External (non-CCJE) activity

(substance, date, place)

Action by the CCJE

(substance, date, place)

The Group of the Luxembourg judges (Groupement des magistrats luxembourgeois) addressed, by letter of 2 October 2014, the President of the CCJE, drawing the latter’s attention to a change in the law on judicial organisation giving power to the President of the Higher Court of Justice to temporarily delegate a judge of a district court to a post of another judge by order made on the submissions of the State Attorney General or following the opinion of the latter.

The request was discussed by the CCJE Bureau, following which Mr Alain Lacabarats, President of the Chamber of the Cassation Court of France and CCJE member in respect of France, prepared, in November 2014, the CCJE comments which were reviewed and approved by the CCJE Bureau, sent to the Group of the Luxembourg judges and published in the CCJE website.

2 December 2014: working lunch with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in the presence of the chairpersons of the Council of Europe monitoring, standard-setting and consultative bodies.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and contributed to the exchanges during the event. This event was planned by the Secretary General to bring more focus to the work of the Council of Europe monitoring, standard-setting and consultative bodies and promote exchange of experience.

On 8-9 December 2014, a first meeting was organised by the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) on the problem of prison overcrowding, with the aim to prepare a white paper on this topic.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and presented the CCJE views on the matter.

On 16 December 2014, the Academy of Judges and Public Prosecutors of ''The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia'' (FYROM) organised a conference on the evaluation of judges and public prosecutors, where the Opinion No. 17 of CCJE was presented.

Ms Aneta Arnaudovska, Director of the Academy and member of the CCJE in respect of FYROM, presented the CCJE Opinion No. 17 on the evaluation of judges, which the Academy already translated into Macedonian. In her presentation, she provided a brief comparative review of the evaluation systems in other European countries.

18 December 2014: workshop for trainee judges at the Dutch Judicial Training Centre (SSR) on international standards.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, trained the participants on the CoE and the CCJE standards.

19 December 2014: request from the Cassation Court of France concerning the issues of the disciplinary liability of judges and judicial review.

The CCJE Secretariat sent the request to all CCJE members and asked them to respond to the questions raised by the Cassation Court of France, in particular as regards the judicial remedy against the decisions of the competent authority for the discipline of judges and the relevant court to decide on such cases. In total, 31 member States of the CCJE provided detailed responses, on the basis of which the Secretariat prepared the compilation and sent it to the Cassation Court of France.

Mr Alain Lacabarats, President of the Chamber of the Cassation Court of France and CCJE member in respect of France, prepared, in January 2015, the overview of the Opinions of the CCJE.

This overview was highly appreciated by the CCJE Bureau members as a useful reference document on the CCJE standards. It was translated into English and both French and English versions were published in the CCJE website.

14 January 2015: 1216^th meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, presented the CCJE Opinion No. 17 (2014) on “The evaluation of judges’ work, the quality of justice and respect for judicial independence” as well as the activities of the CCJE. The Committee of Ministers welcomed the Opinion and also took note of the activities of the CCJE and latest developments, presented by Mr van Lierop.

19 - 20 January 2015, round table on judges and prosecutors and the media, held in Tirana, Albania.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the CCJE Opinion No. 7 on justice and society.

On 30 January 2015, the opening of the judicial year in the European Court of Human Rights took place in the presence of the Council of Europe leadership, the Court’s judges and numerous international participants.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, took part in this event.

In January 2015, Ms Alena Poláčková, CCJE member in respect of Slovakia, asked the CCJE members about the data relating to their Supreme Courts such as the number of serving judges and their average age as well as the age of retirement, procedure of dismissal of judges for reason of the age limit, number of cases attributable to one judge, number of assistants provided to one judge etc.

The CCJE members responded by having provided the relevant available information from their countries.

In January 2015, the Serbian Ministry of Justice addressed the Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe requesting the expert advice on the Judicial Academy as a single entry point for the judiciary.

The request was discussed by the CCJE Bureau, then shared with the Serbian member of the CCJE, following which Mr Johannes Riedel, member of the CCJE Bureau, prepared the comment, which was approved by the CCJE Bureau in February 2015.

11 – 13 February 2015, seminar on the lustration laws and by-laws, held in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the relevant CCJE Opinions.

The joint project between the European Union and the Council of Europe on support to efficiency of justice in Albania has requested the CCJE the assessment of the draft law on the system of evaluation of judges’ performance.

