Strasbourg, 11 December 2008

CEPEJ(2008)10

European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)

12th plenary meeting

Strasbourg, 10 - 11 December 2008

2009 Activity Programme of the CEPEJ

1.             The Committee of Ministers has given to the CEPEJ the mission of working with member states to promote effective implementation of Council of Europe instruments concerning the organisation of the justice system, ensuring that public policies in judicial matters take the users of the justice system into account and helping to disencumber the European Court of Human Rights by giving the member countries effective upstream solutions by preventing violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

2.             Under Article 2 of its Statute, contained in Committee of Ministers Resolution (2002) 12, the CEPEJ is required to:

§  examine the results achieved by the different judicial systems, using common statistical criteria and means of evaluation;

§  define problems and areas for possible improvements, and

§  identify concrete ways of improving the measurement and functioning of member states’ judicial systems, regard being had to the specific needs of each country.

3.             In the Action Plan which they adopted at their 3rd summit (Warsaw, May 2005) the Heads of State and Government of Council of Europe member states decided to develop the CEPEJ’s evaluation and assistance functions in order to help member states deliver justice fairly and rapidly.

4.             The present activity programme for 2009 was drawn up in that context, on the basis of the CEPEJ medium-term activity programme (CEPEJ(2005)10) and the action principles and priorities identified in it. This text, together with the Action Plan, constitute the general sources of the various tasks given to the CEPEJ.

5.             The present programme of activities is prepared in the light of the decisions taken by the CEPEJ during its 11^th (Strasbourg, 2 - 3 July 2008) and 12^th (Strasbourg, 10 – 11 December 2008) meetings, and taking into account the decisions taken by the Ministers’ Deputies at their 1037^th meeting.

6.             It is designed around the four areas of responsibility vested in the CEPEJ :

§  setting-up of tools for analysing the functioning of justice and ensuring that public policies on justice are geared to greater efficiency,

§  implementation of European rules and standards concerning the efficiency of justice,

§  specific assistance at the request of one or several State(s),

§  direct relations between users of the justice system and justice professionals.

7.             Where appropriate, the activities will be carried out in co-operation with the relevant Council of Europe’s committees as well as the observers to the CEPEJ.

8.             The programme of activities is implemented according to available budget resources, under the CEPEJ’s overall authority and in accordance with the responsibilities laid down in Resolution Res(2002)12.  Within its responsibilities, the CEPEJ Bureau prepares the ground for this work and puts forward guidelines.

