Strasbourg, 9 February 2022                                                                                     CEPEJ-GT-EVAL(2022)1

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

WORKING GROUP ON THE EVALUATION OF JUDICIAL SYSTEMS

(CEPEJ-GT-EVAL)

42nd meeting

31 January 2022

MEETING REPORT

Document prepared by the Secretariat

Directorate General I - Human Rights and the 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 42^nd meeting on 31 January 2022, under the chairmanship of Jaša Vrabec (Slovenia). Due to the sanitary situation, the meeting was ensured through video conference.

2.     The agenda and the list of participants of the meeting can be found respectively in Annexes I and II to this Report.

II.          INFORMATION FOR WORKING GROUP MEMBERS AND THE SECRETARIAT

3.     The Secretariat welcomes all participants to the meeting of the Working Group in its new composition as decided by the Bureau of the CEPEJ at its ad hoc meeting on 16 December 2021. The Bureau of the CEPEJ suggested, on this occasion, to invite the substitute members and the scientific experts to the first meeting of the group for the 2022-2023 mandate. A quick tour de table allows all the participants to introduce themselves.

4.     The Secretariat also presents to the Working Group the mandate of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL as adopted at the last plenary meeting of the CEPEJ on 8-9 December 2021.

III.      DESIGNATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE CEPEJ-GT-EVAL  

5.     Mr. Jasa Vrabec has been renewed in his mandate as President of the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL.

IV.       2022 EVALUATION CYCLE (2020 DATA)

a)      State of data collection and quality control

6.     The Secretariat presents the state of data collection for the current cycle and notes that while most of the participating countries have completed the data collection, 6 States are still in this process.

7.     The quality control, which started with the data of the EU countries participating in the CEPEJ study for the Justice Scoreboard, is ongoing. As decided at the last meeting of the Working Group in October 2021, this quality control is carried out in a very thorough way, especially concerning questions for which data are not available.

8.     The Secretariat underlines contacts with most of the national correspondents are very good and regular and that many bilateral meetings were organised in videoconferencing or in person, to quickly clarify certain problematic points. Particular attention was paid to supporting national correspondents newly appointed for this cycle.

b)    Evaluation scheme questions

9.     A discussion takes place between the members of the group concerning the number of questions in the Evaluation scheme and the need to allow national correspondents to give their feedback on the difficulties of the questionnaire. The possibility of a short questionnaire for national correspondents on this point or a workshop at the next national correspondents' meeting is considered.

10.  The Secretariat highlights that the quality control has shown that some questions, and in particular some of the new questions introduced for this cycle, rose difficulties for the national correspondents (e.g. questions relating to asylum seekers cases and those concerning minors). The Secretariat also recalls the need, mentioned in the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL mandate, to harmonise the four ongoing data collections. The members of the Group reject the idea of setting up two types of questionnaires, one for small countries and one for the biggest ones and agree on discussing further the changes to be made to the questionnaire for the next cycle at the meeting to be held in autumn 2022. Their comments and proposals for possible changes to the questionnaire can be sent to the Secretariat before the latter meeting. 

11.  Moreover, the idea of creating a discussion forum or a tool, managed by the CEPEJ Secretariat, allowing national correspondents to share their experiences and difficulties on certain issues was raised. The Working Group instructs the Secretariat to propose solutions/tools with regard to this possibility. 

12.  Finally, the Group expresses its wish to have more information on the collection methods implemented in the states and agrees that this topic could also be discussed at the next meeting of the CEPEJ national correspondents with a view to exchanging good practices.

c)     Structure of the Report

13.  The Secretariat specifies that the structure of the upcoming report was presented during the CEPEJ plenary meeting of December 2021, at the end of which the CEPEJ entrusted the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL with the preparation of the evaluation report on judicial systems with a view to its adoption at the 38^th CEPEJ plenary meeting to be held in June 2022 and its publication in autumn 2022.

First Part – Analysis and trends

14.  The first part of the report will be composed of chapters presenting European trends, data analysis and, where possible, good practices developed by the States. The emphasis should be on clearer answers to the questions structuring the different chapters. Overly theoretical developments or descriptions of tables should be avoided except for particular or extreme situations which should be explained based on comments provided by the states. Tables with the main raw data could be added at the beginning of each chapter, rather than in a separate document or as an annex to the report.

