CEPEJ(2014)13

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

Activity Report 2012 - 2013 of the CEPEJ

adopted by the CEPEJ at its 23rd plenary meeting (3 – 4 July 2014)

Main achievements

The functioning of the judicial systems of 46 member states was evaluated by CEPEJ in its report: “European judicial systems – Edition 2012” presenting detailed facts and figures and the main European trends, providing policy makers and justice practitioners with a concrete public policy tool to orient judicial reforms. A new evaluation cycle was launched in 2013. The CEPEJ developed a continued cooperation with the European Commission in this field, based on its own methodology and findings.

The CEPEJ strongly contributed to the promotion of public policies aimed at ensuring the efficiency and quality of judicial systems in Europe and beyond. On the basis of CEPEJ methodology, tools and expertise, Turkey was supported for reforming its court management system; court performance was assessed in the Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine); Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan were supported for improving the efficiency and quality of their judicial systems (Joint programmes with the European Union).

Policy makers and justice professionals were provided with concrete tools for improving judicial time management in courts, for reforming their judicial maps to support access to justice within a quality judicial system and for strengthening court user satisfaction surveys.

The CEPEJ SATURN Centre acts as a European observatory of timeframes of judicial proceedings, following a new strategic plan. Several courts were coached on the concrete implementation of the SATURN tools on case flow management and on the promotion of the quality of justice and court user satisfaction surveys.

CEPEJ is regularly invited to take part in the debate on justice in Europe and beyond. Newsletters are regularly published and the web site is now a widely consulted point of reference. The European Day of Justice and the Prize “Crystal Scales of Justice” fostered the promotion of the efficiency and the quality of the public service of justice.

For further information:  www.coe.int/CEPEJ     


1.     This report outlines the work undertaken by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)[1] in 2012 and 2013 in accordance with its Activity Programme[2].  It was drafted by the Bureau, adopted by the CEPEJ at its 23rd Plenary Meeting (3 and 4 July 2014) and submitted to the Committee of Ministers for approval, pursuant to Articles 7-6 and 7-7 of the CEPEJ Statute.  

1.   THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE (CEPEJ) in 2009

1.1  Membership of the CEPEJ

2.     The CEPEJ is made up of experts from the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Only two states (Liechtenstein and San Marino) were not regularly represented on the CEPEJ during the period concerned. Among the states enjoying observer status with the Council of Europe, Japan attended one plenary meeting and Mexico two plenary meetings.

3.     During the period concerned, Israel and Morocco were given the Observer status to the CEPEJ by the Committee of Ministers and regularly participated in the CEPEJ meetings.

4.     Mr John STACEY (United Kingdom) was President of the CEPEJ and Mr Georg STAWA (Austria) was Vice-President. The other members of the Bureau were Mr Irakli ADEISHVILI (Georgia) and Mr Audun BERG (Norway).

5.     The European Court of Human Rights, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), the Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE), the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) and the Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) were also represented at plenary meetings.

6.     The European Union was regularly represented at the plenary and working group meetings, by the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Secretariat of the European Parliament and the Fundamental Rights Agency.

7.     The European Association of Judges, MEDEL (Magistrats Européens pour la Démocratie et les Libertés), the European Federation of Administrative Judges, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), the European Union of Rechtspfleger (EUR), the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ), the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN), the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE)
 and the American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative have observer status.

1.2 Meetings of the CEPEJ

8.     The CEPEJ held two plenary meetings in 2012 and two plenary meetings in 2013 in Strasbourg. The Bureau of the CEPEJ met four times during the period in Paris and Strasbourg. The Working Groups met regularly according to the Activity Programme, with, in the Chair, respectively Mr Jean-Paul JEAN (France) for the group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL), Mr Jacques BÜHLER (Switzerland) for the Steering group of the SATURN Centre for Judicial Time Management and Mr François PAYCHERE (Switzerland) for the group on the Quality of Justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL).

9.     Two plenary meetings of the CEPEJ’s network of pilot courts were held in Gozo (Malta), at the invitation of the Ministry of Justice, and in Strasbourg. Two plenary meetings of the Network of national correspondents entrusted with the collection of judicial data took place in Strasbourg.


