Strasbourg, 4 May 2016
CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2016)8
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE
(CEPEJ)
WORKING GROUP ON THE EVALUATION OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
(CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)
30th meeting
2-3 May 2016
MEETING REPORT
Document prepared by the Secretariat
Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law
INTRODUCTION
1. The Working Group on the evaluation of judicial systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL) of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) held its 30th meeting on 3 and 4 May 2016, in Strasbourg under the presidency of Jean-Paul JEAN (France).
2. The agenda and the list of participants appear respectively in Appendices I and II to this report.
I. INFORMATION BY MEMBERS OF THE GT-EVAL AND THE SECRETARIAT
3. The President of the Working Group welcomes the experts participating in the drafting of the Key data report, Didier Marshall, Ludivine Roussey, Sophie Sontag-Koenig and Julinda Beqiraj (apologized).
II. EVALUATION OF THE JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
4. The Secretariat stresses the very good cooperation with the national correspondents and informs of the significant improvement observed for this 2014-2016 evaluation cycle regarding the quality check data process.
5. The Secretariat presents to the Working Group the timetable of work until the publication of the report:
May 20: deadline for the experts to finalise the drafting
May 30: all documents must be ready for translation
October 5: the report will be presented to the Committee of Ministers
October 6: publication of the report – Press release.
a. Preparation of the key data report
6. The Secretariat briefly states the Key data report, a new paper version which will be structured around 4 themes (presented below) and reminds to the experts the importance of data privacy and their embargo until the publication of the report.
7. The experts presents their work and the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL discusses with them several elements of which:
· Budgetary resources allocated to the courts – Writer: Ludivine ROUSSEY
- Regarding the integration of exchange rate and inflation, the Working Group requests highlighting in the tables the countries for which the exchange rate evolution has an impact without modifying data according to the exchange rate.
- The WG requests to mention in the introduction the reasons why a distinction between approved and implemented budgets has been introduced in this evaluation cycle.
- Regarding legal aid, remind that the implemented budget highlights the effective scope of legal aid (the approved budget is only estimated whereas the implemented shows the number of cases which have been granted with legal aid).
- Correlation graphs between the GDP and budgets are to be kept.
- The WG requests to try to illustrate the crisis impact from the comments (the 2008 data budgets have not been checked through a new quality control for the current cycle).
- The WG receives favorably the proposal of the expert consisting in illustrating the variation between 2012 and 2014 focusing on the contributions of the courts, legal aid and prosecution services.
· Administration of the courts – Writer: Secretariat
- The President of the Working Group wishes that the issue on the judicial map evolution be discussed in this section.
· Users of the judicial system – Writer: Secretariat
- The President of the Working Group requests a focus on satisfaction surveys through a map to show the countries using surveys.
- The President also mentions the possibility of using a minima questions 29, 37 and 86 to illustrate how the system malfunctions are managed.
· Court staff and judicial auxiliaries – Writer: Didier MARSHALL
- The Working Group agrees for the creation of a table distributing the different categories of non-judge staff and the link to be made between the evolution of the number of non-judge staff and the tasks' outsourcing.
- As regards salaries of young judges, the President requests that be presented all together the countries in which there is a Judicial Academy.
- The distinction between professional judges / professional judges sitting occasionally / lay judges is kept by the Working Group. For future work, the idea of identifying more precisely the way of processing criminal cases in each country (in some they are non-professional judges, in other they are professional judges) should be studied.
- The President of the Working Group wishes that the professionalisation of justice be highlighted through a table, graph or map.
- For the ratio of non-judges / judges, the President requests that the United-Kingdom and Malta be removed because of their organisation being too specific (with an explanation in the narrative comment).
- The President of the Working Group requests that the number of prosecutors be crossed with the number of tasks they have.
- Finally, the President of the Working Group wishes that the formal guarantees of prosecutors' independence be highlighted relying in particular on the work of the CCPE.
· Efficiency of courts and public prosecutors’ offices – Writer: Julinda BEQIRAJ
- The Working Group agrees to concentrate first in the analysis conducted on litigious civil cases and criminal cases with a review of the variations.
- The President of the Working Group hopes that this section can confirm if in Europe civil cases decrease and criminal cases increase.
8. The Secretariat informs of the need to organise a meeting in Paris to allow an exchange of information between the President of the GT-EVAL, Jean-Paul JEAN, the scientific expert, Julinda BEQIRAJ and the Secretariat.
b. Specific report on the courts and new technologies
9. The Secretariat introduces the first elements of the Specific report on courts and new technologies drafted by Sophie Sontag-Koenig, scientific expert. Only Andorra did not reply.
10. The Secretariat notes the following from the discussion held within the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL: the impossibility at this stage to establish a direct link between efficiency and computerisation. It is too early and there are too many external factors out of the scope of the CEPEJ field. The second part of the report should remain restricted to identify avenues for analysis.
