Strasbourg, 25 October 2011

CEPEJ-BU(2011)3

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

18th meeting of the Bureau

Strasbourg, 28 September 2011

MEETING REPORT

Report prepared by the Secretariat

Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs

1.     The Bureau of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) held its 18th meeting in Strasbourg on 28 September 2011, with Mr Georg STAWA (Austria), Vice-President of the CEPEJ, in the chair, as Mr John STACEY, President of the CEPEJ was apologized.

2.     The meeting was also attended by the following Bureau members:

§  Mr Audun BERG (Norway)

§  Mr Irakli ADEISHVILI (Georgia);

3.     The agenda is appended.

1.     Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat

4.     The Secretariat informed the Bureau about the restructuring of the Secretariat General: as from 1 October 2011, CEPEJ Secretariat would belong to the Directorate General – Human Rights and Rule of Law, Justice and human dignity Directorate, Justice and legal cooperation Department, Division for the independence and efficiency of justice, Unit for the Committees on justice. This Division will also include the Justice reforms Unit, entrusted with targeted cooperation activities. This should facilitate necessary synergies between intergovernmental activities and cooperation activities.

5.     The Secretariat introduced Maria ORESHKINA, who had recently joined the Division as a lawyer.

6.     The Bureau was informed that Svetlana SPOIALA (Moldova) could be appointed as scientific expert for judicial data processing in the framework of the 2010 – 2012 evaluation cycle. She would be entrusted with a specific task of re-organising the existing data base until the end of 2011.

The Bureau stressed the need to re-launch the national correspondents so that judicial data would be made available before the end of 2011.

It was proposed that the 2012 evaluation report be published within the framework of the Conference of the Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe to take place in Vienna (Austria) in the second part of September 2012. Georg STAWA would introduce this proposal to the hosting Minister of Justice.

7.     The Bureau proposed that Irakli ADEISHVILI participates as CEPEJ's representative in the Colloquy on the reforms of the judicial system in Turkey to take place in Istanbul on 25 – 26 October 2011.

2.     "Gathering around CEPEJ"

8.     The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to re-launch Albania and Italy on the possible organisation of a session before the end of the year.

3.     Targeted cooperation

9.     The Secretariat informed about the fact finding visit which took place in Baku on 18 – 20 September to assess the process for selecting judges in Azerbaijan. A report would be submitted to the Bureau and then to the plenary meeting of the CEPEJ to be approved.

10.  A follow up meeting to the assessment of the operation of the court system in Malta would take place on 21 – 22 November to detail the recommendations previously made by the CEPEJ experts.

11.  John STACEY informed that Bureau that because of major staff changes in his country, the "review of some aspects of the operation of the Court Service in England and Wales" was unlikely to take place until all the changes have taken place.

12.  The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to contact the authorities in Abu Dhabi to enquire about the possible follow up given to the CEPEJ's recommendations on the reform of the judicial system.

4.     Cooperation with the Lisbon Network

13.  The Bureau proposed to organise a joint meeting with the Bureau of the Lisbon Network in January 2012, in order to define concrete working priorities and modalities.

14.  The Bureau welcomed the participation of Ms Ivana GORANIĆ (Croatia), member of the Lisbon Network, in the targeted cooperation activity in Azerbaijan (see para 9 above). It indicated that members of the Network could be systematically involved in targeted cooperation activities carried out by CEPEJ when addressing the issue of judicial training, selection and appointment.

5.     European Day of Justice

15.  The Secretariat informed about the main event of the European Day of Justice which would take place at the first instance court of Toulouse (France) on 25 October.

6.     10th anniversary of CEPEJ

16.  The Bureau agreed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the CEPEJ at its 20th plenary meeting in December 2012. A special session could be organised on specific issues to be decided at the next Bureau meeting. The role of the CEPEJ vis-à-vis the European Court of Human Rights could in particular be stressed: informal contacts with André POTOCKI, former Vice-President of the CEPEJ and new judge at the ECtHR, could be taken at the beginning of 2012.

