Strasbourg, 25 November 2019

CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)16

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

WORKING GROUP ON THE EVALUATION OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS

(CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)

37^th meeting

23-24 September 2019

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 37^th meeting on 23 and 24 September 2019 in Paris, with Jasa VRABEC (Slovenia) in the chair.

2.     The agenda appears in Appendix I and the list of participants in Appendix II to this report.

I.          INFORMATION BY THE MEMBERS OF THE WORKING GROUP AND THE SECRETARIAT

3.     The CEPEJ President, Mr. Ramin Gurbanov provide information on the justice forum in Kazakhstan, major points from the last CEPEJ plenary meeting, and highlighted importance of the CEPEJ cooperation with individual member states in implementation of the CEPEJ tools. He also expressed his wish to see the development of cooperation between the CEPEJ and the European Court of Human Rights, in particular following the exchange of views with ECHR judges organised during the last CEPEJ plenary meeting. 

4.     The Secretariat updated participants on the current situation in the Council of Europe emphasising recent political and financial developments and also on the changes within the organisation of the CEPEJ Secretariat.

II.         2018 – 2020 EVALUATION CYCLE

5.     Regarding the current state of data collection, the Secretariat indicates that national correspondents have started entering data into the CEPEJ-COLLECT system and that should be completed by 1 October. The Secretariat has already started the quality check for the countries that finalized most of the sections. EU member states’ data will be checked first as it is necessary to provide some of these data for the EU justice scoreboard within a very short time – before 15 November.

6.     Concerning the structure of the next evaluation report, the Secretariat recalls that the Working Group agreed at its last meeting to present the report (“paper version") in a shorten version focused on analyses of trends and that this report should also encompass country fiches containing the main data on the judiciail systems, essentially quantitative but also qualitative, without analysis, and compared to the European median. In parallel, it was agreed to develop CEPEJ-STAT.

 

7.     Based on these instructions, the Secretariat presents a proposal for a new structure of the report (Document CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)14 ). The Secretariat specifies that it is a working document that is intended to be presented to the future experts in charge of drafting the report. Working Group also expects that new structure will serve to focus the experts’ analysis toward identification of the most relevant trends.

·         The chapters remain the same as in the last version of the report. However, within each section there are changes in the way data are presented.

·         Each section begins by stating an identified trend on the basis of data analysis and comparisons with previous cycles. These trends should provide general conclusion on the increase, decrease or stability of the selected indicators.

·         Following that, the relevant Member states’ data will be presented, and they should be laid out in such manner to provide factual support for the identified trend.

·         The improved versions of tables and dashboards will also be used to stress the identified trends. It is worth noting that not all the tables will be included in the report, considering that new version should be shorter. However, the links which lead readers directly to the relevant table on the CEPEJ STAT might be added.

·         It was also proposed that, when relevant, section includes a part on good practices from the Member states. Related to that, the Secretariat also proposes that CEPEJ STAT become more interactive by presenting examples of good practices and eventually links to videos. Furthermore, this section might include projects presented within the Crystal Scale of Justice award. These options will be further explored by the Secretariat and presented to the Working Group.

8.     While discussing the details of the document, the members of the Working Group pointed out the following observations:

·         New tables with combination of different indicators should be added value of the new report. The members discussed various options but left to the Secretariat and experts who will work on the individual sections to further explore possible solutions.

·         Sorting the results and grouping the states into clusters based on different criteria was discussed, but eventually rejected for the lack of objective and universally applicable criteria for classification of the judicial systems.

·         Furthermore, it was highlighted that previous CEPEJ report didn’t rank the states in any manner and it was concluded that new report should maintain the same approach. 

9.     The Working Group proposes some editorial amendments and agrees that this document could be an adequate working base for the furture experts in charge of drafting the different chapters of the report.

10.  The secretariat also presented the draft Country fiche which is at the development stage (document CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)12). The country fiches will accompany the report and will be produced for each member state with selected quantitative but also some qualitative data and will also include European median values of selected indicators. It will practically serve as a brief visual overview of the situation in an individual member state’s justice system without written analysis. After discussion, and in order to increase their visibility, it was decided to present these fiches not only on CEPEJ-STAT but also in the “paper version” of the report.

11.  Regarding the content of the country fiches, the Working Group instructs the Secretariat to develop in details the country fiches and to present a new version on the next meeting.  It is also mentioned that experts in charge of drafting the different chapters of the report will also be able to define the indicators that need to be presented in the country fiches.

