (including cooperation activities) in 20 members states and 3 non-European states in 2015, contributing to the promotion of public policies aimed at ensuring the efficiency and quality of judicial systems;

 

§  took note of the information provided by the representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, the Russian Federation, Serbia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, on recent developments in the judicial field and invited its members to forward to the Secretariat written information and useful references which could be included in the area "country profiles" of its web site;

  1. CEPEJ co-operation programmes

§  welcomed the progress made in the on-going cooperation programmes, which allow the practical implementation of the methodology and tools of the CEPEJ and thus provide strong added value to the work of the Council of Europe in the beneficiary states, in particular:

-     in Albania, in the framework of the on-going Joint Programme with the European Union for the "Support to the Efficiency of Justice" (SEJ); agreed to pursue such cooperation in the framework of the "Horizontal Facility" for South-East Europe under negotiation with the European Union,

-     in Croatia, in the framework of the programme funded by the EEA/Norway Grants for improving the quality and efficiency of the judicial system; noted that this programme had been extended for a period of six months;

-     in Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova, as part of the Programmatic Cooperation Framework with the European Union,

-     in Turkey, as part of the cooperation programme with the Swedish authorities (Sida) to promote civil mediation on the basis of the relevant CEPEJ Guidelines,

-     in Kosovo*[1], to improve the efficiency and quality of the service delivered by the Basic Court of Pristina, in the framework of a pilot project; agreed to pursue such cooperation in the framework of the "Horizontal Facility" for South-East Europe under negotiation with the European Union,

-     in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, as part of the Neighbourhood policy and the on-going Joint Programmes with the European Union for the reform of the judicial systems;

§  in general, thanked the European Union for its expression of confidence in the CEPEJ’s specific expertise in supporting the reforms of judicial systems towards greater efficiency and quality through the practical implementation of the CEPEJ’s own methodology and tools, and reiterated its willingness to cooperate with its member states and other partner states to support the development of the public service of justice in Europe and beyond;

§  welcomed the elaboration of a methodology to guide the implementation of CEPEJ cooperation programmes; underlined that the implementation of these numerous programmes by the CEPEJ requires the availability of members and experts of the CEPEJ and calledupon its members and experts to inform the Secretariat of their willingness to participate in such programmes;

  1. Evaluation of the European judicial systems

§  urged the national correspondentswho have not yet done so to respond to the electronic questionnaire for evaluating judicial systems before 31 December 2015 (it being understood that a more flexible timeframe was agreed only for federal states), in order for the data to be processed from January 2016 and the reports to be adopted by the CEPEJ at its 27th plenary meeting (30 June – 1 July 2016);

§  recalled that it had decided to use a new way of analysing and presenting the data collected, including:

-       a general report including key data and comments (key facts and figures) which make it possible to evaluate the state of judicial systems and their evolution;

-       a specific report focused for each cycle on one topical issue to be selected and containing an in-depth analysis of the situation;

-       a dynamic data base opened to a range of users yet to be defined, including a data processing system;

and entrusted the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL to prepare this material and to submit it to the 27th plenary meeting, so that it may be officially published in September 2016;

§  welcomed the continued cooperation with the European Commission in the evaluation of judicial systems and noted that a new Study on judicial systems in the member states of the European Union was being prepared, based on the methodology developed by the CEPEJ, from the 2014 data, aimed to provide information allowing the European Commission to prepare its "EU Justice Scoreboard”;

§  took note of the report of the peer evaluation visit on judicial statistics which took place in Lithuania on  27-28 May 2015 and Slovakia on 5-6 October 2015, and agreed that new visits would take place to Serbia and possibly to another state in 2016;

§  agreed to develop co-operation with the Department for the Execution of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights within DG-I, in particular by providing this Department with data that may be useful for it to fulfil its mission;

  1. Quality of justice

§  thanked the speakers at the Study session: "Leading change to cyber-justice", underlined the relevance of this work to improve the efficiency and quality of the public service of justice and instructed the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL to pursue its activity on the development of guidelines on the subject;

§  adopted a Guide of best practices in the field of enforcement (CEPEJ(2015)10), as a complement aimed at facilitating the implementation of its Guidelines on the matter;

§  instructed the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL to look for a common minimum understanding on quality of justice indicators and tools and invited the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL and the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL to identify possible common indicators and tools on quality and on efficiency of justice, so that a common text would be proposed to the plenary meeting in June 2016;

