CEPEJ-BU(2009)2
(CEPEJ)
14th meeting of the Bureau
Strasbourg, 7 October 2009
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 13th meeting in Strasbourg on 26 January 2009, with Mr John STACEY (Italy), Vice-President of the CEPEJ, in the chair. Mr Fausto de SANTIS, President of the CEPEJ was apologized.
2. The meeting was also attended by the following Bureau members:
§ Ms Ivana BORZOVA (Czech Republic);
§ Ms Elsa GARCIA MALTRAS de BLAS (Spain);
3. The agenda is appended.
2. Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat
4. The Secretariat informed the Group of the reorganisation of the Justice Division, where Stéphane LEYENBERGER had taken up the duties of acting Head of Division following the appointment of Anna CAPELLO-BRILLAT to another department. This did not affect the Secretariat of the CEPEJ. On behalf of the Bureau, John Stacey thanked Anna CAPELLO-BRILLAT for her cooperation.
5. Ivana BORZOVA informed the Bureau on her participation in the Annual Congress of the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ) in Marseille, France (7 – 12 September), where Leo NETTEN was elected as new Chairman. Several references were made to the work of the CEPEJ during the debates and the UIHJ reaffirmed its will to further cooperate with the CEPEJ.
6. John STACEY indicated that he would represent the CEPEJ at the Congress of the European Union of Rechtspfleger (UER) in La Grande Motte (France) on 8 – 10 October.
3. Information on the work of the CEPEJ working groups
a. Evaluation of judicial systems
7. Elsa GARCIA MALTRAS de BLAS reported on the recent meeting of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (see CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2009)6).
8. The Bureau insisted on the need to have a full list of national correspondents, for each member states and entrusted the Secretariat to re-launch those countries which have not yet confirmed the name of their correspondent.
b. SATURN Centre
9. John Stacey reported of the last meeting of the Steering Group of the SATURN Centre and the 4th plenary meeting of the Network of Pilot Courts (see CEPEJ-SATURN(2009)5 and CEPEJ(2009)7). While welcoming the right timing chosen to articulate the meeting of the SATURN Steering group with the Network's meeting, the Bureau stressed that the pilot courts were valuable resources for the CEPEJ as a whole, not only for judicial time management.
10. The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to organise the pilot courts according to clusters, as proposed during the Network's meeting, so as to appoint one CEPEJ's member or expert with the task of following the specific work of each cluster.
11. The Secretariat confirmed that, within the framework of the Swiss presidency of the Committee of Ministers, the next meeting of the SATURN Steering group would be held in Geneva on 12 – 14 April 2010, including the plenary meeting of the Network of pilot courts
c. Quality of justice
12. The Secretariat informed that the pilot courts were also invited to comment on the draft handbook for court users' satisfaction surveys, possibly after having tested it with some users. In 2010, pilot courts could be invited to organise satisfaction surveys according to the Handbook, which could be adopted at the 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ.
13. The study on quality systems should also be studied by the plenary meeting in view of its finalisation. The study on contractualisation of court proceeding was being continued but would possibly not be finalised in time for the plenary meeting..
d. Execution of court decisions
14. Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing Council of Europe's legal instruments could be proposed to the next plenary meeting of the CEPEJ by the CEPEJ-GT-EXE. The Bureau agreed that if this work was not completed in time for the next plenary meeting, the experts could continue working through written exchanges at the beginning of 2010.
4. Targeted cooperation
15. The Bureau agreed to forward to the Portuguese authorities the CEPEJ's Report assessing the Portuguese policy on procedural flows and fight against judicial backlogs (CEPEJ-COOP(2009)1) as completed by the experts.
16. The Bureau took note of the expert mission which took place in Moscow on 17 – 19 June 2009 on the draft Code of execution of court decisions and agreed in principle to continue cooperation with the Russian Federation in this field, in cooperation with the Department for the Execution of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.
17. The Bureau was informed that the CEPEJ's expert mission to Malta, requested by the Minister of Justice in order to assess the functioning of the national judicial system, would take place on 2 – 4 December 2009. The Bureau proposed John STACEY to be part of the expert group, together with Jacques BÜHLER (Switzerland), Jean-Paul JEAN (France) and Giacomo OBERTO (Italy).
5. European Day of Justice and “Crystal Scales of Justice”
18. The Secretariat regretted that only little information on possible events organised in the member states around 25 October 2009 was given. The Bureau underlined the need to re-launch judicial institutions in the member states for the coming years, both directly and through the national administrations (ministries of justice and councils for the judiciary).
19. As regards the "Crystal Scales of Justice", the Bureau confirmed its preference for organising separated competitions for civil law and criminal law issues every two years.
