CEPEJ(2015)9

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

Activity Report of the CEPEJ - 2014

Highlights 2014

The CEPEJ report evaluating judicial systems in 46 states was published in October and widely disseminated among policy makers, justice professionals and the public. The CEPEJ Study on the functioning of judicial systems in the states of the European Union was forwarded to the European Commission and provided information allowing it to prepare its "EU Justice Scoreboard”.

CEPEJ findings and methodology were used to orient judicial reforms in many member states, including through CEPEJ cooperation programmes (Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Republic of Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan).

Tools for judicial time management were provided to the policy makers and justice professionals.  New Guidelines for improving the quality of judicial systems were offered to policy makers and judicial practitioners on the organisation and accessibility of court premises and on the role of experts in the judicial proceedings.

The CEPEJ was represented in 43 fora (23 states) dealing with the functioning of justice. Innovative practices to improve the functioning of the court systems were highlighted through the success of the European Prize: "The Crystal Scales 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 2014 in accordance with its Activity Programme[2]. It was 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 2014

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. Among the states enjoying observer status, Japan, Israel and Morocco participated in the work of the CEPEJ. Jordan and Tunisia were associated with the work, within the framework of cooperation programmes.

3.     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).

4.     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) and the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) were also represented at CEPEJ plenary meetings.

5.     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.

6.     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 with the CEPEJ.

1.2 Meetings of the CEPEJ

7.     The CEPEJ held two plenary meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan (3-4 July) and Strasbourg (11-12 December). The Bureau of the CEPEJ met twice in Paris (23 January) and Strasbourg (8 October). 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).

8.     The 8th plenary meeting of the Network of national correspondents entrusted with the collection of judicial data took place in Strasbourg (15 May). The 9th plenary meeting of the Network of pilot courts was held in Strasbourg (9 October).


2.   ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE CEPEJ IN 2014

9.     The CEPEJ’s activity programme is part of the Pillar “Rule of law”, Sector “Justice”, Programme “Independence and efficiency of justice” of the Council of Europe’s Programme and Budget.  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.

10.  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 reducing 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.

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

11.  The 2012 - 2014 cycle for evaluating the day-to-day functioning of judicial systems was successfully concluded with the publication of the CEPEJ’s fifth report, which was adopted at the 23th plenary meeting (Baku, 3 – 4 July) and made public on 9 October at a press conference in Paris.

12.  Based on a data base which is unique in the world as regards justice, the report presents a detailed overview of the functioning of judicial systems in 45 member states, as well as Israel which has joined the exercise as an observer state, together with time-series statistics highlighting changes in the judicial systems in these countries.

13.  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 judicial professionals.

14.  The report was widely disseminated in member states and beyond, confirmation of the fact that it constitutes a major reference for reforming public policies of justice in Europe.

15.  The Committee of Ministers, relevant national administrations and the judicial bodies of member states also showed considerable interest in the report. The main European media presented, and commented widely on the report[3]. Several states indicated 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 confirmed the report had been used directly in conducting judicial reforms. Several states had the report translated either in full or in part.

Implementation of the peer evaluation process

16.  In the context of the peer evaluation of judicial statistics systems, expert visits were organised to Estonia, Switzerland and Israel. 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

17.  The Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European Parliament are regularly represented at the preparatory meetings of the CEPEJ. They were particularly interested in the report as a tool designed to strengthen mutual confidence between judicial systems.

18.  The “EU Justice Scoreboard” was published by the European Commission (EC) in March 2014, mainly based on the Study on the functioning of judicial systems in the EU member states carried out by the CEPEJ from its own methodology and from information transmitted by the states concerned in the framework of its own evaluation exercise. A new Study, conducted from the collection, processing and analysis of data updated in 2014, was presented to the EC at the end of 2014 [with a view to the publication a new Scoreboard in spring 2015]. This exemplary cooperation between the EC and the Council of Europe is based on a multi-year contract under which the EC contributes financially to the work of the CEPEJ (€ 200,000 per year).