III. PREPARATION OF THE 10TH MEETING OF THE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENTS
11. The Secretariat informs of the significant work undertaken for the quality control and data formatting and outlines the excellent cooperation with the national correspondents, particularly this year.
12. The Secretariat draws the attention on issues related to inconsistent data prone to be excluded from the report. Data which remain incomplete despite repeated reminders could be withdrawn from the study.
13. The CEPEJ-GT-EVAL discusses about the tables that could be presented to the meeting of the national correspondents and used for the Key data report.
IV. STUDY FOR THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON THE FUNCTIONING OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
14. Ingo WEUSTENFELD, the representative of the European Commission reminded that the 4th edition of the Scoreboard was presented on April 11, 2016 and thanks the Secretariat for the very good cooperation. He stressed the willingness of the European Commission to continue with this cooperation in the future.
15. The Secretariat also highlights the excellent cooperation and the desire to continue working with the European Commission. The next step will be to discuss the contract upon the best basis.
16. The Secretariat presents the perspective for the future Scoreboard already discussed with the European Commission:
- 2015 data collection will start at the beginning of June2016 and end in September 2016 ;
- the number of questions will be reduced as for the 2013 questionnaire (compared to the 2014 questionnaire);
- an enhancement of the data contextualisation has been requested by the European Commission, and a particular focus on insolvency cases should be made.
V. PEER EVALUATION COOPERATION PROCESS
17. The Secretariat reports of the peer review which took place in Serbia in March 2016 and indicates that the finalised report will be available on the website next week.
18. The members of the GT-EVAL propose that the next visit should be held in Belgium.
VI. DISCUSSION ON THE PILOT PROJECT « TOOL FOR ANALYSING EFFICENCY AND QUALITY »
19. Frans Van der DOELEN (Netherlands) suggests postponing this discussion when the 2014-2016 CEPEJ Evaluation cycle will be finished (in September 2016).
VII. REQUEST FOR HAVING ACCESS TO THE CEPEJ DATABASE OR REQUEST FOR COLLABORATION– CEPEJ PROTOCOLE FOR STUDIES
20. The Secretariat introduces two requests to have access to the CEPEJ database for researchers wishing to carry out specific studies. The GT-EVAL requests to have access to the final work in view of its approval for publication.
21. The President insists on the need to transmit only extracts from the database according to the request of the researcher but not the whole database. The purpose of the study should therefore be specified.
Appendix I - Agenda
1. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour
2. Information by the members of the GT and the Secretariat / Information des membres du GT et du Secrétariat
3. 2014 – 2016 evaluation cycle / Cycle d’évaluation 2014 – 2016
1. Preparation of the key data report / Préparation du rapport sur les données clefs
· Budgetary resources allocated to the courts / Ressources budgétaires du système judiciaire
· Administration of the courts / Administration des tribunaux
· Users of the judicial system / Usagers de la justice
· Court staff and judicial auxiliaries / Personnels judiciaires et auxiliaires de justice
· Efficiency of courts and public prosecutors’ offices / Efficacité des tribunaux et ministères
publics
With the participation of Ludivine Roussey, Didier Marshall et Julinda Beqiraj, scientific experts /
En présence de Ludivine Roussey, Didier Marshall et Julinda Beqiraj, experts scientifiques
2. Specific report on the courts and new technologies / Rapport spécifique sur les tribunaux et les nouvelles technologies
· Discussion on the content / Discussion sur le contenu
Présentation by Sophie Sontag-Koenig, scientific expert / Présentation par Sophie Sontag-Koenig, expert scientifique
3. Electronic version for presenting the information / Version électronique pour présenter les informations
4. Preparation of the 10th meeting of the National correspondents / Préparation de la 10ème réunion des correspondants nationaux
5. Study for the European Commission on the functioning of judicial systems in the member States of the European Union (Scoreboard of justice) / Etude pour la Commission européenne sur le fonctionnement des systèmes judiciaires dans les Etats membres de l’Union européenne (Tableau de bord de la justice)
§ Study delivered to the European Commission (February 2016) / Etude remise à la Commission européenne (février 2016)
§ Launching of the new study (questionnaire and explanatory note, thematic and temporal fields covered by the study timetable) / Lancement de la prochaine étude (questionnaire et note explicative, champs thématiques et temporels couverts par l’étude, calendrier)
§ Continuation of the cooperation with the European Commission / Poursuite de la coopération avec la Commission européenne
6. Peer evaluation cooperation process / Processus de coopération à travers une évaluation par les pairs
§ Peer evaluation in Serbia / Evaluation par les pairs en Serbie