6. Possible development of activities of the Lisbon Network within the framework of the activity programme of the CEPEJ
20. Following the discussion initiated at the 13th plenary meeting, the Bureau agreed in principle that the CEPEJ could take under its umbrella the Lisbon Network, in line with the CEPEJ's Status. The Bureau suggested that the Lisbon Network could function according to the same scheme that the Network of pilot courts. There would be no need for a Bureau. The Network could be consulted when necessary by the CEPEJ and could meet in plenary meetings or working groups, according to budgetary availabilities.
21. The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to prepare a note for the 14th plenary meeting proposing specific modalities for integrating the Lisbon Network within the CEPEJ's activity programme, without hampering the development of other CEPEJ's activities. This note should include terms of reference to be given by the CEPEJ to the Network.
22. The current chair of the Lisbon Network's Bureau, or another member of the Bureau could be invited to the 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ.
7. CEPEJ’s contribution to the follow up to the 7th Family Law conference on international family mediation
23. The Secretariat was entrusted to remind to the CDCJ's Secretariat the CEPEJ's Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing recommendation concerning family mediation and mediation in civil matters (CEPEJ(2007)14). The Bureau also recommended to draw the attention of the CJ-S-JUD on the issues of access to justice and quality of justice when dealing with child-friendly justice.
8. Preparation of the new mid term activity programme
24. The Bureau assessed on a very positive way the implementation of the on-going medium term programme which comes to an end at the end of 2009. The working methods had been organised in line with this strategic document and the main objectives had been successfully fulfilled.
25. The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to prepare a draft programme to be adopted by the 14th plenary meeting taking into account in particular the following points:
§ specific focus on the active dissemination in the member states of the relevant CEPEJ's tools and documents, including through a pro-active translation policy and an active role to be played by the CEPEJ's members and experts among the relevant national bodies;
§ strengthening the cooperation with the European Union, in particular in the framework of the implementation of the Stockholm programme as regards evaluation of justice systems;
§ evolution of the SATURN Centre towards a European Observatory of judicial timeframes;
§ strengthening the role of the CEPEJ as an "aide de camp" of the European Court of Human Rights.
26. The new programme could also recall the expected profiles of CEPEJ's members, referring to the CEPEJ's Status.
27. The Bureau stressed that CEPEJ's activities should all be organised according to three pillars:
§ evaluation of judicial systems
§ judicial time management
§ quality of justice (including access to court and funding of courts).
28. Considering the limited resources available for implementing the activity programme, the Bureau agreed to limit the organisation of ad hoc conferences of general nature.
9. Preparation of the 2010 activity programme
29. The Bureau entrusted the Secretariat to prepare a draft programme to be adopted by the 14th plenary meeting taking into account the elements which appears in particular under para. 7 to 14, 25 and 27 above. Priority would be given to the evaluation of judicial system, as the report must be ready by mid 2010.
30. The expressed the wish that the budget to be adopted by the Committee of Ministers would at least remain similar to the 2009 budget, while underlining the need for extra resources, in particular as regards the need for a permanent expertise in statistics within the Secretariat.
10.Calendar of the 2010 meetings
31. It was proposed to hold the 2010 plenary meetings of the CEPEJ on 30 June – 1 July and 8 – 9 December 2010.
11.Agenda of the 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ
32. The first half of the day would be dedicated to the study session on "measuring the performance of justice systems", to be prepared in particular by the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL.
33. Several documents would have to be adopted on quality issues and execution of court decisions (see above).
34. Within the framework of the discussion of the medium term activity programme, the Bureau proposed to have a tour de table on the role of the CEPEJ's members.
12.Co-operation with the European Union
35. The CEPEJ would have to follow closely the drafting and the adoption of the Stockholm programme as regards evaluation of justice systems.
13.Individual complaints submitted to the CEPEJ concerning justice matters
36. There were no specific complaints to be examined by the Bureau.
Appendix
1. Adoption of the agenda
2. Information by the Bureau members and the Secretariat
3. Information on the work of the CEPEJ working groups
a. Evaluation of judicial systems
b. SATURN Centre
c. Quality of Justice
d. Execution of court decisions justice
4. Cooperation with the Pilot courts
5. Targeted cooperation
a. CEPEJ's report assessing the policy of the Ministry of Justice to ease procedural flows and fight backlogs in Portugal
b. Code of execution of court decisions in the Russian Federation
c. Evaluation of the functioning of justice in Malta
6. European Day of Justice and "Crystal Scales of Justice"
7. Possible development of activities of the Lisbon Network within the framework of the activity programme of the CEPEJ
8. CEPEJ's contribution to the follow up to the 7th Family Law Conference on international family mediation
9. Preparation of the new mid term activity programme
10. Preparation of the 2010 activity programme
11. Calendar of the 2010 meetings
12. Agenda of the 14th plenary meeting of the CEPEJ
13. Co-operation with the European Union
14. Individual complaints submitted to the CEPEJ concerning justice matters
15. Any other business