Ms Anne Sanders, CCJE Scientific Expert, has carried out this assessment dated 15 February 2015, taking into account the CCJE standards, in particular the CCJE Opinion No. 17 (2014). The assessment has been forwarded to the Albanian authorities for consideration.

Mr Johannes Riedel, member of the CCJE Bureau, was also involved in this project as expert.

On 20 February 2015, the Chairman of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv, Ukraine, has addressed a letter to the Secretary General of the CoE alleging that the prosecutor office and police searched certain courtrooms, judges and court personnel, that this action was without foundation and it was intended to put pressure on the judiciary.

The Secretary General has replied stating that this matter was forwarded for examination to the CCJE and CCPE.

The members of the Bureau discussed this complaint, and Mr Johannes Riedel, member of the CCJE Bureau, volunteered to prepare the CCJE response on the matter, which was then discussed by all Bureau members and approved. It was sent to the attention of the Secretary General of the CoE, and published in the CCJE website.

The CCJE comment included also the response to the open letter of the Council of Judges of Ukraine sent to the President of the CCJE on 30 March 2015 (see below).

24 February 2015, round table on the lustration laws and by-laws, held in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the relevant CCJE Opinions.

On 27 February 2015, President of Association of Judges of Montenegro addressed the CCJE and forwarded the draft law on salaries of judges, prepared by this Association. The CCJE was requested to provide its comments on the draft law, especially since the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro had drafted a new law on salaries in public sector, which allegedly contained serious negative developments for judges' rights.

The members of the Bureau exchanged their opinions in the course of the meeting on 18 March 2015 in Strasbourg, and Ms Nina Betteto, member of the CCJE Bureau, volunteered to prepare the CCJE response on the matter. She proceeded with that mentioning that the CCJE welcomes the involvement of professional organisations set up by judges in decisions relating to the determination of their financial resources, and their allocation at a national and local level, and recalling the Recommendation Rec(2010)12 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states on judges: independence, efficiency and responsibilities, as well as several CCJE Opinions and the Magna Carta of Judges adopted in 2010.

The letter with these comments dated 14 April 2015 was signed by Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, and sent to the President of the Association of Judges of Montenegro.

24 - 25 March 2015, round table with Armenian judges, held in Zagreb, Croatia.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, together with Mr Duro Sessa, current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the CCJE Opinion No. 3 on ethics and liability of judges.

26 March 2015, Training Course at the Asser Institute in the Hague.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, gave a lecture to judges and prosecutors from Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt on the CoE and CCJE work and standards and the importance of international cooperation between judges.

27 – 28 March 2015, round table on the lustration laws and by-laws, held in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the relevant CCJE Opinions.

Mr Viktor Gorodovenko, Ukrainian member of the CCJE, by a letter of 30 March 2015, has brought to the attention of the President of the CCJE an open letter by the Council of Judges of Ukraine, as well as Decision No. 1 of the Council of Judges, dated 5 February 2015.

The members of the Bureau discussed this complaint, and Mr Johannes Riedel, member of the CCJE Bureau, volunteered to prepare the CCJE response on the matter, which was then discussed by all Bureau members and approved. It was sent to the attention of the Secretary General of the CoE, and published in the CCJE website.

The CCJE comment included also the response to the letter of the Chairman of the District Administrative Court of Kyiv of 20 February 2015 addressed to the Secretary General of the CoE (see above).

CEPEJ project on the improvement of the delivery of justice in Karlovac Municipal Court in Croatia focusing on the elaboration of timeframes and reduction in the number of litigious cases from the beginning of the proceedings owing to the increased use of mediation.

Ms Nina Betteto, member of the CCJE Bureau, participated in the project as expert. In particular, she made a contribution to drafting the Action Plan of the project and on 26 March 2015 participated (together with  the CEPEJ  experts) at the meeting in Karlovac Municipal Court where the majority of judges was present, including the President of the Court. The discussion went on about various methods judges could apply to decrease the length of proceedings.

On 27 April 2015, the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors of Turkey decided on the suspension of Judges Başer and Özçelik of the Istanbul Criminal Court. Subsequently, both judges were arrested and detained on April 30 and May 1, respectively. These events resulted in a high number of letters and messages of complaint which have been addressed to members of the CCJE Bureau. Invariably, in these letters, it was alleged that the suspension and arrest of Judges Başer and Özçelik was unjustified and unlawful.

In addition, concerns regarding these cases and the overall situation of the independence of judiciary in Turkey were raised by international, European and national associations of judges from various countries.

The members of the Bureau discussed these complaints and concerns, and prepared the CCJE comments on the matter which were sent to the concerned stakeholders and published in the CCJE website.