§  instructed the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL to further work on structural measures prior to the introduction of effective remedies within the context of Article 13 ECHR;

§  reiterated its invitation to the volunteer courts in the member states to indicate to the Secretariat their candidature for organising a coaching programme aimed at organising user satisfaction surveys based on the CEPEJ Handbook and invited its members to signal this opportunity widely to the courts in their states;

  1. Judicial time management

§   approved the Guide on implementation of the SATURN time management tools in courts (CEPEJ-SATURN(2011)9Rev1);

 

§   took note of the work carried out by the Steering group of the SATURN Centre, in particular as regards the compilation of definitions used in the framework of the activities of the CEPEJ and instructed it to pursue its work according to its strategic action plan;

§   reiterated its strong interest to participate in the work for updating Recommendation (86) 12 on measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts, if the Committee of Ministers so decided, as this Recommendation constitutes a very useful tool for the day to day functioning of European courts, but needs to be updated after almost 30 years of application;

§   reiterated its invitation to the volunteer courts in the member states to indicate to the Secretariat their candidature for organising within the court a coaching programme aimed at implementing the SATURN tools for judicial time management based on the CEPEJ Guide and invited its members to signal this opportunity widely to the courts in their states;

  1. Activity programme of the CEPEJ

§  adopted its Activity Programme for 2016 and 2017 (CEPEJ(2015)12) and decided to forward it to the Committee of Ministers so that it may take note of it;

§  invited the member states, through the CEPEJ members, where appropriate, to propose to the Secretariat by 15 January 2016, qualified experts to participate in the working groups (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, CEPEJ-GT-QUAL, Steering group of the SATURN Centre, CEPEJ-GT-MED) and entrusted its Bureau to appoint members of these working groups, taking into account these proposals;

  1. Relations between the CEPEJ and the other bodies of the Council of Europe

§  took note of the information provided on the activities of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE), as well as regards cooperation with the European Court of Human Rights;;

  1. Other cooperation with the European Union

§  took note of the information provided by the representatives of Luxembourg and the Netherlands, speaking on behalf of the outgoing and incoming presidencies of the European Union, on the recent and planned developments within the Union in the field of justice;

  1. European Day of Justice and Crystal Scales of Justice

§  thanked the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina for having organised the main event of the 2015 European Day of Justice in Banja Luka, as well as the judicial authorities in 10 member states which organised specific events within the framework of this Day; invited its members to promote initiatives for the 2016 edition and candidatures for organising the main event;

§  welcomed the success of the European Prize: "the Crystal Scales of Justice" and congratulated the winner:the Judicial Institute for Scotland (United Kingdom) for its initiative “The Judicial HUB”, as well as the three institutions which were granted a special mention by the jury: the Court Administration of Latvia for its initiative "Recording of court hearings with technical means"; the Dutch Legal Aid Board (The Netherlands) for its initiative "Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for Relational Disputes"; the High Judicial Council of Serbia for its initiative "Model Court Guideline for the Basic and Higher Courts in the Republic of Serbia";

 

§  agreed that the “Crystal Scales of Justice” would be organised by the CEPEJ regularly every two years, the next edition being organised in 2017; invited its members to promote candidacies for the next edition;

  1. Observers with the CEPEJ

§  took noteof the information provided by its Observers, and in particular …, thanked them for their concrete contribution to the CEPEJ’s activities and invitedthem to contribute further to the implementation of its Activity Programme;

  1. Any other business

§  welcomed the various best practices as regards court management in Europe introduced during this meeting and entrusted its Bureau to further think on how CEPEJ could act as a clearing house for such best practices;

§  took note of the draft calendar for the CEPEJ meetings in 2016, including the plenary meetings which may take place on 30 June – 1 July and 6 – 7 December.


APPENDIX I

AGENDA

Study session: Leading Change to Cyberjustice

  1. How to conduct the change towards Cyberjustice ?

·       François Paychère, chairman of the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL

·       Harold Epineuse, scientific expert, project manager at the « Institut des Hautes Etudes sur la Justice », France

  1. Presentation of Cyberjustice systems from member countries: gains, potentials and challenges

  1. Round table on the issues identified and the possible evolutions

***

  1. Opening of the meeting

  1. Information by the President, members and the Secretariat of the CEPEJ

  1. Presentation of the CEPEJ Study N° 22 on « High quality justice for all member states of the Council of Europe »

Rapporteurs : Jean-Paul JEAN (France) and Ramin GURBANOV (Azerbaijan)

