Strasbourg, 23 June 2017
CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2017)8rev
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE
(CEPEJ)
WORKING GROUP ON THE EVALUATION OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
(CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)
32th meeting
3-5 May 2017
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 32nd meeting on 3 and 5 May 2017, in Strasbourg under the presidency of Jean-Paul JEAN (France). The day of May 4th is devoted to the CEPEJ national correspondents meeting.
2. The agenda and the list of participants appear respectively in appendices I and II to this report.
I. INFORMATION BY THE SECRETARIAT AND MEMBERS OF THE GT-EVAL
3. The President of the Working Group welcomes Martina VRDOLJAK (Croatia), who is attending the GT-EVAL for the first time since her appointment as member. He also welcomes Asmae REGRAGUY, national correspondent for Morocco, Abdeljabbar SADIK and Karim HARROUCHE, representatives of the Moroccan Ministry of Justice who attend the meeting.
4. The President also mentions the success of the launching mission for the participation of Morocco to the 2016-2018 CEPEJ evaluation cycle, which was held in Rabat on 28 and 29 March 2017.
II. 2016-2018 EVALUATION CYCLE
a. Continuation of the 2016 - 2018 cycle (calendar, participants and specific report)
5. The Secretariat informs the Working Group about the participation to the next CEPEJ evaluation exercise, of two observer states at the CEPEJ, Israel and, for the first time, Morocco.
6. The Secretariat presents the timetable for the preparation of the next CEPEJ report, "European Judicial Systems" 2018 Edition (2016 data):
§ 1 June 2017: Opening of the electronic questionnaire for the collection of data;
§ 31 December 2017: deadline for data collection. Closure of the electronic questionnaire;
§ January 2018 - spring 2018: quality control of data by the CEPEJ Secretariat;
§ Summer 2018: drafting of the report;
§ Fall 2018: release of the report.
7. The Secretariat reminds that the topic for the next thematic report will be on court users.
b. Revised version of the Evaluation Scheme and its Explanatory Note
8. The Secretariat informs about the adoption of the scheme for the 2016-2018 evaluation cycle, during the CEPEJ plenary meeting, which was held on December 2016. As regards the explanatory note, it is currently being amended.
9. The President mentions the importance of questions 16 to 41 which will constitute the core of the next thematic report on court users.
c. Presentation of the new system of CEPEJ data collection and analyse
10. The Secretariat presents the new data collection tool, CEPEJ-COLLECT which will be open to the national correspondents beginning of June. This tool allows, when data are saved by the national correspondents, to automatically detect in the answers provided, the variations of numerical data which are significant from one cycle to another. It also allows a communication between the national correspondents and the Secretariat of the CEPEJ within the framework of the data quality control. A user manual will be created.
d. Evolution of CEPEJ-STAT content
11. The Secretariat presents the latest evolutions of the database, CEPEJ-STAT and, in particular, the presentation of the home page as well as the links to the new dashboards.
12. The Working group on Evaluation agrees to suggest to the CEPEJ, gathered for a plenary meeting next 29 and 30 of June, to publish in CEPEJ-STAT, the data collected by the CEPEJ in the framework of the European Union Scoreboard. However, these data should appear in distinguished dashboards of those currently used because they only concern countries member of the European Union.
13. Jaša VRABEC (Slovenia) suggests adding a median for the disposition time, as well as for the incoming and pending cases in the dashboard "Overview", in the part on efficiency.
14. The Secretariat proposes to update twice a year, the database CEPEJ-STAT, just before the biannual meetings of the Working group on Evaluation.
III. STUDY FOR THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION ON THE FUNCTIONING OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (SCOREBOARD OF JUSTICE)
15. The Secretariat underlines the excellent cooperation with the European Commission within the framework of the last “CEPEJ study on the functioning of judicial systems in the member states of the European Union”. It informs of the coming changes regarding the timeframes for the next exercise and specifies that the opening of the questionnaire for the data collection regarding the CEPEJ study, in the framework of the Justice Scoreboard of the European Commission will be done at the same time as the opening of the questionnaire for the CEPEJ evaluation cycle.
