Strasbourg, 18 December 2014

CEPEJ-BU(2014)5

EuropeAn COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF justice

(CEPEJ)

24^th Board meeting

Paris, 9 October 2014

MEETING REPORT

Document prepared by the Secretariat
Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law

1.     The Bureau of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) held its 24th meeting in Paris on 9 October 2014, under the presidency of John STACEY (United Kingdom), President of the CEPEJ.

2.     Also present were the following members of the Bureau :

§  M. Georg STAWA (Austria), Vice-president of the CEPEJ;

§  M. Irakli ADEISHVILI (Georgia), Member;

§  M. Audun BERG (Norway), Member.

3.     The Agenda appears in the Appendix to this report.

1.   Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat

4.     The Secretariat reminded that for the next plenary meeting of the CEPEJ on 11 and 12 December 2014 in Strasbourg, a World Forum on execution will be organised on 10 December, in conjunction with the International Union of Bailiffs (UIHJ).

5.     The Secretariat also noted the ongoing recruitment of the statistician who is expected to take office on 1 December 2014.

2. Process for evaluating European judicial systems

6.     The Secretariat gave an update regarding the publication of the report of the CEPEJ and the support expressed by the Committee of Ministers in which several delegations stressed the quality of the evaluation report 2014 edition. A press conference was held in Strasbourg and will also be held in Paris following this meeting of the Bureau. The Secretariat welcomed the great number of participants attending this press conference.

7.     The Secretariat indicated that the Evaluation Scheme for the exercise 2014-2016 is under revision within the framework of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL. For instance, the questions related to ICT will have to be reviewed as they are not adapted to the current evolution of technologies within the courts.

8.     The Secretariat also informed the Bureau that, within the framework of the evaluation visit that was held in Switzerland early September 2014, some experts (Georg STAWA, Ramin GURBANOV, Munira DOSSAJI) and members of the Secretariat have attended a presentation of a database established in Switzerland which could be adjusted to the evaluation exercise of the CEPEJ.

9.     The Bureau decided to grant the observer status of the European Expertise and Expert Institute (EEEI) to the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (Working Group on Evaluation of Judicial Systems) for the next meeting.

3. CEPEJ cooperation to the Justice scoreboard of the European Union

10.  The Secretariat informed the Bureau of the ongoing progress « Study on the functioning of judicial systems in the member states of the European Union», which will have to be delivered to the European Commission in preparation of the Justice scoreboard 2015. This study is realised by the use of an extract (37 questions) of the CEPEJ questionnaire and is mainly based on 2013 data. The data provided through the electronic questionnaire are currently being thoroughly controlled (« quality check » stage).

11.  The first part of the study will be delivered to the European Commission on 1 December 2014. The second part, consisting of 24 country sheets, will have to be given to the European Commission by 31 December 2014.

4. European Day for Justice and Crystal Scales of Justice

12.  The Presentation of the Crystal Scales Prize will be held in Aveiro (Portugal) on 16 October 2014 for the VIth Conference of the Solicitadores of Portugal in the presence of the Portuguese Secretary of State for Justice, António Costa Moura, of the President of the CEPEJ, of a spokesman of the Prize jury and of the Secretariat of the CEPEJ. Following initiatives will be rewarded during this event:

-       Online legal aid, presented by the General Council of Spanish Bars,

-       A centralised legal database, presented by the Estonian Ministry of  Justice,

-       An accelerated familial procedure, presented by the family courts and the Bar Association in Berlin, Germany,

-       The blog on European courts and the newsletter on European Law presented by the Court of Appeal of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

 

13.  The jury held its meeting in Paris on 19 September and decided upon the winner of the Crystal scale among these projects but without disclosing their decision until 16 October 2014.

14.  This event has been defined as « a key event » for the celebration of the European Day for Justice which is yearly organised around 25 October.

5. Cooperation programmes with Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan

15.  It was indicated that the programmes in these three countries are taking their course and are able to function reasonably well. The Council of Europe and the European Union should pursue this cooperation in the future, or even increase it.

16.  In Jordan, it is nevertheless noted that the activity has a little more difficulty to get started, for several reasons.

8. Individual complaints addressed to the CEPEJ on justice issues

17.  The Secretariat indicated that no specific complaints were received for further examination by the Bureau.

10. Election/Composition of the next Bureau

18.  It was recalled that John Stacey is coming to the end of his term and that the Bureau will have to be entirely renewed.

Annexe 1 / Appendix 1

AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

DRAFT AGENDA/PROJET D’ORDRE DU JOUR

1.     Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour

2.    Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat / Informations des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat

3.     Process for evaluating European judicial systems / Processus pour l’évaluation des systèmes judiciaires européens

• Publication of the CEPEJ’s report “European judicial system – Edition 2014”/ Publication du rapport “Systèmes judiciaires européens – Edition 2014”:

o   debriefing on the process / bilan du processus

o   press conference / conférence de presse

• Swiss proposal for the next cycle / Proposition suisse pour le prochain cycle

4.     Participation of the CEPEJ to the Scoreboard of Justice of the European Union / Coopération de la CEPEJ au Tableau de bord de la justice de l’Union européenne

5.     Crystal Scales of Justice Award/Prix « La balance de cristal »

6.     Cooperation programmes with Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan / Programmes de coopération avec le Maroc, la Tunisie et la Jordanie

7.     Other co-operation programme/Autres programmes de coopération

8.     Participation of CEPEJ in various fora / Participation de la CEPEJ dans différents fora

9.     Preparation of the 24th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ (11-12 December 2014) and the Forum on enforcement co-organised with the UIHJ (10 December 2014)/ Préparation de la 24^ème réunion plénière de la CEPEJ (11-12 décembre 2014) et du Forum sur l’exécution co-organisé avec l’UIHJ (10 décembre 2014)

10.  Election/Composition of the next Bureau / Election/Composition du prochain Bureau

11.  Individual complaints submitted to the CEPEJ concerning justice matters / Plaintes individuelles adressées à la CEPEJ sur des questions de justice

12.  Any other business / Questions diverses

• Request for observer status with the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (Working group on Evaluation of Judicial Systems) from the European Expertise and Expert Institute (EEEI) / Demande de statut d’observateur auprès du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (Groupe de travail sur l’évaluation des systèmes judiciaires) de l’Institut européen de l’expertise et de l’expert (EEEI)

Request letter from EEEI / Lettre de demande de l’EEEI