  1. Recent developments in the judicial field in the Council of Europe member states

  1. CEPEJ co-operation programmes

                i.    Albania – Support to the efficiency of Justice (SEJ) – Joint programme with the European Union

Rapporteur: Jacques BÜHLER (Switzerland)

               ii.    Programmatic Co-operation Framework (EU – CoE) for the countries of the Eastern partnership

·           Azerbaijan - Rapporteur: Secretariat

·           Republic of Moldova - Rapporteur :Frans van der Doelen (Netherlands)

              iii.    Croatia - Improvement of the way cases are handled by the judicial system and introduction of SATURN time management tools in the courts – Co-operation with the Norway Grants

Rapporteur:Secretariat

              iv.    Turkey - Developing mediation practices in civil disputes – Co-operation with the Swedish agency (SIDA)

Rapporteur: Secretariat

               v.    Kosovo [2] - Supporting court efficiency

Rapporteur: Nikola PROKOPENKO (“the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”)

              vi.    Towards Strengthened Democratic Governance in the Southern Mediterranean – Joint programme with the European Union

·           Morocco - Rapporteur : Jacques BÜHLER (Switzerland)

·           Jordan - Rapporteur: Secretariat

·           Tunisia - Rapporteur : François PAYCHERE (Switzerland)

             vii.    Perspectives for further co-operation

  1. Evaluation of European judicial systems

Rapporteur: Jean-Paul JEAN (France), Chair of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL

                i.    Evaluation report – 2014-2016 cycle

·           Specific IT Scheme

·           Quality of the responses

·           New way of presentating data

·           Peer evaluation

a.      2015: Lithuania, Slovakia

b.      2016: Serbia ; other proposals

               ii.    CEPEJ co-operation with the Department for the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights

 

              iii.    CEPEJ’s Study for the “EU Justice Scoreboard”

  1. Quality of justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL)

Rapporteur: François PAYCHĖRE (Switzerland), Chair of the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL

                i.    Examination, with a view to its adoption, of the draft Guide of best practices in the field of enforcement

               ii.    On-going work of the GT-QUAL

·           Structural measures prior to the introduction of effective remedies

·           Definition of indicators of the quality of justice

  1. SATURN Centre on judicial time management: information on the on-going activities

Rapporteur: Jacques BÜHLER (Switzerland), Chair of the Steering group of the SATURN Centre

                i.    Examination, in view of its adoption, of the draft Guide on implementation of the SATURN time management tools in courts

               ii.    Compilation of definitions

              iii.    Update of Recommendation Rec(86)12 concerning measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts

              iv.    On-going work of the CEPEJ-SATURN

  1. Activity programme of the CEPEJ for 2016-2017

  1. Relations between the CEPEJ and the other bodies of the Council of Europe

i.       Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE)

ii.      Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE)

iii.     European Committee on Legal Cooperation (CDCJ)

  1. Other co-operation with the European Union: last developments within the European Union in the judicial field

Rapporteurs: Catherine Olinger (Luxembourg) and Frans van der DOELEN (The Netherlands) on behalf of the outgoing and incoming presidency of the European Union 

  1. European Day of Justice (Secretariat) and Crystal Scales of Justice

                i.    Initiatives awarded within the framework of the “Crystal Scales of Justice”:

·           The Judicial Institute for Scotland (United Kingdom), initiative “The Judicial HUB”;

Alistair JM DUFF, Director of the Judicial Institute for Scotland

·           Court Administration of the Republic of Latvia, initiative "Recording of court hearings with technical means";

Andreta SKRASTINA, Director of the Department of Courts and Land Registry

Agnija Karlsone-Djomkina, Head of Project Management and International Cooperation Division, Court Administration of Latvia

·           Dutch Legal Aid Board (The Netherlands), initiative "Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) for Relational Disputes";

Liselotte Maas, Rechtwijzer projectleader for the Legal Aid Board

Jin Ho Verdonschot, Head of Justice Technologie for Hiil

·           High Judicial Council of Serbia, initiative "Model Court Guideline for the Basic and Higher Courts in the Republic of Serbia".

Aleksandar Stoiljkovski, member of High Judicial Council of the Republic of Serbia

               ii.    Frequency for organising the Crystal Scales of Justice

  1. Observers to the CEPEJ

  1. Any other business



[1][1] *All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation's Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

[2] *All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation's Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.