§ 1 June 2017: opening of the electronic questionnaire related to the CEPEJ study in the framework of the Scoreboard;
§ 22 September 2017: closing of the data collection (instead of September 30);
§ 15 November 2017: submission of the first part of the study (tables of data) to the European Commission (instead of 1 December);
§ 31 December 2017: submission of the final study including the country fiches.
16. It also informs that the last contract ended in March. The discussions regarding the new contract are currently on-going. It is a contract of a year, renewable three times. Some technical changes have been negotiated. The selection of questions (which is currently on-going for the next study) should be decided each year as well as the years to take into consideration. The comparisons are limited to 4 exercises.
17. The Secretariat notes the exchanges that have taken place with the European Commission in the framework of the last study regarding the German data, which for some of them, were updated after the data collection deadline.
18. Elsa GARCIA-MALTRAS, representing the European Commission, also puts forward the very good cooperation with the CEPEJ and their satisfaction to continue with the cooperation in the future. She highlights the prompt reaction of the Secretariat as regard the update of data, in particular for the German case. She reminds the importance of footnotes and the need to warn them of issues raised during the data quality control.
IV. PEER EVALUATION COOPERATION PROCESS
a. Czech Republic
19. The Secretariat informs of the peer review mission which was held in Czech Republic, on February 7 and 8, 2017. Laetitia BRUNIN (France), Ladislav DUDITS (Slovakia) and Georg STAWA (Austria) have participated. During this visit, the team of experts met persons from different departments of the Ministry of Justice involved in the data collection for the CEPEJ and in particular, the statistical department. Following this mission, a request was received by the Secretariat to enable one of the statisticians met to be trained within the Secretariat. This internship should be organised next autumn.
a. Cyprus
20. The Secretariat informs on the planned mission in Cyprus, on May 30 and 31, to which will be participating Simone KREβ (Germany), Georg STAWA (Austria), Ramin GURBANOV (Azerbaijan). The agenda is currently under discussion. A work relating to data consistency should be done and a special attention should be paid to the lacking data.
a. Georgia
21. A complete overhaul of the IT system is currently on-going in Georgia, a specific request has been made by the member and national correspondent of the CEPEJ on behalf of this State, Nino BAKAKURI, for a peer evaluation mission which would be based on this topic. This mission will be held in September 2017.
a. Spain
22. The Secretariat is in contact with the Spanish member and national correspondent for the organisation of a peer review mission which would be organised in 2018.
V. SPECIFIC STUDY OF THE CEPEJ ON THE JUDICIAL PROFESSIONALS
23. The Secretariat indicates that following the last meeting of the Working Group on Evaluation (October 2016), an email was sent to representatives of the different legal professions at the beginning of the year to ask them if they wished to participate in a specific study on legal professions. This mail also offered the Secretariat's support to provide the relevant data contained in the CEPEJ database.
24. The Secretariat informs that, on the day of the meeting, only the representatives of the notaries had expressed their wish to participate in this study and that the relevant data had been sent to them. The representative of the Council of the Notariats of the European Union informs the Working Group of the progress made regarding their contribution to this study. A draft will be sent to the Secretariat in June in order to present their contribution at the next meeting of the Working Group on Evaluation, in September. They express their enthusiasm for this cooperation.
25. The representatives of the International Union of Judicial Officers, European Expertise and Expert Institute and the European Union of Rechtspflegerexpress their willingness to participate in this study and to receive the data on their professions.
26. The President stresses the need to distinguish regulated professions from other statutes, i.e. lawyers, notaries and judicial officers on the one hand, and interpreters among others on the other hand. He also highlights the need of exchanges on this thematic report before the plenary meeting on 29 and 30 June 2017.
VI. UPDATING OF THE « SCHEME FOR EVALUATING JUDICIAL SYSTEMS - KEY JUDICIAL INDICATORS » IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CO-OPERATION PROGRAMMES
27. The Secretariat presents the latest version of the "Scheme for evaluating judicial systems - key judicial indicators" used in the framework of cooperation programs in order to have a first picture of a judicial system.
28. The Secretariat is responsible for introducing the changes requested by the GT-EVAL in this scheme. The explanatory note will be amended in accordance with the modifications made in the explanatory note of the main scheme.