12.  In addition, the Working Group agrees to have no thematic report in 2020 edition. It was pointed out that report will already contain completely redesigned structure and many new features, and therefore no additional new subjects will be proposed for this cycle. 

13.  Concerning the improvement of CEPEJ-STAT, the Secretariat presents the example of the Efficiency dashboard (Document CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)13) and points out that new dashboard combines three relevant indicators clearance rate, disposition time and number of cases pending for more than two years. The Working Group mandated in consequence the Secretariat to finalize this document and present it on the next meeting.

14.  The Secretariat also presents the Manual for using CEPEJ STAT (Document CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)11) by explaining the structure of different sections and the instructions provided in the document. The Working Group members are invited by the CEPEJ secretariat to send their comments before the next meeting following which the Secretariat will finalize this document and publish it on the website.  

15.  Finally, the Secretariat pointed out that in this cycle, the selection of experts will focus on a specific profile of professionals. The selected experts will be required to have proven expertise in the area of justice system functioning, but in addition, a very detailed knowledge on how to use different tools for processing and presenting data.  They should also ideally be familiar with the CEPEJ and CEPEJ methodology. They will be encouraged to present new ideas for data analysis within the framework of the report.

16.  It was pointed out that experts should be recruited earlier than in previous cycles to allow enough time for preparatory meetings where they would receive instructions and preliminary explanations. The timeframe for drafting the sections will be from 1 March to 1 May and the draft report will be presented on the CEPEJ plenary session in June 2020.

17.  The Working Group agrees with the Secretariat proposals and mandates the Secretariat to proceed recruitment process in accordance with the presented timetable. Some members suggests to send relevant CV from experts to the Secretariat.

 

18.  The Working Group also discuss how to ease the diffusion of the report when published and how to increase the involvement of CEPEJ members at this stage. The feedback that needs to be given to national correspondent after publication is also underlined.

III.        Cooperation WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION

a.   Study for the European Commission on the functioning of judicial systems in the Member States of the European Union (Justice Scoreboard)

19.  The data collection is ongoing up until 1 October. By this date all member states will have to complete their data entries, except Germany which benefits from an extension till beginning of December. The first part of the CEPEJ Study for the EU Scoreboard will be submitted to the European Commission (EC) by 15 November. It will include almost 200 tables with comments received from the national correspondents. The questionnaire (which is an extract from the CEPEJ evaluation questionnaire) as well as the list of tableswere was agreed with the EC beforehand.

20.  The EC representative underlined the very good cooperation with the CEPEJ Secretariat. The EC representative also indicates that depending on other factors, such as appointment of the new Commission, the Scoreboard should be published in late February or early March.

21.  She underlined the importance of the EU Justice Scoreboard which is now included in the EU Rule of Law Toolbox which is designed to help EU to ensure the rule of law is respected within its Member States. The importance of having high quality data seems to be even greater imperative than before. The Scoreboard also serves as the data resource for the European Semester which provides a framework for coordination of the economic policies. 

22.  Referring to comments made by the Secretariat and the Working Group President, the EC representative confirmed that it will be ensured that, contrary to the previous editions, CEPEJ is properly referenced in the introduction of the Scoreboard and that the date of publication of the Scoreboard is communicated to the CEPEJ Secretariat and the national correspondents as soon as possible. Secretariat also confirmed its availability to participate in the meetings organised by EC, especially with EC contact points, to ensure the transparency and to strenghtend the cooperation between EC and CEPEJ.

b.   CEPEJ Study on Western Balkans Indicators (Dashboard Western Balkans)

23.  The Secretariat informs the Working Group that the Action aimed at supporting the EC in achieving an effective, systematic and data-based evaluation of the results of judicial reform efforts in the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo*) through the annual collection and processing of data on the functioning of the judicial systems of these beneficiaries is now launched.

24.  The questionnaire was finalised (Document  CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)5rev4 and will be open in CEPEJ-COLLECT the 1^st of October. Data 2019 will be collected in two steps: first step of data collection till the end of the year; second step of data collection till end of March according to availability of data in the beneficiaries. A detailed explanatory note was also prepared, in cooperation with GRECO Secretariat.

25.  The first steering committee meeting of this Action as well as the official launching of data collection for the six beneficiaries will be organised in Skopje the 10 of October. CEPEJ Dashboard correspondent as well as official representatives will be invited to attend this meeting with EC.

