CCJE-GT(2019)2

Strasbourg, 27 May 2019                                                                                                 

WORKING GROUP OF THE

CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES

(CCJE-GT)

Report of the 36th meeting

Paris, 20 – 22 March 2019

Document prepared by the Secretariat

Directorate General I - Human Rights and Rule of Law


I.          INTRODUCTION

1.         The Working Group of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE-GT) held its 36th meeting in Paris from 20 to 22 March 2019. The meeting was chaired by Ms Nina BETETTO (Slovenia), Vice-President of the CCJE.

2.         The agenda and the list of participants are appended to this report (Appendices I and II respectively).

II.       COMMUNICATION BY THE PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU AND WORKING GROUP OF THE CCJE

 

3.         The members of the Working Group greeted Mr Raffaele SABATO(Italy) and warmly congratulated him with the recent election as Judge of the European Court of Human Rights. He was elected by the Parliamentary Assembly in January 2019 and would commence his work in May 2019. The members of the Working Group strongly thanked Mr SABATO, who has been member of the CCJE in respect of Italy since 2000, for his outstanding contribution to the process of development of the CCJE Opinions and standards, as well as for his always fruitful participation in the CCJE activities.

4.         Mr Duro SESSA (Croatia), President of the CCJE, opened the meeting by informing the members of the Working Group about the Bureau meeting, earlier in the morning, and the topics discussed. He informed in particular about his participation in a number of events where he presented (or would present) the CCJE activities and standards: meeting in Strasbourg of the heads of the Council of Europe monitoring, standard-setting and advisory bodies, session of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, conference on the reform of the judiciary in Kyiv, workshop on the situation of the judiciary in Warsaw and meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network in Doha[1].Mr SESSA also recalled the CCJE plenary meeting in Zagreb in November 2018 within the framework of the Croatian chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

 

5.         Ms BETETTO informed about the Rule of Law Conference in Tampere where she had highlighted the CCJE work and its standards developed on the independence of the judiciary, as well as her future participation in the meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network in Doha[2].

6.         Ms Nino BAKAKURI (Georgia) highlighted her participation, on 12 March 2019, in a high-level thematic meeting in the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the effective investigations under Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The meeting was organised by the Department of Execution of the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. Thematic exchange of views took place focusing on best institutional and legal avenues to ensure efficiency of domestic investigations of the violations by law enforcement officials from the point of view of general measures that the members States undertake. Ms BAKAKURI contributed to the exchange by emphasising good practices, including those in Georgia with the creation of special body for investigating violations by law enforcement officials.

7.         Mr Viktor GORODOVENKO (Ukraine) mentioned his participation in a large international conference in December 2019 in Kyiv on the reform of the judiciary where he presented the CCJE Opinions and standards focusing on judicial independence and impartiality and participated in exchanges as regards the application of these standards at national level in Ukraine. He also informed the Working Group about the current working process of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine.

8.         Mr Gerhard REISSNER (Austria) mentioned in particular the co-operation with the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ), which is one of observers to the CCJE, and noted that the CCJE Opinions had been increasingly discussed and used, often very actively, and the awareness of the CCJE standards at European level had significantly increased.

III.      PREPARATION OF THE CCJE OPINION NO. 22 ON THE ROLE OF COURT CLERKS AND LEGAL ASSISTANTS WITHIN THE COURTS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH JUDGES

 

9.         Ms BETETTO mentioned that the Bureau had discussed the draft structure for the Opinion No. 22 (document CCJE-BU(2019)2Prov1), as well as the analysis of responses to the questionnaire for the preparation of this Opinion (document CCJE(2019)2Prov1), prepared by the CCJE expert, Prof. Dr. Anne SANDERS, and came to the conclusion that both documents were a good basis and starting point for further development of the Opinion. Ms BETETTO also mentioned that the Bureau suggested formulating the title as “The role of judicial assistants and their relations with judges”.

10.      Ms BETETTO proceeded by giving the floor to Prof. Dr. SANDERS who provided an overview of the findings of the questionnaire for the preparation of the CCJE Opinion No. 22 and different practices in member States’ judicial systems. She also highlighted in-depth the various types and categories of judicial assistants.

11.      Taking into account different approaches to what the judicial assistants do, and different rationales for their work, Prof. Dr. SANDERS mentioned two broad trends: 1) to improve the efficiency of the court, helping judges; 2) to raise awareness of the court activities, training newcomers etc. In the majority of member States, there is a possibility of having long-term judicial assistants. This is in fact not what happens in reality because usually judicial assistants prefer to seek new opportunities after several years, but the possibility for long-term career exists anyway. There are also seconded assistants who, after the end of secondment, return to their court.

12.      Prof. Dr. SANDERS continued that if judicial assistants serve long-term, at some point they prefer advancement, therefore some career perspectives should be there. In some member States, there is a possibility to become a judge, or to move up in the hierarchy. In some courts, there are just judicial assistants and in some, pools of them. In some countries, they play a very minor role in the adjudicative process, in others, they make research for the judge. In many member States, they are involved, to various extents, in drafting judgments. The judicial assistants cannot be independent from judges, however, they should be guaranteed against the judge who may try to get rid of the judicial assistant or to influence him/her in an improper way.