VII. WORKING GROUP ENTRUSTED WITH THE REVISION OF THE DEFINITIONS USED BY CEPEJ
29. The Working Group appoints Simone KREβ (Germany) as a member of the new ad hoc working group entrusted with the harmonisation of definitions used by the CEPEJ, as representative of the GT-EVAL. A meeting of this Working Group will be held this year.
VIII. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
30. The Secretariat announces that the dates of the next GT-EVAL would be changed on 27 and 28 September. The choice regarding the meeting place is under discussion.
|
11th MEETING WITH THE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (May 4th, 2017) |
|
31. The President of the GT-EVAL welcomes the new national correspondents of the CEPEJ. It reminds the fundamental role of these national correspondents. Liechtenstein and San Marino are the only countries which did not participate to the last CEPEJ evaluation exercise. He expresses a real satisfaction of the CEPEJ with regard to the participation of two observer countries: Israel and Morocco. 32. The President points out that the credibility of the CEPEJ data made it possible to envisage the renewal of the contract between the CEPEJ and the European Commission in the framework of the Justice Scoreboard, which is due to be signed very soon. 33. The Secretariat reports on the schedule of the CEPEJ evaluation exercise and the CEPEJ study within the framework of the European Commission's Justice Scoreboard. It also reminds the principles of quality control of data. 34. The Secretariat presents the new data collection system, CEPEJ-COLLECT as well as the developments of the database, CEPEJ-STAT. |
Appendice I
AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR
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. 2016 – 2018 Evaluation cycle / Cycle d’évaluation 2016 – 2018
a. Continuation of the 2016 - 2018 cycle (calendar, participants and specific report) / Poursuite du cycle 2016 – 2018 (Calendrier, participants et rapport spécifique)
b. Revised version of the Evaluation Scheme and its Explanatory Note / Version révisée de la Grille d’évaluation et de sa note explicative
c. Presentation of the new collection and analyse of data system / Présentation du nouvel outil de collecte et d’analyse des données
d. Evolution of CEPEJ-STAT content / Evolution du contenu de CEPEJ-STAT
4. Preparation of the 11th meeting of the National correspondents / Préparation de la 11ème réunion des correspondants nationaux
a. Calendar / Calendrier
b. Presentation of the new system of CEPEJ data collection and analyse / Présentation du nouvel outil de collecte et d’analyse des données de la CEPEJ
c. Presentation of CEPEJ-STAT / Présentation de CEPEJ-STAT
d. Presentation of the new main questions in the evaluation scheme / Présentation des principales nouvelles questions de la Grille d’évaluation
e. Reminder of the quality check control principles / Rappel des principes appliqués lors du contrôle de qualité des données
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)
a. Study delivered to the European Commission (December 2016) / Etude remise à la Commission européenne (décembre 2016)
b. Continuation of the cooperation with the European Commission / Poursuite de la coopération avec la Commission européenne
c. Launching of the new study (questionnaire and explanatory note, timetable) / Lancement de la prochaine étude (questionnaire et note explicative, calendrier)
d. Specific problems (Germany) / Problèmes spécifiques (Allemagne)
6. Peer evaluation cooperation process / Processus de coopération à travers une évaluation par les pairs
a. Peer evaluation in Czech Republique/ Evaluation par les pairs en République tchèque
b. Future peer evaluation in Cyprus, Georgia and Spain / Futures évaluations par les pairs à Chypre, en Géorgie et en Espagne
7. Specific Study on the judicial professionnals / Etude spécifique de la CEPEJ sur les professions juridiques
8. Updating of the « Scheme for evaluating judicial systems - Key judicial indicators » in the framework of the co-operation programmes / Mise à jour dans le cadre des programmes de coopération de la « Grille pour l’évaluation des systèmes judiciaires – Indicateurs clé dans le domaine judiciaire »
9. Working Group entrusted with the revision of the definitions used by CEPEJ / Groupe de Travail chargé de la révision des définitions utilisées par la CEPEJ
- Timetable / Calendrier
