CEPEJ INNOVATION CENTRE - Platform for the exchange of good practices

Preamble

In reply to the growing demand for exchange of best judicial practices of the Member States of the Council of Europe, the CEPEJ has set up an "Innovation Centre - Platform for the exchange of good practices" in judicial matters.

It is considered a "good practice" any practice which meets the general mission of the CEPEJ, which is to contribute to a better functioning and performance of the judiciary or the courts, while guaranteeing the quality of services provided to litigants. Moreover, it is necessary that any practice found previous application and that it gave conclusive results within the authority concerned. Any practice that meets the targets set by the CEPEJ instruments in terms of optimisation of court proceedings and quality of justice will be particularly highlighted. A non-exhaustive list of areas of interest is available in the paragraph 3 of this document.

Article 1: Call for applications

The CEPEJ will make a call for applications via its website at regular intervals, and at least twice a year to its networks such as the members of the CEPEJ and the Pilot courts. They will be in charge of disseminating information and centralise the sending of initiatives to the CEPEJ for their country.

Article2: Selection of practices

Practices that can be published must be sent to the CEPEJ Secretariat by using the attached form, to be completed in French or English and should not exceed 500 words. Practices or projects can be submitted by any active instance in the judiciary, whether municipal, regional, national or international.

The CEPEJ Secretariat will transmit the practices that could be considered for use as model to its Bureau members on a biannual basis, with a view to their publication on the CEPEJ website. The selection made by the Secretariat of the CEPEJ is indisputable.

Any initiative involving commercial or private actions cannot be submitted.

Article 3: Publication procedure

The CEPEJ will contact the representatives of the initiatives for which it wishes to publish a description and will invite them to provide a detailed PowerPoint presentation in French or English to the CEPEJ secretariat, , and/or video recording / audio or explanation document that can be published on the CEPEJ website.

Representatives of initiatives published on the CEPEJ website undertake to comply, as part of their initiative, with all principles and values guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

The CEPEJ Secretariat reserves the right to publish on its own initiative practices which it might consider to be a model.

The CEPEJ Secretariat will incorporate the initiative into one or more of the following non-exhaustive list of subjects:

- The ability to monitor the overall length of proceedings; the development of criteria for defining and managing optimal timeframes; the predictability of timeframes for users, and the availability of data concerning the length of proceedings at national or court level; development efforts to promptly diagnose delays and mitigate their consequences

- Court management in terms of human resources and finances

- Use of new technologies in the judicial work

- File management and archiving;

- Monitoring of legal expertise;

- Definition of quality standards for the courts;

- Access to law and jurisprudence;

- Communication with clients and justice professionals;

- Allocation of cases and delegation of judges’ responsibilities to non-judge staff;

- Knowledge sharing between courts and judges;

- Case management;

- Mediation ;

- Legal aid;

- Execution of judicial decisions.

APPENDIX : Application form

INNOVATION CENTRE OF THE  CEPEJ - Platform for the exchange of good practices

To be sent to the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), by e-mail

Information concerning the candidate (institution / organisation)

Name:      

Address:      

Country:      

Tel.:     

E-mail:     

2. Represented par:

Firstname and surname:     

Function:      

Tel:      

E-mail:      

3. Initiative presented

Title:

Date of introduction of the application form:

4. Please describe briefly the initiative (maximum 500 words), in French and / or English

     

5. Has this initiative been awarded in the framework of the Crystal Scales of Justice Prize of the Council of Europe or has it received a specific distinction ?

     

Done in      

On