15.  The chapters of the previous report (2020 cycle, 2018 data) can be used as a basis for most of the chapters for this cycle. However, the introduction of new data stemming from new or modified questions for this cycle (e.g. concerning court organisation or court users), the modification of the index used for ICT or the choices to approach certain themes (development of the part concerning ethics or the efficiency of the second and third instances, introduction of the training of judges/prosecutors, the evaluation of the performance of courts and prosecution services) will have to be taken into account by the experts who will draft the different chapters. The members of the Working Group decide not to discuss the precise content of the chapters but undertook to forward any comments or suggestions in this respect to the Secretariat, by electronic means.

16.  Concerning the chapter dedicated to ICT, the Secretariat presents the report prepared by two experts of the CEPEJ-GT-CYBERJUST suggesting modifications of the ICT index used in the analyses of the report and the country profiles. The group entrusts the Secretariat with the task of assessing together with the expert in charge of drafting this chapter, how these modifications could be implemented.

17.  The group also instructs the Secretariat to entrust these same experts with an analysis of the ICT questions of the evaluation questionnaire and to propose modifications and improvements that could be considered by the CEPEJ-GT-EVAL in view of the revision of the questionnaire for the 2024 cycle (2022 data).

18.  The Secretariat raised the possibility of restructuring the different chapters, for example grouping in a chapter dealing with access to justice, developments on legal aid, court users, court organisation and ICT. It was agreed to decide on the organisation of the different chapters during the next ad hoc meeting, once the draft chapters had been received.

19.  The Group also discusses how the particularity of the 2020 data, a period of health crisis, should be addressed in the report chapters. It is appropriate not to dedicate a specific chapter of the report to this issue but to take it into account, where relevant and where it has had an impact in the different chapters of the report. A specific paragraph could be added in the introduction as a disclaimer.

20.  Besides, Simone Kress (Germany) considers that a special report on the challenges and reactions of the various countries to the pandemic situation would be very interesting and would make it possible to find better solutions for the future. Beyond the technical aspect of the development of ICT or the impact on the performance of courts, the question of whether certain fundamental rights or guarantees, such as the independence of judges, are at stake, could be raised. However, this would imply asking new questions to the national correspondents.

Second Part - country profiles

21.  The prototype of country profiles prepared at the last meeting of the Group was presented at the CEPEJ plenary meeting in December 2021. Several delegations expressed their support for the developments foreseen in respect of this prototype and in particular for the inclusion for the first time of analyses highlighting the specificities of the country concerned.

22.  The Group subsequently discusses the content of the country profiles (representation of data on legal aid and prosecution services activities, graphic representation of the gender balance, namely colours used).

23.  Regarding the analyses, the Secretariat informs the Group that after the quality control, a synthesis for these analyses is prepared for each country. In addition, the experts responsible for drafting the chapters will also contribute to these analyses by sending the Secretariat the essential elements to be mentioned for each country. The Secretariat will then combine these elements. The Group supports this process but stresses that the analyses should be carried out cautiously, especially when it comes to reforms. Reforms that are only being foreseen should be excluded from the analysis.

24.  It was also agreed that a methodological section should be developed in order to provide keys to reading and understanding country profiles. The Group would also like to see references to the question numbers of the questionnaire, which could be done in this introductory methodological section so as not to overload each country profile.   

25.  Following these discussions, the Group instructs the Secretariat to prepare a new version for its next meeting.

Third Part - CEPEJ-STAT

26.  The updating of CEPEJ-STAT with the 2020 data as well as the modification of the ICT Dashboard following the proposed changes of the ICT index, and the introduction of a new Dashboard for professionals are the main developments in this part of the report for the current cycle. These two Dashboards will be presented in more detail at the next Working Group meeting. Terminology changes concerning the Efficiency Dashboard were also discussed.