- Nomination of a member of CEPEJ-GT-EVAL to attend the meeting of the Working Group / Nomination d’un membre du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL pour participer à la réunion du Groupe de Travail
10. Any other business / Questions diverses
Appendice II
List of Participants / Liste des participants
Experts
Members / Membres
Ramin GURBANOV, Judge, Baku City Yasamal District court, (Vice President of CEPEJ / Vice-Président de la CEPEJ)
Adis HODZIC, Senior Advisor for Statistics High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Jean-Paul JEAN, Président de chambre à la Cour de cassation, (President of the GT-EVAL / Président du GT-EVAL)
Simone KREβ, Vice-President, Landgericht Köln
Jaša VRABEC, Head of the Office for Court Management Development, Supreme Court
Martina Vrdoljak, head of department for statistics, analytic and strategic development of Judiciary, Directorate for organisation of Judiciary, Ministry of justice
***
PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ / PRESIDENT DE LA CEPEJ
Georg STAWA, Secretary General of the Austrian Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Justice
***
INVITED DELEGATIONS / DELEGATIONS INVITEES
MOROCCO / MAROC
Asmae REGRAGUY, Correspondante nationale, Chef de la Division de l’Evaluation et de la Modernisation
Ministère de la Justice
Abdeljabbar SADIK, Chef de Division des études à la Direction des Etudes de la Coopération et de la Modernisation (DECM), Ministère de la Justice
Karim HARROUCHE, Magistrat détaché au Secrétariat Général, Ministère de la Justice
***
Observers / Observateurs
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)
COUNCIL OF THE NOTARIATS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (CNEU) / CONSEIL DES NOTARIATS DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE (CNUE)
Edmond GRESSER, Notaire
Geertjan SARNEEL, Meijling & Sarneel Notarissen en Adviseurs
EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES / Association européenne des MAGISTRATS (EAJ)
EUROPEAN EXPERTISE AND EXPERT INSTITUTE / INSTITUT EUROPEEN DE L’EXPERTISE ET DE L’EXPERT (EEEI)
Alain NUEE, Premier Président honoraire de la Cour d’Appel de Versailles
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS / UNION INTERNATIONALE DES HUISSIERS DE JUSTICE ET OFFICIERS JUDICIAIRES (UIHJ)
Mathieu CHARDON, Huissier de justice, Secrétaire général de l’UIHJ
European Union of Rechtspfleger / Union européenne des greffiers de justice et Rechtspfleger (EUR)
Franck LE GUERN, Secrétaire général de l'EUR
Vivien WHYTE, Président de l’EUR, Directeur stagiaire des services de greffe judiciaires, Ecole Nationale des Greffes
MAGISTRATS EUROPEENS POUR LA DEMOCRATIE ET LES LIBERTES (MEDEL)
EUROPEAN COMMISSION / COMISSION EUROPEENNE
Elsa GARCIA-MALTRAS, Policy Officer
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION / CONSEIL DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT - LIBE COMMISSION / PARLEMENT EUROPEEN - COMMISSION LIBE
***
COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
Secretariat
Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DG I)
Division for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice/
Direction Générale des Droits de l’Homme et Etat de droit (DG I)
Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice
Fax: +33 (0)3 88 41 37 43
E-mail: [email protected]
Hanne JUNCHER, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department / Service de la cooperation judiciaire et juridique, Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 24 37, e-mail: [email protected]
Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Executive Secretary of the CEPEJ / Secrétaire exécutif de la CEPEJ, Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 34 12, e-mail: [email protected]
Muriel DECOT, Co-Secretary of the CEPEJ / Co-secrétaire de la CEPEJ, Tél: +33 (0)3 90 21 44 55, e-mail : [email protected]
Christel SCHURRER, Administrator, Secretary of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL / Administratrice, Secrétaire du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, Tél : +33 (0)3 90 21 56 97, e-mail: [email protected]
Lidija NAUMOVSKA, Administrator, Statistician / 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]
Annette SATTEL, Communication, Tél: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, e-mail: [email protected]
Elisabeth HEURTEBISE, Assistant/Assistante, Secretariat of the CEPEJ / Secrétariat de la CEPEJ, Tél : +33(0)3 88 41 35 54, e-mail: [email protected]
TRAINEE / STAGIAIRE
Karam Anis KUYUMJI
INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES
Chloé CHENETIER
Pascale MICHLIN
Christine TRAPP