21 November 2016
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE (CEPEJ°
European Day of Justice 2016
Report of events organised in the
Council of Europe member States
Objectives
By the joint organisation of the European Day of Justice, the European Commission and the Council of Europe support initiatives which aim to bring justice closer to citizens. This Day represents an opportunity to inform citizens of their rights and offer them a better understanding of the functioning of the judicial systems through events organised mainly by courts. On this occasion, the work of the European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) and of the European Commission is highlighted as a real support for justice professionals.
Support
The Council of Europe has sent documentation as well as pens, notepads and document wallets on request. The CEPEJ posted events on dedicated web pages.
Events by country
The Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) made a significant contribution by organising the first edition of the open days of the “Notaries of Europe” which took place around the European day of Justice (25 October 2016). The programme included information sessions, conferences, free consultations in 16 member States of the Council of Europe and the European Union for citizens, students and contractors. In total, nearly 200 events have been held and thousands of people participated in these events. The list of events organised at the initiative of member States was also available on the CEPEJ website.:
The 18 following countries organised special events in the framework of the European Day of Justice. or 2016.
Belgium: Free information evening for citizen: « I plan my succession » in all Belgian notary houses
25 October 2016
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Open door days at Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik –Free access to citizens and guided tours of elementary school, high school and law school students
- Signing of the Protocol on cooperation between Cantonal court in Novi Travnik and Municipal court in Travnik, Bugojno, Kiseljak and Jajce about providing psyhological and other forms of support to witnesses/wictims in criminal cases conducted before the municipal courts in Middle Bosnia Canton by the witness support office of this Court.
· Round Table: " Harassment and prevention of the sexual and gender-based harassment"
26 October 2016
Croatia
Open days on 26 October 2016 and Round table “civil-law notary – a provider of legal certainty” 27 Oct 2016 organised by the Croatian Notaries Chamber
Czech Republic
Open houses at the Chamber of notaries of the Czech Republic on 25 October 2016
Estonia:
Notaries of Estonia Open Days - Estonian Chamber of Notaries – 1st November 2016
Introduction to notary's work and services. Consultations
Germany:
In all German cities: Open days of all regional chambers of notaries - 25 October 2016,
In Sachsen Anhalt: Case simulation - 3 November 2016
SaarLouis: Information day of the national chamber of notaries and Case simulation and workshops - 15 November 2016
Italy
Open day of the European notaries: “Together for the legal security "- 25 October 2016
Morning: notaries meet students in schools (primary, secondary level I or secondary grade II) to talk about law and the notarial profession
Afternoon: activities of complimentary information to citizens on the notarial competence themes: home, family and business
Latvia
Days of notaries, February or March 2017, to be confirmed
Lituania
1. Legal Consultations in Courts of Lithuania
Ministry of Justice with the help of specialists of State guaranteed legal aid, representatives of the Lithuanian Bar Association, courts of Lithuania decided to offer assistance for people to receive answers to legal questions that are so relevant to them (regarding land division, testament, adjudgement of child maintenance, construction permits ant etc).
Rree legal consultation were provided in all (62) Lithuanian courts – “Lithuanian courts: You ask - we answer”
National courts administration and Lithuanian courts decided to offer assistance for people to receive answers to legal questions that are so relevant to them (regarding land division, testament, adjudgement of child maintenance, construction permits ant etc).
More than 700 hundred people visited courts on this day and got answers to their questions. 200 judges’ assistants, attorneys and lawyers provided the consultations to people. All biggest TV and news portals were informing about this event and published information about the results of the projects.
2. The special book for students and children was published (comic book about children and the courts) and presented in the biggest courts of Lithuania for schoolchildren and their teachers.
On the 25th of October more than 300 children visited courts in different Lithuanian cities, get acquainted with the book, have a possibility to act the trail, further more they could also try to put on the judge’s robe and make the judgment. The main news portals and national TV published the information and reportages about this event and commemoration of the European Day of Justice.
Malta
- in the New Parliament Building Foyer. Information stands have been set up for the general public with guided information on (i) Property Conveyancing (ii) Estate Planning and Succession and (iii) Matrimonial Regimes - 24 and 25 October 2016
- in the lower floor hall of the Parliament Building. Notarial Symposium on “Synergies of Certainty: The Notarial Profession beyond 2020 - 25 October
The Netherlands
Living in the Netherlands : legal aspects regarding family law and inheritance law - 25 October 2016
A meeting for expats living in the Netherlands. A deputy civil law notary reflected on aspects of living in the Netherlands, with regard to marriage, wills, guardianship and inheritance tax. After the lecture, the participants had the possibility to ask individual questions.
