Strasbourg, 5 November 2015

CEPEJ-BU(2015)1

EuropeAn COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF justice

(CEPEJ)

26^th meeting of the Bureau of the CEPEJ

4 November 2015

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 26th meeting in Strasbourg on 4 November 2015, chaired by Georg STAWA (Austria), President of the CEPEJ.

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

§  Irakli ADEISHVILI (Georgia), Vice-president of the CEPEJ;

§  Ivana BORZOVA (Czech Republic), member;

Ramin GURBANOV (Azerbaijan), Member, was apologized.

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

1.            Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat

4.     The Secretariat informed the Bureau about the follow up to be given to the Secretary General’s report on the “state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe”, and in particular the Action plan which would be drafted in 2016 and in which the CEPEJ could be involved, as well as the on-going joint work of the CCJE and CCPE for drafting a report on the main challenges for judicial impartiality and independence in the member states.

 

5.     Georg STAWA informed the Bureau about the Award ceremony of the “Crystal scales of justice” which took place within the framework of the European Day of Justice in Banja-Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 23 October.

6.     Ivana BORZOVA reminded that she would represent CEPEJ at the meeting of the European Network of the Councils for the Judiciary on timeliness (Bucharest, Romania), 10 - 11 November). Georg STAWA indicated that he would participate on behalf of CEPEJ in the Grand Plenary Session of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation (Moscow, 1 - 2 December).

2.            Implementation of the Activity programme in 2016

7.    As regards the process for evaluating European judicial systems, 2014-2016 cycle, the Bureau agreed that the opening of the data base to the public was a question to be answered with care. It proposed that the data base would not be opened at large to the public, but on a case by case basis, to be further discussed by the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL.

 

8.     The Bureau was informed that the current contract between the CoE and the European Commission within the framework of the preparation of the « EU justice Scoreboard » would come to an end in March 2017.

The other sources used by the EC to enrich their Scoreboard were discussed. The member states appreciated the information provided by the CEPEJ. However they had stressed that other sources were less convincing. The Bureau underlined the necessity to make it clear that such other sources could not decrease the credibility of the CEPEJ’s information. Therefore the relevance of having the CEPEJ represented in the meetings of DG Justice dealing with this issue was highlighted. 

9.     The Bureau confirmed the usefulness of the technical glossary to be proposed by the Steering group of the SATURN Centre at the next plenary meeting.

10.  The Secretariat informed the Bureau about the on-going work within the CEPEJ-QT-QUAL to strengthen proper implementation of Article 13 ECHR as well as in the field of cyber-justice. The Bureau acknowledged that it was difficult at this stage to bring an added value, within the work of the CEPEJ, as regards access to justice for women. 

3.            Indicators for the quality of justice

11.  In regard to the discussion of GT-EVAL on future developments concerning advanced and agreed set of indicators and tools for CEPEJ, the Bureau requested the GT-QUAL to look for a common minimum understanding on quality of justice indicators and tools. In this regard it invited both groups to identify possible common indicators and tools on quality and on efficiency of justice. A common text should be proposed to the plenary meeting in June 2016.

4.            2015 Crystal Scales of Justice

12.  The Bureau agreed that the “Crystal Scales of Justice” should be organised by the CEPEJ on a regular basis, every two year. The next edition would then take place in 2017.

5.            Cooperation programmes

 

13.  The Secretariat informed the Bureau on the state of affairs of the various cooperation programmes and possible cooperation in 2016:

• the “Horizontal facility” for South-eastern Europe should be concluded between the EU and the CoE at the beginning of 2016; CEPEJ could be concerned by further cooperation in Albania and Kosovo[1], as a follow up to the on-going cooperation activities;
• a no-cost extension of the on-going programme for Croatia was agreed for six months in 2016;
• cooperation with Azerbaijan and the Republic of Moldova would continue in 2016 in the framework of the PCF with the EU;
• cooperation with Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan would continue in 2016 in the framework of the “South Programme II”; a specific extra programme for Morocco could be signed at the beginning of 2016;
• cooperation with Turkey for mediation would continue in 2016 in the framework of the programme funded by SIDA; the Bureau confirmed that an extension of the programme beyond 2016 or with extra activities to the ones already planned would not be a priority for the CEPEJ, as it would have little added value to add to what was going on:

14.  The Bureau was informed that the British Embassy in Kyiv could be interested in funding CEPEJ cooperation. It was also reminded that the EU Delegation in Kyiv was not in favor of CEPEJ cooperation. The Bureau agreed that possible proposal for cooperation by the CEPEJ would depend on possible requests by the Ukrainian authorities themselves.