19.  It is to be welcomed that the EC considers then that the CEPEJ data and methodology for the evaluation of judicial systems are indispensable for the implementation of its own Scoreboard. The involvement of the CEPEJ in the EC’s 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 field, and it increases the visibility of the CEPEJ and of the Council of Europe.

Co-operation with the OECD

20.  The OECD has 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. The CEPEJ Secretariat was invited to participate in relevant OECD meetings.

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

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

22.  In a qualitative approach, the CEPEJ court coaching programme for implementing SATURN tools on judicial time management is the basis for CEPEJ cooperation programmes (see below).

23.  The CEPEJ adopted its revised Guidelines on judicial time management[4], including for the first time guidelines aimed at prosecutors.

2.1.3. Promoting the quality of justice

24.  As a practical tool for improving the quality of judicial proceedings, the CEPEJ adopted its Guidelines on the role of technical experts in judicial proceedings[5].

25.  As a contribution to improving the quality of litigants’ access to justice, the CEPEJ adopted its Guidelines on the organisation and accessibility of court premises[6].

26.  Coaching programmes aimed at organising court satisfaction surveys based on the CEPEJ Handbook are used in several cooperation programmes (see below).

2.2 Supporting the states in their judicial reforms

27.  The CEPEJ made an unprecedented effort so that its methodology, tools and the experience of its members and experts can be made available in the context of capacity-building and cooperation programmes, thus enabling the Council of Europe to offer to the beneficiary states a high added value as regards the reforms of judicial systems. 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. Such cooperation targeted both the national authorities responsible for justice policies (Ministries of Justice, Parliaments, High Councils for the Judiciary) and individual courts.

28.  The cooperation carried out by the CEPEJ supported in particular judicial reforms:

-     in Albania, in the framework of the on-going Joint Programme with the European Union for the "Support to the Efficiency of Justice" (SEJ),

-     in Croatia, in the framework of the programme funded by the EEA/Norway Grantfor improving the quality and efficiency of the judicial system,

-     in Azerbaijan and in the Republic of Moldova, as part of the new Joint Programme with the European Union, following the regional programme for the Eastern Partnership countries, aimed to continue cooperation for the efficiency of judicial systems – cooperation planned in Ukraine was discontinued at the request of the EU Delegation in Kyiv,

-     in Turkey, as part of the cooperation programme with the Swedish authorities (SIDA) to promote mediation on the basis of the CEPEJ Guidelines,

-     in Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan, as part of the neighbourhood policy and the on-going Joint Programmes with the European Union for the reform of the judicial systems, where the CEPEJ played a leading role.

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 together

29.  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).

30.  The CEPEJ approved in particular an opinion[7] prepared by the CEPEJ-SATURN Steering group, in cooperation with the European Union of Rechtspfleger (EUR), aimed at proposing to the European Committee for Legal Cooperation (CDCJ) to update Recommendation Rec(86)12 concerning measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts.

31.  The European Justice Day was celebrated around 25 October in some twelve member states. The flagship event of this Day was organised in Aveiro, Portugal. The European prize for innovative practices contributing to the efficiency and quality of justice, the "Crystal Scales of Justice", was awarded by the CEPEJ at this occasion. The winner wasthe General Council of the Spanish Bar for its initiative “Online legal aid: Better solutions for people’s rights”. Three institutions were granted a special mention by the jury: the Estonian Ministry of Justice for “A central Database for Justice (E-File)”, the courts for family affairs and the Bar of Berlin (Germany) for: “An accelerated family procedure” and the Amsterdam Court of Appeal (Netherlands) for its “European Courts weblog and European law newsletters”.

With specific member states and other international partners

32.  The CEPEJ was represented by several of its members or its Secretariat at 43 events, which took place in 23 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 confirms the importance that the European and international judicial communities attach to the work of the CEPEJ.

Means of communication

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

34.  The CEPEJ’s internet site continues to meet with increasing success with an average of almost 15.000 connections per month. During the weeks following the publication of the 2014 Evaluation report, the website logged more than 80.000 hits. 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(2013)12.

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

[4] CEPEJ(2014)16

[5] CEPEJ(2014)14

[6] CEPEJ(2014)15

[7] CEPEJ(2014)19