Strasbourg, 21 January 2021
CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2021)3
EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE
(CEPEJ)
WORKING GROUP ON THE EVALUATION OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS
(CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)
Ad hoc meeting
20 - 21 January 2021
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) has held an ad hoc meeting on 20 and 21 January 2021, in videoconference, with Jaša Vrabec (Slovenia) as the chair.
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 Secretariat introduces to the Working Group a new colleague, Iulia Dragota. She will support the CEPEJ Secretariat, in particular the Evaluation team.
4. The Secretariat informs the Working Group that the questionnaire for the 2022 Evaluation Cycle has been adopted by the CEPEJ during its Plenary Meeting on 8 December 2020 (with reservations that some modifications could be made by the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL during this ad hoc meeting).
5. The Working Group’s activities have also been presented to the CEPEJ Bureau, during the meeting on 15 January. The Secretariat presents the suggested modifications to the questionnaire.
6. The Secretariat also informs the Working Group that more general discussions took place during the meeting of the CEPEJ Bureau concerning the activities related to the Evaluation. The Secretariat mentions the difficulties posed by the existence of four different data collections this year (Evaluation of European judicial systems cycle, collections for the EU Justice Scoreboard, for the Western Balkans Dashboard and for the Eastern Partnership Dashboard) or the presentation of the data’s evolution in the Evaluation report (i.e. the need to include a clearer position of the countries in relation to the European trends presented in part 1 and the evolutions between cycles). The Working Group considers that the latter point should be taken into account when discussing the content of the next Evaluation report.
7. Finally, the Secretariat informs the Working Group that contacts have recently been made with the Council of Europe's Children's Rights Unit, at their request. They would like to obtain certain data through the questionnaire. The Group is in favour of this proposal and asks the Secretariat to continue to be in contact with this unit.
II. PREPARATION OF THE 2020-2022 EVALUATION CYCLE
8. The Secretariat presents the draft of the revised questionnaire for the 2020-2022 Evaluation cycle. The proposed changes take into account the feedback received during the previous meetings (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL meeting and CEPEJ Plenary meeting) and by those professional organisations that hold the observer status with the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL (Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union - CCBE, International Union of Judicial Officers - UIHJ, Council of the Notariats of the European Union - CNEU, European Expertise and Expert Institute – EEEI).
10. The Working Group asks the Secretariat to finalise these documents and to send them to the Group and the CEPEJ National Correspondents, in view of the data collection opening in the CEPEJ-COLLECT system in March 2021.
III. SPECIFIC STUDY OF THE JUDICIAL PROFESSIONALS
11. The Secretariat informs the Working Group that the UIHJ and the EEEI have sent the French version of their specific study based on 2018 data, collected and processed by the CEPEJ. These documents are being translated in English and will soon be given to the Working Group.
12. CNUE has informed the Secretariat that its study will be ready in March. Once received, the Secretariat will share it with the Working Group.
IV. COOPERATION WITH EUROPEAN COMMISSION
13. The Secretariat informs the Working Group about the progress of activities undertaken in cooperation with European Commission (EC), namely the EC Justice Scoreboard, the Dashboard Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership Dashboard.
14. The Secretariat refers that the EC Justice Scoreboard will probably wide its scope during the next data collection. The Secretariat also emphasizes that some of the data provided by the CEPEJ have been included in Country Profiles part of the first Annual Report on the situation of the rule of law in the European Union.
15. The Dashboard Western Balkans data collection is ongoing (the deadline to fill out the questionnaire is on 1 March 2021). The Secretariat finalises the workplan and the calendar for the capacity building activities, which will soon be carried out.
16. The Secretariat informs the Group that the project “Eastern Partnership Justice Dashboard” has started. This will involve the collection and analysis of data on the functioning of judicial systems in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine. The project also involves a phase where capacity-building activities will be developed. The results of the first data collection will be delivered to the European Commission in April 2022.
V. ANY OTHER BUSINESS
17. The next meeting of the Working Group will take place on 7 and 9 April 2021. On 8 April, a meeting with all the CEPEJ National Correspondents will be held.
DRAFT AGENDA /PROJET D’ORDRE DU JOUR
1. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour
Information by the members of the Working Group and the Secretariat / Information des membres du groupe de travail et du Secrétariat
2. 2020 – 2022 evaluation cycle / Cycle d’évaluation 2020 – 2022
Preparation of the new questionnaire and explanatory note
3. Specific Study on the judicial professionals/ Etude spécifique sur les professionnels de la justice
4. Cooperation with European Commission / Coopération avec la Commission Européenne
5. Any other business/ Questions diverses
APPENDIX II
List of participants / liste de participants
MEMBERS / MEMBRES
|
CROATIA / CROATIE |
Ms Martina VRDOLJAK Head of department for statistics, analytic and strategic development of Judiciary, Directorate for organisation of Judiciary, Ministry of justice |
|
GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE |
Ms Simone KREβ Judge, Vice-President of the Tribunal in Cologne |
|
MALTA / MALTE |
Ms Joanne BATTISTINO Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, The Law Courts |
|
SLOVENIA / SLOVENIE |
Mr Jaša VRABEC Head of the Office for Court Management Development, Supreme Court (President of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL / Président du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)
|
|
SPAIN / ESPAGNE |
Mr Juan Fernando ARMENGOT IBORRA Advisor, Directorate General for International Legal Cooperation and Religious Affairs, Ministry of Justice |
|
SWITZERLAND / SUISSE |
Mr Christophe KOLLER Apologised/ Excusé Researcher, Director ESEHA, Centre for counselling and comparative analysis |
SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS / EXPERTS SCIENTIFIQUES
|
GREECE / GRECE |
Ms Victoria MERTIKOPOULOU Advisor, EU and Competition, Regulatory, Compliance, Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm |
|
ITALY / ITALIE |
Ms Raffaella CALO’ Judge, Ministry of Justice |
PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ / PRESIDENT DE LA CEPEJ
|
AZERBAIJAN / AZERBAÏDJAN |
Ramin GARAGURBANLI Apologised/ Excusé Judge, Baku City, Yasamal District court |
SECRETARIAT / SECRETARIAT
Justice and Legal Co-operation Department / Service de la Coopération judiciaire et juridique
DGI – CEPEJ
|
Ms Christel SCHURRER Secretary of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL / Secrétaire du CEPEJ-GT-EVAL |
|
Ms Lidija NAUMOVSKA Statistician/ Statisticienne |
|
Mr Milan NIKOLIC Administrator / Administrateur |
|
Ms Federica VIAPIANA Administrator / Administratrice |
|
Ms Daniela ZOL Statistician / Statisticienne |
|
Ms Guergana LAZAROVA-DECHAUX Legal officer / Juriste |
|
Ms Iulia DRAGOTA Legal officer / Juriste |
|
Ms Annette SATTEL Administration and Networks / Administration et Réseaux |
|
Ms Anna KHROMOVA Assistant / Assistante |