 Specific studies on legal professions

27.  The International Union of Judicial Officers and Bailiffs (UIHJ), the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) and the European Institute of Expertise and Experts (EEEI) renew their willingness to prepare specific studies on their respective professions, on the basis of the CEPEJ data (2020), as a complement to the evaluation report on judicial systems. In order not to delay the preparation and publication of these studies, it is agreed to transmit to the CNUE, the UIHJ and the EEEI the data concerning the professions they represent in mid-July 2022.

d)    Report calendar

28.  The Secretariat presents a detailed calendar for the preparation of the report, the main elements of which are:

·         the transmission of two sets of data to the experts in charge of drafting the report – the first on 1 March and the second at the end of April; a third transmission could be envisaged if necessary; 

·         the experts in charge of the drafting will have to provide the Secretariat with a first version of the chapters by 25 March and a final version by 1 May;

·         For each chapter, online meetings will be organised between the expert, a member of the Working Group overseeing the chapter concerned and the Secretariat in April;

·         An ad hoc Working Group meeting will be held in early April to guide the experts in finalising the chapters;

·         the experts will send their contributions to the country profiles to the Secretariat by 1 May;

·         the Secretariat will finalise the country profiles and translate the draft report which will be sent to the CEPEJ members two weeks before the CEPEJ plenary meeting scheduled for 27-28 June 2022;

·         the report will be published in autumn 2022.

e)     Experts in charge of the drafting and supervision of the chapters by the Working Group

29.  The Secretariat indicates that meetings with the experts were held in December in order to present the work expected for this cycle, the CEPEJ methodology, as well as the timetable for the preparation. The Group also instructs the Secretariat to organise a meeting, if possible, at the end of February in order to meet the experts and present the Group's expectations.

30.  After discussion, the Group also asks the Secretariat to send a proposal for the supervision of the different chapters by a member of the Group. The scientific experts also expressed their availability to participate in the preparation of the report.

f)      Peer Review

31.  The peer review process could not be implemented recently due to the sanitary situation. However, the Secretariat stresses the need to organise some missions of this type as soon as possible. The Group instructs the Secretariat to identify the countries that could be involved and to establish the necessary contacts for the organisation of such missions.

V.          COOPERATION  WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

32.  The Secretariat informs the working Group on the progress of the cooperation activities with the European Commission (EC), in particular the CEPEJ study for the EU Justice Scoreboard, the Western Balkans Dashboard and the Justice Dashboard Eap concerning Eastern Partnership countries.

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

33.  The CEPEJ study for the EU Justice Scoreboard (2020 data), including for the first time the criminal law field, was submitted to the European Commission on 10 December, for the first part composed of 280 comparative tables, and on 19 January, for the second part composed of country profiles.

34.  Contacts between the Secretariat and the European Commission (DG-JUST) will be taken soon in order to prepare the next questionnaire and to open the data collection 2021.

b.     Western Balkans Dashboard

35.  The third cycle of data collection (2021 data) in the frame of the Western Balkans Dashboard is underway and has the particularity of being conducted in parallel with the CEPEJ evaluation exercise but for a different reference year. Some difficulties are underlined, such as the very recent appointment of new correspondents for some of the project's beneficiaries and the difficulty of training them remotely and quickly, given the strict deadlines of the project. Nevertheless, support activities are put in place.

36.  In addition, discussions between the Secretariat and the European Commission (DG-NEAR) to improve the report and the country profiles delivered under the project, as well as the publication of the report, take place regularly.

c.     Dashboard - EasternPartnership countries

37.  The Secretariat informs the Working Group about the progress of this project and in particular about the process of the first data collection and the first quality check. Numerous data collection support activities are being organised, always in connection with the developments of the CEPEJ evaluation cycle. Discussions are ongoing with the European Commission (DG-NEAR) in order to define the content of the report.

The first part of the report should be provided to the European Commission on 1 April 2022, the second part on 1 June 2022.

38.  The Secretariat emphasises the close links between the four data collection and quality control activities, which require close coordination.

VI.         TRAINING ON CEPEJ EVALUATION TOOLS

39.  The President presents to the Working Group elements for a training module on the CEPEJ's evaluation activity to be developed in the framework of a training course on the CEPEJ on the Council of Europe's "HELP" platform. 

40.  The Group underlines that all the elements concerning the evaluation activity of the CEPEJ are mentioned and that a dynamic presentation structured in the form of training will certainly make it possible to highlight the activities of the Working Group.