2.   ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CEPEJ IN 2012 and 2013

10.  The CEPEJ’s activity programme is part of Pilar “Rule of law”, Sector “Justice”, Programme “Independence and efficiency of justice” of the Council of Europe’s activity programme.  The CEPEJ’s task is central to the Council of Europe’s activities in that it is expected to promote “common fundamental values: human rights, rule of law and democracy” by “strengthening democracy, good governance and the rule of law in member states”.[3]

11.  The CEPEJ has been entrusted by the Committee of Ministers with the task of proposing practical solutions, suitable for use by Council of Europe member states, with a view to:

§   promoting the effective implementation of existing Council of Europe instruments relating to the organisation of justice;

§   promoting the public service of justice and ensuring that public policies concerning the courts take account of the needs of users of the justice system and, in particular, the judiciary and law officers;

§   contributing to reduce the workload of the European Court of Human Rights by offering states effective solutions prior to application to the Court and preventing violations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

12.  The celebration of the 10th anniversary of the CEPEJ (December 2012) made it possible to demonstrate the concrete use of the CEPEJ tools in the daily life of justice practitioners.

2.1 Tools for analysing the functioning of judicial systems and ensuring that public policies relating to the courts are geared to greater efficiency

2.1.1 Evaluating the functioning of European judicial systems

13.  The 2010 - 2012 cycle for evaluating the day-to-day functioning of judicial systems was successfully concluded with the publication of the CEPEJ’s third report, which was adopted at the 19th plenary meeting (5 – 6 July 2012) and made public in the context of the Conference of the Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe’s member states in Vienna (Austria) on 20 September 2012. The ministers of Justice of Azerbaijan, Austria and France participated in the launching event and underlined the need for such a tool resulting from a tried and tested and scientifically widely recognised methodology.

14.  Based on a data base containing almost three million entries, the report presents a detailed overview of the functioning of judicial systems in 46 member states and time-series statistics highlighting changes in the judicial systems in these countries. This evaluation process is unique in terms of the number of subjects and countries covered. The aim is to provide a public policy tool for policy makers, legal professionals and researchers that will assist them in conducting judicial reforms. The comparative tables and graphs and the comments help to understand the day-to-day functioning of courts, underline the main trends in judicial systems and identify any problems with a view to improving the quality, fairness and efficiency of the public service of justice. It is a sound tool for enhancing mutual knowledge of judicial systems and strengthening mutual confidence between legal professionals.

15.  The report was widely disseminated in member states and beyond, and is a major reference for reforming public policies of justice in Europe.

16.  The Committee of Ministers, the relevant national governments and the judicial bodies of member states also showed considerable interest in the report. The main European media largely presented and commented on the report[4]. Several states pointed out that the report had been discussed in the media and by political bodies such as the ministry of justice, the parliament, political parties and judicial bodies such as councils for the judiciary and professional associations. Some states also said that the report had been used directly in conducting judicial reforms. Several states had translated the report either in full or in part.

17.  The CEPEJ launched its 5th cycle for evaluating in spring 2013. The national correspondents in the member states were invited to provide the 2012 data though the electronic scheme by 31 December 2013. 45 member states have participated in the exercise (only Liechtenstein and San Marino were not able to take part), as well as Israel, as an observer state.

18.  Based on the evaluation work of the CEPEJ, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and the Université libre de Bruxelles have prepared a report on "The role of lawyers in legal procedures in Europe ".

Implementation of the peer evaluation process

19.  In the context of the peer evaluation of judicial statistics systems, an expert visit was organised in Latvia in 2013. The aim of the process is to assist states in their efforts to enhance the quality of their judicial statistics, improve their statistical systems and ensure that national statistics are consistent with the standards set out in the CEPEJ’s evaluation scheme. It provides the opportunity to exchange experiences between national judicial statistics systems, share best practices, identify common indicators and transfer knowledge. It also seeks to improve and help ensure the transparency and reliability of the CEPEJ’s evaluation process.

Co-operation with the European Union

20.  Certain European Union bodies – the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament (which are regularly represented at the preparatory meetings of the CEPEJ) - were very interested in the report as a tool designed to strengthen mutual confidence between judicial systems. The Secretariat of the CEPEJ presented its work as part of a seminar on mutual trust in the justice filed, organised by the European Parliament in Brussels in November 2013.