15.  The Secretariat mentioned a recent request by the Latvian member of the CEPEJ: the Court Administration was at the initial stage of implementation of complex measures financed by the European Commission aimed at strengthening the capacity of the justice sector. In line with extensive training activities foreseen for judges, staff of the courts, law enforcement agencies and other judicial system related personal for the period of next five years, it was planned to develop the overall evaluation of the judicial system. Results of the evaluation would be used as a basis for further reforms, to be included in different policy planning documents. The scope of the evaluation should be broader than the courts system. CEPEJ’s cooperation was requested.

The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to contact the Latvian authorities to have more information about what was expected from the CEPEJ, being understood that it could be involved in this exercise, but could not be responsible for this overall exercise as such.

6.            Working methods of the CEPEJ

16.  The Bureau noted that less than half of the member states had appointed substitute members to the CEPEJ. The Bureau decided to promote this issue at the next plenary meeting.

7.            Preparation of the 26th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ (10-11 December 2015)

17.  The Bureau agreed with the proposal made by the Secretariat to have a specific focus on “the change towards cyber-justice”. A study session could be organised on this issue.

18.  The Bureau agreed that a focus should be made on the process for evaluating judicial systems and the new way of presenting the findings and the data.

8.            CEPEJ Newsletter and other communication supports

19.  The Bureau proposed to focus the next CEPEJ Newsletter on best practices in the field of court organisation, in particular by highlighting the initiatives awarded within the framework of the “Crystal scales of justice”.

9.            Participation of CEPEJ in various fora

20.  The Secretariat would remain responsible for coordinating the representation of the CEPEJ in the various fora where it is invited.

10.          Individual complaints addressed to the CEPEJ on justice issues

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

Appendix / Annexe

AGENDA / 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.    Implementation of Activity programme in 2015 / Mise en oeuvre du Programme d’activité en 2015

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

• Publication of the CEPEJ’s report “European judicial system – Edition 2016”/ Publication du rapport “Systèmes judiciaires européens – Edition 2016”:

• Evolutions on database exploitation and presentation underway / évolution en cours sur la base et la présentation des données

• Scoreboard of Justice of the European Union / Tableau de bord de la justice de l’Union européenne

b.    SATURN Centre / Centre SATURN

c.     Quality of Justice / Qualité de la Justice

4.    Discussion and futur developments concerning advanced and agreed set of indicators and tools for CEPEJ / Discussion et développements futurs concernant les indicateurs existants et à venir et les outils pour la CEPEJ 

-       Indicators used for an evaluation between States / Indicateurs utilisés pour une évaluation effectuée entre Etats

-       Indicators used for an evaluation between courts in a same State / Indicateurs utilisés pour une évaluation effectuée entre tribunaux d’un même Etat

-       Other CEPEJ tools to be drafted in the future / Autres outils de la CEPEJ à préparer dans le futur

5.    2015 Crystal Scales of Justice Award and next edition (2016 or 2017?) / 2015 Prix « La balance de cristal » (2016 ou 2017 )

6.    Cooperation programmes / Programmes de coopération

7.    Working methods of the CEPEJ / Méthodes de travail de la CEPEJ

§  Appointment of substitute members / Désignation de membres suppléants

§  Venue of the 27/28th plenary meetings / Lieu de la 27/28ème réunions plénières

§  Venue of the 2016 pilot courts meeting / Lieu de la réunion des tribunaux-référents en 2016

8.    Preparation of the 26th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ (10-11 December 2015) / Préparation de la 26^ème réunion plénière de la CEPEJ (10-11 décembre 2015)

9.    CEPEJ Newsletter and other communication supports / Lettre d’information de la CEPEJ et autres supports de communication

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

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