General responsibilities of CEPEJ	Specific objectives	Tasks	Means	Available documents
Developing tools for analysing the functioning of justice and ensuring that public policies of justice are geared to greater efficiency and quality	Analyse the findings of the report "European judicial systems – edition 2008" so as to make recommendations on specific matters	Adoption of specific studies and reports for the CM and member states in particular on : - judicial map and court organisation - single judge and panels - the role of lawyers in the judicial proceedings - the organisation of the court clerk offices	2 meetings of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL Selection of research teams 13th meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	Report "European judicial systems - Edition 2008" National replies to the Scheme for evaluating judicial systems
	Deepen the knowledge of the member states’ judicial systems.	Implementation, by volunteer states, on the intermediary process based on key data Continuation of the peer review mechanism to strengthen the evaluation process Launching of the new evaluation process (Scheme issued to member states)	2 meetings of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (3) peer evaluation visits (with 3 experts) 13th  and 14th plenary meetings for adoption	Scheme for evaluating judicial systems List of key data (CEPEJ(2007)27) Guidelines on judicial statistics (CEPEJ(2008)11) Objectives and methodology for the pilot peer review cooperation process of judicial statistics (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2007)25) Report of the three pilot visits CEPEJ(2008)xx
Promoting the implementation of European standards in the field of efficiency and quality of justice in the member states	Acquire concrete, detailed knowledge of judicial timeframes and develop tools for supporting courts achieve optimum and foreseeable judicial timeframes	Setting up of an observatory of judicial timeframes, on the basis of the collection, processing and analysis of data from relevant courts Promotion of the implementation of the SATURN guidelines on judicial time management	2 meetings of the Steering group of the SATURN Centre for preparation Meeting of the pilot courts 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	SATURN Guidelines for judicial time Management (CEPEJ(2008)8) Questionnaire on common case categories, judicial timeframes on delays and replies from member states (CEPEJ-SATURN(2007)3 and reports by the pilot courts Time management Checklist (CEPEJ (2005)12) Report on "European judicial systems" – Editions 2006 & 2008 and national replies
	Develop tools and measures to promote the quality in judicial work while respecting judicial independence	Drafting of a report on the existing judicial quality systems, including a structured synthesis of the tool implemented, the orientations chosen and the main results Drafting of a manual on the organisation of users’ satisfaction surveys Drafting of guidelines for the contractualisation of judicial proceedings Promotion of the “Checklist for promoting the quality of justice and the courts” and other relevant relevant CEPEJ tools	2 meetings of CEPEJ-GT-QUAL (including two scientific experts) for preparation Meeting of Pilot courts for consultation 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	Checklist for promoting the quality of justice and the courts (CEPEJ(2008)2)
	Facilitate the use of new IT at courts in order to support relations between courts and users of justice and improve the organisation and management of judicial work	Participation in the debate on new information technologies	Representation at relevant meetings including EU meetings	Conclusions of the specialised EU conferences
	Facilitate effective implementation of Council of Europe instruments and standards on execution, in order to improve the efficiency of the execution procedures	Drafting of guidelines to ensure an effective implementation of the CoE standards on execution Drafting of specific tools aiming at establishing efficiency and quality standards for execution	2 meetings of the CEPEJ-GT-EXE (including a scientific expert)	Recommendation Rec(2003)17 of the CM to member states on enforcement Study of the CEPEJ : “Execution of national judicial decisions” (CEPEJ(2007)20)
Developing a targeted cooperation at the request of one or more states	Improve the court organisation and the work of the judges in Bulgaria	Definition of criteria for the classification of courts and criteria for evaluating individual judges	Expert meeting in Sofia (3 experts) Drafting of a report including recommendations 13th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	Relevant CoE’s instruments Relevant CEPEJ’s documents
	Improve court efficiency in Portugal	Assessment of the policies to ease procedural flows and fight backlogs	Expert meeting in Lisbon (3 experts) Drafting of a report including recommendations 13th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	Relevant CoE’s instruments Relevant CEPEJ’s documents
		Assessment of the policies on dematerialization and use of IT in the justice field	Expert meeting in Lisbon (3 experts) Drafting of a report including recommendations 13th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ for adoption	Relevant CEPEJ’s documents
	Improve the efficiency of the judicial systems in Malta	Evaluation of the efficiency of the justice system	Analysis of the replies to the evaluation Scheme by a scientific expert Presentation of the analysis in a seminar in Malta (3 experts)	Replies of Malta to the evaluation Schemes
	Depending on requests from member states
Strengthening relations with users of the justice system and with national and international bodies	Bring the justice system closer to the European citizens	Organisation of the highlighted event of the 7th European Day of Civil Justice (25 October 2009)	Meetings with the European Commission and relevant national authorities Participation in the Justice Forum	Organisation charter of the Day of Justice Rules of the “Crystal Scales of Justice” in the criminal law field
		Organisation of the 1st  edition of the Crystal Scales of Justice in the criminal law field
		Promotion of the European Day of Justice to competent national institutions
	Provide a reflection and proposal forum for the legal community	Provision of CEPEJ’s specific expertise put to other CoE’s bodies Provision of CEPEJ’s specific expertise to the European Union Provision of CEPEJ’s specific expertise to the World Bank	Participation of CEPEJ’s representatives in the work of the CDCJ and the Venice Commission on justice and in relevant meetings namely of the CCJE, CCPE, Lisbon Network, CDPC and CDDH Participation of CEPEJ’s representatives in the EU Justice Forum and in the working groups Dialogue with the representatives of the World Bank	EC communication of 4.02.08
	Promote relations with other national and international bodies competent in the field of justice	Support to academic research Provision to  member states and the European legal community wide-ranging information on the operation of justice in Europe Development by CEPEJ representatives and the Secretariat of regular dialogue with national authorities, other relevant Council of Europe’s bodies and committees the European Commission and other international bodies	Support for theses of a European nature concerning the organisation of justice Setting up of a CEPEJ Network of academies and research institutes Continue developing the CEPEJ Internet site (files on particular themes, clearing house for relevant documents and studies concerning efficiency of justice, information on latest judicial developments, etc.) and the CEPEJ Newsletter CEPEJ’s Representation in other fora
Promoting the implementation of the measures and the use of the tools designed by the CEPEJ	Ensure a good knowledge of the CEPEJ’s measures and tools by the stakeholders in the central administrations and among the justice professionals	Translation of CEPEJ’s documents in non official languages Dissemination of CEPEJ’s documents among justice professionals Awareness of the ministries of justice and other relevant political bodies (parliaments, …) Evaluation of the impact of CEPEJ’s documents	Continue developing the CEPEJ Internet site (files on particular themes, clearing house for relevant documents and studies concerning efficiency of justice, information on latest judicial developments, etc.) and the CEPEJ Newsletter Strengthening of national mailing lists per profession Organisation by CEPEJ’s members of national seminars, participation in professional meetings, visits to courts, meetings with political authorities Use of CoE’s ministerial conferences

Appendix I

1.         Tasks

In accordance with article 7.2.b of Appendix 1 to Resolution Res(2002)12, and under the authority of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the Working Group on evaluation of judicial systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL) is instructed to carry out the common tool set up by the CEPEJ which aims at evaluating in an objective manner the functioning of the judicial systems in Europe.