21.  In December 2011 the European Commission requested the CEPEJ to prepare a report on the functioning of judicial systems in the 27 EU member states, using the CEPEJ evaluation methodology. This report was delivered by the CEPEJ in February 2013 and used by the European Commission to establish its first EU Justice Scoreboard published in March 2013as part of the so-called European Semester. Its objective is to assist the EU and its member states to achieve more effective justice by providing objective, reliable and comparable data on the functioning of the justice systems of all EU member states. From this pilot exercise, the CEPEJ was offered by the EC DG Justice to conclude a multi-annual contract to continue cooperation with a view to expanding the collection of data for future annual editions of the Scoreboard.The Committee of Ministers agreed in December 2013 to pursue such cooperation. [On this basis, a new CEPEJ report was delivered to the EC in March 2014].

22.  It is to be welcomed that the EC considers then that the CEPEJ data and methodology for the evaluation of judicial systems are indispensable to the implementation of its own Scoreboard. The involvement of the CEPEJ in the EC’s new instrument strengthens the CEPEJ’s preeminent role as regards justice evaluation, as well as the synergies between the European Union and the Council of Europe in this filed, and increases the visibility of the CEPEJ. Through the contract, the EC also gives the CEPEJ the resources to fulfill its mission in the evaluation of the functioning of justice in Europe.

Co-operation with the OECD

23.  The OECD has concretely used the CEPEJ findings for evaluating the situation of the judicial systems in their European member states, and the CEPEJ methodology for extending such evaluation to non-European members. Its report was published in November 2013.

2.1.2 Optimising and improving the foreseeability of the timeframes of judicial procedures: the SATURN Centre

24.  The CEPEJ SATURN Centre for Judicial Time Management continued its work in setting up a European observatory of judicial timeframes and developing appropriate tools, with the expert assistance of the CEPEJ Network of pilot courts.

25.  In a qualitative approach, the CEPEJ court coaching programme for implementing SATURN tools on judicial time management has been proposed to volunteer courts and organised in 3 courts. This programme is based on the CEPEJ “Guide for implementing SATURN tools in courts”[5]. Such coaching programmes remain available to the volunteer courts in the member states. They are also the basis for new comprehensive cooperation programmes for judicial reforms (see para 2.2 below).

26.  The CEPEJ approved the revised version of the report on “Length of court proceedings in the member states of the Council of Europe based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights” prepared by the scientific experts Françoise CALVEZ and Nicolas RÉGIS[6] and published it in the Series of the “CEPEJ Studies”. It also revised the Guidelines on judicial time management[7].

2.1.3. Promoting the quality of justice

27.  As a main tool for orienting judicial reforms towards better quality, the CEPEJ adopted its “Guidelines on the creation of judicial maps to support access to justice within a quality judicial system”[8].

 

28.  To promote court satisfaction surveys, the CEPEJ approved a technical document; “Customer satisfaction surveys among court users: checklist for court coaching”[9].Coaching programmes aimed at organising court satisfaction surveys based on the CEPEJ Handbook were organised in 4 courts. Such coaching programmes remain available to the volunteer courts in the member states. They are also the basis for new comprehensive cooperation programmes for judicial reforms (see para 2.2 below).

29.  The CEPEJ-GT-QUAL has opened two main files regarding the organisation of court premises and the role of judicial experts in the proceedings. It continues working on the definition of indicators of the quality of justice.

2.2 Supporting the states in their judicial reforms

30.  Very good synergies have been developed between the CEPEJ’s intergovernmentalwork andthe direct andin-depth use of this work to support judicial reforms at national level. Indeed, the CEPEJ has chosen to make its know-how and its tools available to members and non-member states within the framework of overall programmes aimed to improve court management and the efficiency and the quality of the public service of justice. The Council of Europe is then able to offer specific cooperation programmes to reach specific objectives, addressing both the national authorities responsible for justice policies (Ministries of Justice, Parliaments, High Councils for the Judiciary) and individual courts. These programmes provide an added value which is increasingly demanded by partner states of the Council of Europe for implementing their judicial reform strategies.