IV.       PEER evaluation coopEration PROCESS

a.             Peer review in Andorra

26.  The Secretariat informs the Working Group that a peer review mission was carried out in Andorra on 10 and 11 December 2018. The principal goal of this mission was to deal with some persistent problems in data collection and to raise awareness among various data providers about the CEPEJ requirements. The CEPEJ team was composed by Gilbert Cousteaux (France), Jean-Paul Jean (France) and the Secretariat.

27.  The Working Group confirms that there are no new proposals for peer evaluation visits and it is agreed that a new call for candadidat to a peer review mission will be done during the next CEPEJ plenary meeting.

V.         Specific study on Legal professionals

28.  The Secretariat informs the Working Group that the 2016 data (in the form of tables and graphs) have been shared with and the European Expertise and Expert Institute (EEEI) in order to update the Specific study on legal professions. The Working Groupe examines the document CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2019)9 and ask the EEEI to prepare a new version of this study. To avoid some confusion, it was suggested that the study should be based on the 2016 data and current definitions, while proposed modifications should be provided in a separate document. These proposals will be considered on the future meetings of Working group.

29.  In The International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ) informs the Working Group that an updated version of the study will be provided soon based on 2016 data.

30.  The Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) has already provided a study based on 2016 data and informs that they are now working on delivering suggestions for modification of the existing questions and potentially introducing new ones in the next CEPEJ evaluation schemes.

VI.       POSSIBLE COOPERATION WITH OECD

31.  In the framework of a future cooperation between the CEPEJ and the OECD, the representative of the OECD presented to the working group some possible areas of cooperation between the CEPEJ and the OECD.

32.  The members of the Working Group note that it is clear that the OECD already uses some of the CEPEJ's data, and it was stressed that two bodies should avoid overlaps and exclude the possibilities of collecting the same data.

33.  As a first steep of this future cooperation, the Working Group ask the Secretariat to prepare a concrete example of this cooperation between OCDE and CEPEJ based on an evaluation program of Mexico (as member of OECD and observer country to the CEPEJ).

VII.      HOW TO ANSWER TO REQUEST CONCERNING ACCESS TO CEPEJ RAW DATA?

34.  Considering that it is not possible to download raw data directly from CEPEJ STAT, the Secretariat pointed out that requests for data are becoming increasingly frequent. While there is a protocol for data requests coming from researchers, the demands from national correspondents and other users are not strictly regulated and can obsviously not be treated in the same way. 

35.  During the discussion that followed, it was highlighted that data should not be open to access without limitation and it was agreed that procedure should be put in place for such requests. The principle aim of this procedure would be to obtain information on the purpose of data usage, to ensure adequate CEPEJ citation and to set the limits on further data distribution. To that end, members of the Working Group suggested that most suitable solution might be introduction of the protocol agreement which should be signed prior to data transfer.

 

36.  The Secretariat will prepare a document which could answer to this request and will present it during the next meeting.

VIII.     ANY OTHER BUSINESS

37.  The date of the next meeting of the Working Group will be confirmed by the Secretariat as soon as possible.  

Annexe I AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

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

2. Information by the members of the Working Group and the Secretariat / Information des membres du groupe de travail et du Secrétariat

3. 2018 – 2020 evaluation cycle / Cycle d’évaluation 2018 – 2020

-       State of data collection of the 2018 - 2020 evaluation cycle (calendar, participants) / Etat de la collecte de données du cycle d’évaluation 2018 – 2020 (calendrier, participants)

-       Discussion on the structure of the report / Discussion concernant la structure du rapport

-       First selection of tables / Première selection des tableaux

-       Selection of a new topic for the thematic report ? / Choix d’un nouveau sujet pour le rapport thématique ?

-       Development of CEPEJ-STAT / Développement de CEPEJ-STAT

o    New dashboards. Example of the Efficency dashboard / Nouveaux tableaux de bord. Example du Dashboard sur l’Efficacité

o    Draft of manual /Projet de manuel

-       Experts in charge of drafting the report / Experts en charge de la rédaction du rapport

4. Cooperation with European Commission / Coopération avec la Commission Européenne

5. Peer evaluation cooperation process / Processus de coopération à travers une évaluation par les pairs

6.    Specific Study on the judicial professionnals / Etude spécifique de la CEPEJ sur les professions juridiques

7. Possible cooperation with OECD / Coopération possible avec l’OCDE

8. How to answer to request concerning access to CEPEJ raw data ? / Comment répondre aux demandes concernant l’accès aux données brutes de la CEPEJ ?