In order to fulfil its tasks, the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL shall in particular:

a.       make proposals for appropriate exploitation of the results achieved through the evaluation exercise (Report “European judicial systems – Edition 2008”), identify trends as well as typical dysfunctions of the judicial systems in Europe and formulate if possible concrete guidelines in order to improve the efficiency of judicial systems in Europe;

b.       initiate, follow and approve studies exploiting the report “European judicial systems – Edition 2008”, in a view to be published in the Series “CEPEJ Studies”, including as regards the execution of judicial decisions;

c.       organise the implementation of the pilot peer review cooperation process on judicial statistics, analyse the conclusions of this process and, where appropriate, make recommendations aimed to:

-   support member states in improving the quality of their judicial statistics and developing their statistics system,

-   facilitate exchange of experiences between national judicial statistics systems, sharing good practices, identifying benchmarks and facilitating knowledge transfer,

-   contribute to ensure the transparency and accountability of the CEPEJ process for evaluating European judicial systems and to improve the process;

d.       promote the CEPEJ Guidelines on judicial statistics in the member states in order to strengthen the collection of homogenous data  in view of the next evaluation cycles;

f.      organise the implementation of the intermediary process for updating key data for the volunteer states;

e.       organise the new process of evaluation of the European judicial systems, including in sharpening the evaluation Scheme according to the difficulties noticed in the 2006 – 2008 cycle, organising the concrete modalities for collecting and processing the data and drafting the evaluation report.

2.         Composition

The CEPEJ-GT-EVALshall be composed of 6 members of the CEPEJ or experts proposed by member states and appointed by the CEPEJ Bureau who have an in-depth knowledge in the field of the evaluation of judicial systems. Their travel and subsistence expenses are be borne by the budget of the Council of Europe. Other experts appointed by the member States might participate in its work, at their own expenses.

The relevant Council of Europe and European Union bodies might be represented to the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL without the right to vote or defrayal expenses.

The non governmental organisations granted with the observer status to the CEPEJ might be invited by the Bureau to participate in the work of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, on a case-by-case basis, if the Bureau considers their attendance relevant for the quality of the work.

3.         Working structures and methods

The CEPEJ-GT-EVALwill organise 2 meetings in 2009 (subject to budgetary availability).

In carrying out its terms of reference, it may in particular seek the advice of the Network of national correspondents entrusted with the coordination of the answers to the evaluation Scheme.

It may also seek the advice of external experts and have recourse to studies by consultants.

4.         Duration

These terms of reference expire on 31 December 2010.

Appendix II

1.         Tasks

The European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice decides to act as a Centre for judicial time management (SATURN[1] Centre) aimed at collecting specific information necessary to the knowledge of judicial timeframes in the member States and detailed enough to enable member states to implement policies aiming to prevent violations of the right to fair trial within a reasonable time protected by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Centre shall in particular:

a.     as a European observatory of judicial timeframes, analyse the situation of existing timeframes in the member States (timeframes per types of cases, waiting times in the proceedings, etc.);

b.    provide to the member States knowledge and analytical tools of judicial timeframes of proceedings;

c.     promote and assess the implementation in the member states and ensure the updating of the SATURN Guidelines for judicial time management.

The Centre is managed through a Steering group, established in accordance with article 7.2.b of Appendix 1 to Resolution Res(2002)12, under the authority of the CEPEJ.

In order to fulfil its tasks, the Steering group shall in particular:

·         collect, process and analyse the relevant information on judicial timeframes in a representative sample of courts in the member states;

·         define and improve measuring systems and common indicators on judicial timeframes in all member states and develop appropriate modalities and tools for collecting information through statistical analysis;

·         rely on appropriate networks allowing the integration of the works and reflections of the judicial community, in particular on the network of pilot courts within the member states, to exploit innovative projects aimed at reducing and adjusting the timeframes operated by courts in member states. 

2.         Composition

The Steering group shall be composed of 6 members of the CEPEJ or experts proposed by member states and appointed by the CEPEJ Bureau who have an in-depth knowledge in the field of procedure timeframes. Their travel and subsistence expenses will be borne by the budget of the Council of Europe. Other experts appointed by the member States might participate in its work, at their own expenses.