13.      The members of the Working Group praised the draft Opinion prepared by Prof. Dr. SANDERS and emphasised that so far, the issue of judicial assistance was not touched upon in-depth at international level. The Working Group agreed with the Bureau as regards the title of the Opinion, and also discussed a number of points such as importance of terms and definitions used in the Opinion, its scope; decision-making and the role of judicial assistants; support by judicial assistants to the lay judges; avoiding the possibility of influencing the judge through judicial assistants’ work; delineating clearly what are the relations between judicial assistants and judges; the status of judicial assistants (civil servants or any other status); specialisation of judicial assistants.

14.      The members of the Working Group agreed that judicial assistance should never replace judges as a principle. Therefore, the role of judicial assistants was seen as assisting judges but not being involved in decision-making.

15.      At the end of the meeting, the Working Group entrusted Prof. Dr. SANDERS to prepare, on the basis of these discussions and the draft structure, the first draft of the Opinion by mid-May 2019, after which it would be forwarded to all members of the Bureau and of the Working Group and would be considered during the meeting of the Working Group.

IV.     OTHER ITEMS

16.      The next meeting of the Working Group will take place on 19-21 June 2019. The members of the Working Group discussed the possibility of having this meeting in Saverne, France, following an invitation by the City of Saverne, and including the possibility of having a meeting and exchange of views with the First Instance Court of Saverne. The members of the Working Group appreciated this invitation and gave a very favourable opinion on that.   

 


APPENDIX I

AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

1.      Opening of the meeting / Ouverture de la réunion

2.      Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour

3.      Communication by the President, members of the Bureau and the Secretariat / Communication du Président, des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat

4.      Preparation of the draft Opinion No. 22 on « The role of court clerks and legal assistants within the courts and their relationships with judges » / Préparation du projet de l’Avis No. 22 sur « Le rôle des greffiers de justice et assistants juridiques au sein des tribunaux et leurs relations avec les juges »

5.      Any other business / Divers


APPENDIX II

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

MEMBERS OF THE CCJE-GT / MEMBRES DU CCJE-GT

Ms Nino BAKAKURI, Judge, Supreme Court, TBILISI, GEORGIA / GÉORGIE

Ms Jasmina ĆOSİĆ DEDOVİĆ, Judge, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA / BOSNIE-HERZÉGOVINE

Mr Nils ENGSTAD, Judge, Hålogaland Court of Appeal, TROMSØ, NORWAY / NORVEGE

 

Mr Viktor GORODOVENKO, Judge, Constitutional Court, KYIV, UKRAINE

Mr Rubén Antonio JIMÉNEZ FERNÁNDEZ, Senior Judge, President of the Social Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Murcia, MURCIA, SPAIN / ESPAGNE

Ms Canòlic MINGORANCE CAIRAT, Juge, Seu de la Justicia Av Tarragona, ANDORRA LA VELLA,  ANDORRA / ANDORRE

Ms Mirjana POPOVIC, Judge, High Court of Podgorica, PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO (Gender equality rapporteur / Rapporteur pour la questions de parité)

(apologised / excusée)

Mr Gerhard REISSNER, President of the District Court of Floridsdorf, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE

The Hon. Ms Justice Leonie REYNOLDS, The High Court, DUBLIN, IRELAND / IRLANDE

Prof. Mr Marc DE WERD, Judge, Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Professor of European Law at Maastricht University, MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS

OTHER PARTICIPANTS / AUTRES PARTICIPANTS

Mr Raffaele SABATO, Judge, Supreme Court of Cassation, ROME, ITALY / ITALIE

Ms Nicoletta ALOJ, Judge, Court of Turin, TURIN, ITALY / ITALIE

Mr Gianluca GRASSO, Judge, Supreme Court of Cassation, ROME, ITALY / ITALIE

SCIENTIFIC EXPERT / EXPERT SCIENTIFIQUE

Prof. Dr. Anne SANDERS, Professor for Civil Law, Company Law and Comparative Judicial Studies at Bielefeld University, BIELEFELD, GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE

MEMBERS OF THE CCJE-BU / MEMBRES DU CCJE-BU

Mr Duro SESSA, President of the Supreme Court, ZAGREB, CROATIA / CROATIE (President of the CCJE / Président du CCJE)

 

Ms Nina BETETTO, Judge, Supreme Court, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA / SLOVENIE (Vice-President of the CCJE / Vice-Président du CCJE)

Ms Anke EILERS, Presiding Judge, Court of Appeal, COLOGNE, GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE

Lord Justice Kim LEWISON, Royal Courts of Justice, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM / ROYAME UNI

COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S SECRETARIAT /

SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law / Division for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice

Direction générale I – Droits de l’Homme et Etat de Droit / Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice

E-mail: [email protected]

Mr Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Head of the Division, Secretary of the CCJE / Chef de la Division, Secrétaire du CCJE

Tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 34 12, E-mail: [email protected]

Mr Artashes MELIKYAN, Co-Secretary of the CCJE / Co-Secrétaire du CCJE

Tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21, E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Despina TRAMOUNTANI, Assistant / Assistante

Tel. +33 (0)3 90 21 62 95, E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Annette SATTEL, Administration and Networks / Administration et réseaux

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, E-mail: [email protected]



[1] For more information, see the report of the 26th meeting of the CCJE Bureau (document CCJE-BU(2019)5, paras 4-7 and 9.

[2] Ibid., paras 8-9.