VII.        Next meetings of the Group and the CEPEJ national correspondents

41.  The Group agrees to meet on 8 April (ad hoc meeting) in view of the preparation of the report and next autumn in view of the preparation of the 2024 cycle (2022 data). This meeting, the date of which is to be confirmed, will be fixed according to the date of publication of the report and that of the CEPEJ plenary meeting in December.

42.  To better involve the CEPEJ national correspondents in the whole process, and not only in the collection and quality control of the data, it was agreed to fix the date of the plenary meeting of the national correspondents after the publication of the report in order to present it to them. Different workshops could also be organised on this occasion in order to develop the sharing of experiences between national correspondents.

Appendix I / Annexe I

AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR

Appendix II / Annexe 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
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 Researcher, Director ESEHA, Centre for counselling and comparative analysis

DEPUTY MEMBERS / MEMBRES SUPPLEANTS

TURKEY / TURQUIE	Mr Seçkin KOÇER Rapporteur Judge, Ministry of Justice, Ankara, TURKEY
POLAND / POLOGNE	Ms Agnieszka STANKIEWICZ Head of the Strategy Cooperation Unit, Ministry of Justice, POLAND

                                                                                                                                                               

SCIENTIFIC EXPERTS / EXPERTS SCIENTIFIQUES

GREECE / GRECE	Ms Victoria MERTIKOPOULOU Advisor, EU and Competition, Regulatory, Compliance, Kyriakides Georgopoulos Law Firm
FRANCE / FRANCE	Ms Sophie VAN PUYVELDE Adjointe au sous-directeur de la statistique et des études, Service de l’expertise et de la modernisation, Secrétariat général du ministère de la justice, France

PARTICIPANTS / PARTICIPANTS

COUNCIL OF THE BARS AND LAW SOCIETIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION / CONSEIL DES BARREAUX EUROPEENS (CCBE)	Ms Stéphanie ALVES-SCHULD Conseiller juridique senior
COUNCIL OF THE NOTARIATS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION / CONSEIL DES NOTARIATS DE L’UNION EUROPEENNE (CNUE)	Mr Geertjan SARNEEL Meijling & Sarneel Notarissen en Adviseurs Apologised/Excusé Ms Susanne KRAEMER Legal adviser Apologised/Excusée
EUROPEAN EXPERTISE AND EXPERT INSTITUTE / INSTITUT EUROPEEN DE L’EXPERTISE ET DE L’EXPERT (EEEI)	Mr Alain NUEE Président du comité d'Orientation Ms Claude VALLET Magistrat honoraire, ancien membre des Chambres de recours de l´Office européen des Brevets Mr Eric PARIZE Expert Consultant en système d'information
INTERNATIONAL UNION OF BAILIFFS / UNION INTERNATIONALE DES HUISSIERS DE JUSTICE ET OFFICIERS JUDICIAIRES (UIHJ)	Mr Patrick GIELEN Huissier de justice
DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION TO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE / DÉLÉGATION DE L'UNION EUROPÉENNE AU CONSEIL DE L'EUROPE	Ms Aurelia Beiküfner Legal Affairs Trainee

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 Statistic coordinator/ Coordinatrice des statistiques

Mr Milan NIKOLIC Administrator / Administrateur

Ms Guergana LAZAROVA-DECHAUX Legal officer / Juriste

Ms Iulia DRAGOTA Legal officer / Juriste

Ms Federica VIAPIANA Project manager (Dashboard Western Balkans) / Chef de projet (Tableau de bord des Balkans Occidentaux)

Ms Daniela ZOL Statistician (Dashboard Western Balkans) / Statisticienne (Tableau de bord des Balkans Occidentaux)

Ms Domitille GAUTIER DE CHARNACE Project manager (Dashboard Eastern Partnership) / Chef de projet (Tableau de bord du partenariat oriental)

Ms Oxana GUTU Project manager (Dashboard Eastern Partnership) / Chef de projet (Tableau de bord du partenariat oriental)

Mr Tony VILELA Statistician (Dashboard Eastern Partnership) / Statisticien (Tableau de bord du partenariat oriental)

Ms Tamar KATSITADZE Assistant (Dashboard Eastern Partnership) / Assistante (Tableau de bord du partenariat oriental)

Ms Annette SATTEL Administration and Networks / Administration et Réseaux

Ms Anna KHROMOVA Assistant / Assistante