The relevant Council of Europe and European Union bodies might be represented to the Steering group without the right to vote or defrayal expenses.

The non governmental organisations granted with the observer status to the CEPEJ might be invited by the Bureau to participate in the work of the Steering group, on a case-by-case basis, if the Bureau considers their attendance relevant for the quality of the work.

3.         Working structures and methods

The Centre will hold 2 meetings in 2009 (subject to budgetary availability).

In carrying out its terms of reference, the Steering group shall cooperate with the CEPEJ Network of Pilot courts.

It may also seek the advice of external experts and have recourse to studies by consultants.

4.         Duration

These terms of reference expire on 31 December 2010.

Appendix III

1.         Tasks

In accordance with article 7.2.b of Appendix 1 to Resolution Res(2002)12, and under the authority of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the Working Group on quality of justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL) is instructed to develop means of analyse and evaluation of the work done inside the courts with a view to improving, in the member states, quality of the public service delivered by the justice system, in particular vis-à-vis the expectations of the justice practitioners and the users, according to criteria of performance and efficiency meeting a large consensus.

In order to fulfil its tasks, the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL shall in particular, while observing the principle of independence of judges:

a.         collect necessary information on evaluation systems of the quality of judicial work existing in the member states;

b.         improve tools, indicators and means for measuring the quality of judicial work;

c.         draft concrete solutions for the policy makers and for the courts, allowing to remedy dysfunctions in the judicial activity and balance the obligations of the work of judges and its workload with the obligation to provide a justice of quality for the users.

2.         Composition

The CEPEJ-GT-QUALshall be composed of 6 members of the CEPEJ or experts proposed by member states and appointed by the CEPEJ Bureau who have an in-depth knowledge in the field of operation of courts and analyse of judicial practice. Their travel and subsistence expenses will be borne by the budget of the Council of Europe. Other experts appointed by the member States might participate in its work, at their own expenses.

The relevant Council of Europe and European Union bodies might be represented to the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL without the right to vote or defrayal expenses.

The non governmental organisations granted with the observer status to the CEPEJ might be invited by the Bureau to participate in the work of the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL, on a case-by-case basis, if the Bureau considers their attendance relevant for the quality of the work.

3.         Working structures and methods

 

The CEPEJ-GT-QUALwill organise 2 meetings in 2009 (subject to budgetary availability).

In carrying out its terms of reference, the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL shall cooperate with the CEPEJ Network of Pilot courts.

It may also seek the advice of external experts and have recourse to studies by consultants.

4.         Duration

These terms of reference expire on 31 December 2009.

Appendix IV

1.         Tasks

In accordance with article 7.2.b of Appendix 1 to Resolution Res(2002)12, and under the authority of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), the Working Group on execution (CEPEJ-GT-EXE) is instructed to enable a better implementation of the relevant standards of the Council of Europe regarding execution of court decisions in civil, commercial and administrative matters at national level.

In order to fulfil its tasks, the CEPEJ-GT-EXE shall in particular:

a.             assess the impact in the states of the existing relevant instruments of the Council of Europe on execution or court decisions at national level;

b.            draft, if appropriate, guidelines aimed to ensure an effective implementation of the existing standards of the Council of Europe;

c.             draft, if appropriate, quality standards on execution in order to improve the accessibility of execution systems and the efficiency of execution services.

To fulfil these tasks, the CEPEJ-GT-EXE will take into account in particular the relevant work of the CEPEJ, including the study approved by the CEPEJ on execution of judicial decisions (CEPEJ(2007)9).

2.         Composition

The CEPEJ-GT-EXEshall be composed of 6 members of the CEPEJ or experts, comprising practitioners,  proposed by member states and appointed by the CEPEJ Bureau who have an in-depth knowledge in the field of execution. Their travel and subsistence expenses are be borne by the budget of the Council of Europe. Other experts appointed by the member states might participate in its work, at their own expenses.

The relevant Council of Europe, in particular the European Committee on Legal Co‑operation (CDCJ), and European Union bodies might be represented to the CEPEJ-GT-EXE without the right to vote or defrayal expenses.

The non governmental organisations granted with the observer status to the CEPEJ might be invited by the Bureau to participate in the work of the CEPEJ-GT-EXE, on a case-by-case basis, if the Bureau considers their attendance relevant for the quality of the work.

3.         Working structures and methods

The CEPEJ-GT-EXEwill organise two meetings in 2009 (subject to budgetary availability).

 

In carrying out its terms of reference, the CEPEJ-GT-EXE may cooperate with the CEPEJ Network of Pilot courts.

It may also seek the advice of external experts and have recourse to studies by consultants.

4.         Duration

These terms of reference expire on 31 December 2009.