Poland
Open Day of Notaries in 24 cities in Poland
Qubject: Talk to a notary for notarial testament - 26 November 2016
Portugal
- Open days for for citizen: Notarial studies opened during the week from October 24 to 29 to receive institutions and the local community. Notaries were at the disposal of the citizens to answer questions related to the notarial activity, as well as to inform them of their rights and duties, with regard to subjects of great relevance in daily life and which often raise questions, such as, for example: the prenuptial contract, the purchase and sale of housing, the preparation of the will / Living Will, the resolution of estates, inheritances, sharing, etc. - 24 to 29 October 2016
- Publication of the e-book
Currency and trends in co-operation – civil and commercial judiciary
Romania
The event has been organized by UNNPR with Chambers of Notaries Public (secondary offices and county headquarters), in partnership with InfoCons..Public notaries provided free information on notary succession procedure, liquidation of liabilities succession procedure divorce, drafting documents containing legal authentication of documents, legalization of copies of documents, conduct and legalization of translations, issue of duplicates of documents appointment of the custodian or trustee particular deposit the goods, records and documents submitted by the parties and the sums of money, other property, documents or documents found during inventory succession. – 25 October 2016
Serbia
· The Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade, organised an event for the purpose of presentation of the 2016 CEPEJ Report and the work of CEPEJ, on Wednesday, November 23, 2016 in Belgrade, with the attendance of over 50 participants – representatives of the judiciary, relevant judicial institutions, judiciary related NGO’s, international partners and donor community. The topics which have been covered were:
- Overview of the report CEPEJ 2016 edition of the report "European judicial systems - Efficiency and quality of justice" and main conclusions
- Comparing data and concepts: pitfalls to be avoided when interpreting data
- Presentation of the 2016 results: a major innovation through a new dynamic data base
- Overview of the procedure and experiences in filling out the Scheme for Evaluating Judicial Systems, 2014-2016 Cycle
- Overview of the Special Thematic Report on ICT and Serbia
· The First Basic Court in Belgrade - which has joined the CEPEJ Network of Pilot Courts in September 2016, as the first court from the Republic of Serbia to join this CEPEJ network, has in order to mark and promote the European Day of Justice initiated and held an Open Door Event, inviting elementary school students (7th and 8th grades) from Belgrade into its premises.
In the premises of the criminal department of the First Basic Court in Belgrade mock trials were organised in which students had a chance to be in the role of judges, jurors, prosecutors' assistants, trainee lawyers and court reporter, and to together render a ruling in the mock case and express their opinions on the decisions taken.
The Open Door event we organized primarily in order to prevent negative phenomena in schools, as well as to provide and occasion for contact between the judiciary and citizens, and to approximate the court's work and procedures to students through real encounters with judges, prosecutors, judicial assistants, interns, court clerks, clerks and court staff.
Slovenia
In the beginning of October, the District court in Ljubljana started using a special courtroom to conduct hearings of children, involved in judicial proceedings.
The child-friendly room at the District court in Ljubljana was arranged according to the ombudsman’s recommendations and good practices in other countries. It offers a non intrusive environment, accessible to children as well as judges and court staff. Predictable disturbing factors in courtrooms are avoided and main hearings are not postponed due to schedule conflict with other activities at other “safe rooms”.
The first hearings of children in the new room were performed in the investigation proceedings. The room is also available to the family department judges for interviews with children in divorce and custody cases, as well as to experts - psychologists.
Slovakia
The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic has decided to join the initiative of CEPEJ and, in addition to activities intended for the professional community (International scientific conference on the “Implementation of the decisions of international judicial bodies by national court and other public authorities – V. Constitutional Days” – 27 September 2016), to organise also a “Doors Open Day” event whose goal is to bring closer to the lay public not only the decisions of the Constitutional Court, but also the everyday work of its judges and its other employees.
The participants at the “Doors Open Day”, which took place on 29 September 2016, had the opportunity to read key decisions of the Constitutional Court as well as the most peculiar submissions. The public had the opportunity to see the art works of the pupils of primary art schools and secondary art schools on the theme “Justice through my own eyes” as well as to hear the best essays written by students of secondary schools on the same topic
Spain
Open Day for consumers by the Notaries of Spain in collaboration with the General Council of Spanish Notaries ad conferences on the rights and duties of consumers, distribution of information and queries of doubts attended by notaries. - 25 October 2016
Switzerland
The judiciary exceptionally opened the doors of the Courthouse to the public
Fictitious trials, visits, discussion rooms, conferences, exhibitions, virtual reality and many other activities to discover the functioning of justice in Geneva. This event has been organised as part of Democracy Week 2016, as well as the open doors of the Town Hall that same day. It was an opportunity for the public to go to meet judges and collaborators of the judiciary, but also lawyers, in order to better understand the activity of the Geneva justice. - 24 September 2016
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Year |
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Country |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
TOTAL since 2003 |
||
|
Armenia |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Austria |
6 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Azerbaïjan |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Belgium |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Bosnia & Herzegovina |
10 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Croatia |
6 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Cyprus |
7 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Czech Republic |
5 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Estonia |
6 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Finland |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia |
4 |
||||||||||||||||
|
France |
7 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Germany |
13 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Georgia |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Greece |
3 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Hungary |
4 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Ireland |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Italy |
12 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Latvia |
3 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Lithuania |
7 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Luxembourg |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Malta |
5 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Norway |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Republic of Moldova |
6 |
||||||||||||||||
|
The Netherlands |
4 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Poland |
3 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Portugal |
3 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Romania |
7 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Serbia |
5 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Slovenia |
9 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Slovakia |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Spain |
3 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Sweden |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Switzerland |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Turkey |
1 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Ukraine |
2 |
||||||||||||||||
|
United Kingdom |
4 |
||||||||||||||||
|
TOTAL COUNTRIES |
8 |
6 |
5 |
9 |
9 |
12 |
15 |
15 |
17 |
11 |
14 |
13 |
10 |
19 |
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