31.  Within the framework of the Joint programme with the European Union for Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine), the CEPEJ experts have then prepared a report on "the efficiency of justice" based on its work for evaluating judicial systems.

32.  The CEPEJ has successfully contributed to the implementation of the Joint Programme with the European Union for court management in Turkey, which has promoted the practical use of the SATURN tools in several pilot courts in Turkey. A follow-up programme is being considered to extend it to other courts in Turkey.

33.  The methodology of the CEPEJ is the foundation of the new Joint Programme with the European Union for court management in Albania, aimed to extend the practical implementation of the CEPEJ tools to all courts in the country.

34.  The CEPEJ also plays a leading role in the development of the "neighborhood policy" of the Council of Europe, which includes a strong component on justice reforms based on the tools and methodology of the CEPEJ. Then, Joint programmes with the European Union to modernize court management are being implemented in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan.

2.3 Contributing specific expertise to the debate on the functioning of the justice system: providing the legal and judicial community with a forum for discussion and suggestions and bringing justice systems and their users closer

Within the Council of Europe

35.  The CEPEJ developed specific working relations with other committees of the Council of Europe, such as the advisory committees (CCJE, CCPE), standard-setting committees (CDPC, CDCJ, CDDH) and other bodies dealing with matters relating to justice (e.g. Venice Commission).

36.  The CEPEJ collaborated in particular with the CDCJ to provide it with technical guidelines on the revision of various recommendations of the Committee of Ministers on court management and e-justice, as a follow up to Resolution N°1 of the 30th Conference of the Ministers of Justice on a modern, transparent and efficient justice.

In co-operation with the European Union

37.  The European Justice Day was celebrated around 25 October in some twenty member states, under the leadership of the CEPEJ and the European Commission. The flagship events of this Day were organised in 2012 by the Lithuanian authorities around the issue of mediation - this Day included a very interesting film festival on meditation -, and in 2013 by the Council of the Notariats of the Union European (CNUE) and the authorities of Luxembourg.

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38.  The European prize for innovative practices contributing to the efficiency and quality of justice, the "Crystal Scales of Justice", was awarded in October 2012 in Vilnius as part of the European Day of Justice. 39 entries from 17 member states had been filed. The winner was the Regional Court of Antwerp (Belgium), for its initiative for the follow-up of judicial expertises. Three institutions were granted a special mention by the jury:  the Regional Court of Tarascon (France) for “The co-hearing of the judge in family affairs – Auditor of children”; the Supreme Court of Slovenia for the “Judicial data warehouse and performance dashboards” and the General Secretariat of justice administration (Spain) for the project “Lexnet”.

39.  The CEPEJ agreed to draft jointly with the Fundamental Rights Agency of the European Union a Handbook on access to justice.

With specific member states and other international partners

40.  The CEPEJ was represented every year by several of its members or its secretariat at some 30 events, which took place in some twenty states in Europe and in other parts of the world and addressed issues of direct relevance to the functioning of justice.Moreover, numerous European media refer regularly to the work of the CEPEJ. This proves the importance that the European and international judicial communities attach to the work of the CEPEJ.

Means of communication

41.  Two issues of the "CEPEJ Newsletter" were published annually, sent electronically to more than 2.000 recipients (registered free of charge on a mailing list), dealing with topics relating to the functioning of justice with articles written by senior judicial or political figures and experts, together with news of what the CEPEJ has been doing.

42.  The CEPEJ’s internet site continues to meet with increasing success with an average of 10.000 connections per month. The site remains a standard reference within the European judicial community.



[1] The CEPEJ was established on 18 September 2002 by Resolution Res (2002)12)12 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Appendix 1 to which sets out its Statute.

[2] Document CEPEJ(2011)6.

[3] Action Plan adopted at the Third Summit of Heads of State and Government (Warsaw, 16-17 May 2005).

[4] The press review lists more than 250 articles in European newspapers.

[5] CEPEJ(2011)9

[6] CEPEJ(2012)16

[7] CEPEJ(2008)8Rev3

[8] CEPEJ(2013)7Rev1

[9] CEPEJ(2013)15