17.  The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to design a special banner for the 10th anniversary, to be included into the web site and other supports.

7.     Cooperation with CDCJ on the revision of CoE's Recommendations regarding the modernisation of the justice systems

18.  As a follow up to Resolution N°1 of the 30thConference of the Ministers of Justice on a modern, transparent and efficient justice, the CDCJ had solicited the CEPEJ so that it provides it with necessary technical guidelines on the revisions to be made in respect of several Recommendations[1].

19.  The Bureau agreed on the principle, stressing that this exercise could enable to strengthen through legal instruments some of the tools and measures designed by the CEPEJ.

20.  The Bureau agreed that:

§  in 2012, each CEPEJ working group should check to what extent they are concerned by the provisions of these recommendations and what is their relevance vis-à-vis the CEPEJ's work;

§  a table would be designed, presenting the relevant provisions of the recommendations vis-à-vis the relevant tools and measures designed by the CEPEJ, so that to assess the accuracy of the provisions of the recommendations or propose amendments when necessary;

§  in due time, members of the CEPEJ could be involved in the CDCJ's drafting group(s) for amending the recommendations.

8.     Preparation of the 2012 Activity Programme

21.  The Bureau instructed the Secretariat to draft the new Activity Programme which would be commented by the Bureau members before its discussion at the 18th plenary meeting for being adopted. As the Activity Programme of the Council of Europe would become a two year programme (2012 – 2013), the CEPEJ could follow the same line.

22.  The Bureau agreed that the terms of reference of the three existing working groups should be renewed. In order to draft the 2012 Evaluation Report, an extra meeting should be planned in 2012 for the GT-EVAL and the first half of the year could be, as far as possible, focused on the drafting of the report.

9.     Agenda of the 18^th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ

23.  The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to organise part of the meeting with workshops on the main concepts to be addressed in the 2012 Evaluation report and which might be understood differently according to the member states, such as the different categories of judges, organisation of the legal aid system, evaluation and monitoring of the work of courts and individual judges.

10.  Individual complaints submitted to the CEPEJ concerning justice matters

24.  There were no specific complaints to be examined by the Bureau.

Appendix 1

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.     "Gathering around CEPEJ" / "Rendez-vous de la CEPEJ"

§  Albania / Albanie

§  Italy / Italie

§  Germany / Allemagne

4.     Targeted cooperation / Coopération ciblée

§  Assessment of the process for selecting judges in Azerbaijan / Evaluation du processus de sélection des juges en Azerbaïdjan

§  Follow up to the assessment of the operation of the court system in Malta / Suivi de l'évaluation du fonctionnement du système judiciaire à Malte

§  Review of some aspects of the operation of the Court Service in England and Wales (United Kingdom) (to be confirmed) / Analyse de certains aspects du fonctionnement du Service judiciaire d'Angleterre et Pays de Galles (Royaume Uni) (à confirmer)

5.     Cooperation with the Lisbon Network / Coopération avec le Réseau de Lisbonne

6.     European Day of Justice / Journée Européenne de la Justice

7.     2012: 10th anniversary of CEPEJ / 2012: 10^ème anniversaire de la CEPEJ

8.     Cooperation with CDCJ on the revision of CoE's Recommendations regarding the modersniation of the justice systems / Coopération avec le CDCJ pour la révision des Recommandations relatives à la modernisation des systèmes de justice

Request for technical guidelines on revisions to be made to a number of recommendation

9.     Preparation of the 2012 activity programme / Préparation du programme d’activité 2012

10.  Agenda of the 18^th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ / Ordre du jour de la 18^èmeréunion plénière de la CEPEJ

11.  Co-operation with the European Union / Coopération avec l’Union européenne

12.  Observer status requested by Israel / Statut d'Observateur demandé par Israël

13.  Individual complaints submitted to the CEPEJ concerning justice matters / Plaintes individuelles adressées à la CEPEJ sur des questions de justice

14.  Any other business / Questions diverses