9. Any other business / Questions diverses

Annexe II

List of Participants / Liste des participants

Members / Membres

Adis HODZIC, Senior Advisor for Statistics High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kraljice Jelene 88, 7100 SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Simone KREβ, Vice-President, Landgericht Köln, Luxemburger Str. 101, 50939 KÖLN, GERMANY

Ivana NINČIĆ OSTERLE, Ministry of Justice, 22-26 Namanjina St. BELGRADE, SERBIA

Jaša VRABEC, Head of the Office for Court Management Development, Supreme Court, Tavčarjeva 9, 1000 LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA, (President of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL/ Président du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL   

Martina VRDOLJAK, Head of department for statistics, analytic and strategic development of Judiciary, Directorate for organisation of Judiciary, Ministry of justice, Ulica grada Vukovara 49, 10000 ZAGREB, CROATIA

Joanne BATTISTINO, Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, The Law Courts, Republic Street, VALLETTA, MALTA

***

PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ / PRESIDENT DE LA CEPEJ

Ramin GURBANOV, Judge, Baku City Yasamal District court, BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

***

SCIENTIFIC EXPERT / EXPERT SCIENTIFIQUE

Christophe KOLLER, Directeur opérationnel, ESEHA, Herzogstr. 25, 3014 BERNE, SUISSE

***

Observers / Observateurs

COUNCIL OF THE BARS AND LAW SOCIETIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION / CONSEIL DES BARREAUX EUROPÉENS (CCBE) Apologised / Excusé

COUNCIL OF THE NOTARIATS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (CNEU) / CONSEIL DES NOTARIATS DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE (CNUE)

Pierre-Luc VOGEL, President of the CNEU

Geertjan SARNEEL, Meijling & Sarneel Notarissen en Adviseurs, Vestiging Kapelle, THE NETHERLANDS

Susanne VIGGRIA-KRAEMER, Legal adviser, CNEU, Av. De Cortenbergh, 120, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES (EAJ) / Association européenne des MAGISTRATS (AEJ) Apologised / Excusée

EUROPEAN EXPERTISE AND EXPERT INSTITUTE / INSTITUT EUROPEEN DE L’EXPERTISE ET DE L’EXPERT (EEEI)

Nico KEIJSER, Vice-President of EEEI

European Union of Rechtspfleger / Union européenne des greffiers de justice et Rechtspfleger (EUR)

Vivien WHYTE, Président de l’EUR, Directeur des services de greffe judiciaires, Tribunal de grande instance, 1 quai Finkmatt, STRASBOURG, FRANCE

EUROPEAN COMMISSION / COMMISSION EUROPEENE

Kateřina Svíčková, Policy Officer, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers Unit C1 – Justice policy and rule of law, Rue Montoyer 59, B-1000 Brussels, BELGIUM

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF JUDICIAL OFFICERS / UNION INTERNATIONALE DES HUISSIERS DE JUSTICE ET OFFICIERS JUDICIAIRES (UIHJ)

Patrick GIELEN, Huissier de justice, av. Molière 266, 1180 UCCLE, BELGIQUE

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) / L'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE)

Tatyana TEPLOVA, Senior Counsellor, Head, Governance for Gender, Justice and Inclusiveness, PARIS

***

INVITED DELEGATIONS / DELEGATIONS INVITES

SLOVAK REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUE

Zuzana SHUERER PIOVARCIOVA, Adviser of the Analytical Unit, Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic

***

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]

Muriel DECOT, Secretary of the CEPEJ / Secrétaire de la CEPEJ, Tél: +33 (0)3 90 21 44 55, e-mail : [email protected]

Christel SCHURRER, Secretary of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL / Secrétaire du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL, Tél : +33 (0)3 90 21 56 97, e-mail: [email protected]

Lidija NAUMOVSKA, Statistician / Statisticienne, Tél: +33 (0)3 88 41 22 49,

e-mail: [email protected]

Milan NIKOLIC, Administrator / Administrateur, Tél: +33 (0) 90 21 61 96, e-mail: [email protected]

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INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES

Shan BENSON

Léa OUEDRAOGO

Claudine PIERSON