27-29 April 2015, workshop "Development of the Implementation Plans for Pilot Courts" was organised in Ankara within the framework of the CoE project "Developing Mediation Practices in Civil Disputes in Turkey".

Ms Nina Betteto, member of the CCJE Bureau, participated in the project as expert and made a presentation on the CCJE standards in the course of the workshop.

Ms Aida Popa, member of the CCJE in respect of Romania, and the Supreme Council of Magistracy of Romania organised a conference for judges on 27-28 April 2015 in Bucharest on the topic of the evaluation of judges. This conference built up on the successful experience of a similar event organised in Bucharest on 11-13 September 2014.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, attended the conference and made the presentation on the CCJE Opinions and their implementation.

2 - 4 May 2015, round table on the evaluation of judges’ work, held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the CCJE Opinion No. 17 on the evaluation of judges’ work, the quality of justice and respect for judicial independence.

10 – 13 May 2015, round table on judges and prosecutors and the media, held in Tirana, Albania.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the CCJE Opinion No. 7 on justice and society.

13 May 2015, conference organised by University of Prague and Venice Commission on lustration of judges, held in Prague, Czech Republic.  

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the relevant CCJE Opinions.

The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic invited the CCJE to participate in the international conference on finding a model for National Judicial Council held on 13-14 May 2015 in Brno, Czech Republic.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the following topic for his presentation: “Councils for the Judiciary; experiences of the Consultative Council of European Judges”.

On 21-22 May 2015, the second meeting organised by the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) on prison overcrowding took place to continue preparing a white paper on prison overcrowding.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and presented the CCJE views on the matter.

29 May 2015, meeting with stakeholders on the lustration laws and by-laws, held in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the relevant CCJE Opinions.

8 July 2015, delegation of Albanian judges visiting the Hague in the framework of the joint EU/CoE project on support to efficiency of justice.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, presented the CCJE activities to the visiting delegation.

16-18 July 2015, meeting with members of the Judicial Appraisal Committee of Armenia, held in Yerevan, Armenia.

Mr Duro Sessa, member of the CCJE Working Group, participated in the meeting and worked with the members of the Committee in order to establish a system of evaluation of judges’ work which would be in line with the CCJE standards.

10 September 2015, Opening Conference of the process for regional dialogue on judicial reform in the Eastern Partnership countries" held in Strasbourg.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, and Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and presented the CCJE activities.

16-18 September 2015, Conference of the presidents of the courts of appeal of the EU held in Turku, Finland.

The Conference was organised by the CCJE member in respect of Finland Mr Timo Esko. Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated in the Conference and presented the CCJE Opinions.

18 September 2015, international conference for judges, where judges from 17 different European countries were represented, held in Zadar, Croatia.

Mr Duro Sessa, member of the CCJE Working Group, participated in the conference and give introductory report on the evaluation of judges’ work.

21 September - 2 October 2015, OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting held in Warsaw, Poland.

Ms Nina Betteto, member of the CCJE Bureau, participated in the meeting and introduced, on 23 September 2015, the working session 6: Independence of the judicial system, with a particular focus on accountability and integrity of judges.

23 September 2015, conference on the dialogue between judges, lawyers and prosecutors with regard to the CCJE Opinions No. 12 and 16 as well as on ethical and deontological issues was held in Bucharest, Romania.

The Conference was organised by the CCJE member in respect of Romania Ms Aida Popa. Ms Nina Betteto, member of the CCJE Bureau, participated in the Conference and made a presentation on the CCJE standards.

28 September 2015, meeting with stakeholders on judges and prosecutors and the media, held in Tirana, Albania.

Mr Gerhard Reissner, former President of the CCJE and current member of the CCJE Working Group, participated and addressed the CCJE Opinion No. 7 on justice and society.

28 September 2015, round-table discussion in Tbilisi, Georgia, where the translation of all CCJE Opinions into Georgian was presented.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and presented the CCJE Opinions.

12 October 2015, first meeting of the Task Force for the preparation of the Review for the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary held in London.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated, along with the members of the CCJE as well as CCPE Bureau, and made contributions to drafting the review.

22 October 2015, Rule of Law Conference organised by the Norwegian Association of Lawyers.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and presented the CCJE activities.

26-27 October 2015, 3^rd meeting within the framework of the CDPC activities on prison overcrowding held in Paris.

Mr Bart van Lierop, President of the CCJE, participated and presented the CCJE views on the subject matter.