7. Discussion on the pilot project « tool for analysing efficency and quality »/ Discussion sur le projet pilote « un outil d’analyse de l’efficacité et de la qualité »
Rapporteur : Frans Van Der Doelen (Netherlands)
§ State of the project / Etat du projet
§ Contribution of volunteers States / Contribution des Etats volontaires
§ Continuation of the project and timetable / Poursuite du projet et calendrier
8. Request for having access to the CEPEJ data base or request for collaboration– CEPEJ Protocole for studies / Demandes d’accès à la base de données ou de collaboration - Protocole d’étude de la CEPEJ
§ Request adressed by Angelina Atanasova / Demande formulée par Angelina Atanasova
§ Request adressed by Professor Marneffe (Belgium) / Demande formulée par le Professeur Marneffe (Belgique)
Appendix II - List of Participants
Members
Ramin GURBANOV, Judge, Baku City Yasamal District court, Baku, Azerbaijan
Adis HODZIC, Senior Advisor for Statistics High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kraljice Jelene 88, 7100 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mirna MINAUF, Senior Administrative Advisor, Sector for judicial administration and judicial inspection, Directorate for the Organization of the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
Jean-Paul JEAN, Président de chambre, Directeur du service de documentation, des études et du rapport, Chef du service des relations internationales, Cour de Cassation, Paris, France, (President of the GT-EVAL / Président du GT-EVAL)
Simone KREβ, Vice-President, Landgericht Köln, Germany
Frans Van der DOELEN, Programme Manager of the Department of the Justice System, Ministry of Justice, The Hague, The Netherlands
Jaša VRABEC, Senior Judicial Adviser, President’s Office, Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia (apologised / excusé)
***
PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ
Georg STAWA, Head of Department Pr 8, Projects, Strategy and Innovation, Federal Ministry of Justice, Vienna, Austria
***
Scientific experts
Julinda Beqiraj, Associate Senior Research Fellow in the Rule of Law, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, London, United Kingdom (apologised / excusée)
Didier Marshall, Magistrat honoraire, Doyen du Pôle administration de la justice à l'Ecole nationale de la magistrature, Grasse, France
Ludivine Roussey, Maître de conférences en sciences économiques, Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, France
Sophie Sontag-Koenig, Docteur en droit, Chargée de mission à l'Institut des hautes études sur la justice, Paris
***
Observers
Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe - European lawyers promoting law and justice / Conseil des barreaux européens - Les avocats européens pour le droit et la justice (CCBE)
Simone CUOMO, Senior Legal Advisor, Brussels, Belgium (apologised / excusé)
COUNCIL OF THE NOTARIATS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (CNEU) / CONSEIL DES NOTARIATS DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE (CNUE)
Edmond GRESSER, Notaire, La Wantzenau, France
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES / Association européenne des MAGISTRATS (EAJ)
Christophe REGNARD, Président de l’association européenne des magistrats, Premier vice-président de l’union internationale des magistrats, Paris, France (apologised / excusé)
EUROPEAN EXPERTISE AND EXPERT INSTITUTE / INSTITUT EUROPEEN DE L’EXPERTISE ET DE L’EXPERT (EEEI)
Alain Nuée, Président du Comité d’Orientation de l’EEEI, ancien Premier Président de la Cour d’appel de Versailles, Levallois, France
European Union of Rechtspfleger / Union européenne des greffiers de justice et Rechtspfleger (EUR)
Jean-Jacques KUSTER, Président, Strasbourg, France
***
EUROPEAN UNION
Pawel Nalewajko, Political administrator, Council of the European Union, General Secretariat, Justice and Home Affairs, Fundamental Rights, Data Protection and Drugs Policies, Brussels, Belgium
Ingo WEUSTENFELD, Policy Officer, European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice Unit 0.3, General Justice Policies and Judicial Systems, Brussels
***
COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
Secretariat
Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Head of the Division for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice / Chef de la division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice, Tél. : +33 (0)3 88 41 34 12, e-mail: [email protected]
Yannick MENECEUR, Administrator / Administrateur, Tél. : 33 (0)3 90 21 53 59, e-mail: [email protected]
Lidija NAUMOVSKA, Statistician, Administrator / Administratrice, statisticienne, Tél. : +33 (0)3 88 41 22 49,
e-mail: [email protected]
Félicie DIARD-DETOEUF, Principal Administrative Assistant / Assistante administrative principale,
Tél. : +33 (0)3 90 21 55 16, e-mail : [email protected]
Guergana LAZAROVA-DECHAUX, Principal Administrative Assistant / Assistante administrative principale, Tél. : +33 (0)3 90 21 62 11, e-mail : [email protected]
Jean-Pierre GEILLER, Documentation, Tél.: +33(0) 3 88 41 22 27, e-mail : [email protected]
Annette SATTEL, Communication, Tél. : +33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, e-mail: [email protected]
Helena ORSULIC, Assistant / Assistante, Secretariat of the CEPEJ / Secrétariat de la CEPEJ,
Tél. : +33 (0)3 88 41 38 61, e-mail: [email protected]
INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES
Corinne McGEORGE
Chloé CHENETIER
Didier JUNGLING