CEPEJ(2019)12

14 November 2019

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE (CEPEJ)

European Day of Justice 2019

Report of events organised in the

Council of Europe member States

1.     Objectives

The European Day of Justice is celebrated every year around 25 October. It is jointly organised by the Council of Europe and the European Commission.

To this end, the member States of the Council of Europe have been invited to organise events to promote the work of the Council of Europe and the European Commission to make justice more accessible and increase citizens' trust in their judicial system.

18 member States have mobilised by organising various events such as free legal aid to citizens on their rights, open doors of courts, notarial chambers, information sessions, the provision of social platforms to ask questions, publications of books, films, etc.

Training and information sessions for justice professionals and students have also been organised across Europe. Competitions for law school students have gathered a high number of students.

2.     Resources, support and visibility by the Council of Europe and the European Commission

·         The European Day of Justice was also an opportunity for the Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, Mr Christos Giakoumopoulos, to recall the essential criteria for a quality justice system with respect for fundamental rights: the video interview is available on the CEPEJ website.

Ø  Link to the CEPEJ special file “European Day of Justice”: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cepej/events/european-day-of-justice

3.     Summary

As in the 2018 edition of the European Day of Justice, the Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE) made a significant contribution by organising the third edition of the open days of the “Notaries of Europe” which took place around the European day of Justice (25 October 2019).

In total, 36 events have been organised throughout 18 different countries. A statistical overview of the events organised by country since 2003 appears in Appendix I.

a)     Extent

In some countries, the events have been organised throughout the whole country (example: Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia).

b)    Duration

Some events lasted a whole week (example: the Administration of Justice Week in Estonia: it was a campaign week directed at a wider audience, during which the court system and the administration of justice were brought closer to the people; in the Netherlands, from the 21st to the 26th of October, the Digital Open Days at AlleAmsterdamse Akten.nl were organised).

c)     Commitment

High level personalitieshave been engaged in the celebration of this day, such as representatives of ministries and courts, prominent lecturers and lawyers.

d)    Public

The public concerned by the events have been citizens, justice professionals, law students, high school students and politicians.

e)     Media

The events have been published on different media and/or information platforms: newspapers, radio stations, websites, hotlines, TV channels, social media (example: during the Open days in Slovenia there has been the appearance of notaries in media and live TV broadcast, where they have responded to the questions of the audience regarding the issues of civil law; in Spain an informative campaign in media, internet and twitter has been launched).

f)     Thematics

The following thematics have been in the light of this year’s European day of justice:

Ø  Citizens’ rights:

Some of the events have been organised to provide free legal aid by lawyers (for example in Romania free legal aid has been provided on a variety of topics: inheritance, family law, etc; in the Slovak Republic free legal consultations have been provided via email; in Azerbaijan free legal aid to low-income people with a lower level of legal awareness was provided).

The following subjects have been proposed:

-          questions of real estate;

-          lasting powers of attorney, advanced decisions on medical treatment and succession law;

-          courts open days;

-          citizens’ rights in the field of civil law, succession law, contract law and family law.

-          Free legal advice from justice professionals for citizen

-          open days in the offices of notaries;

-          Competitions for students about judicial performances;

-          national events to describe and explain the constitution to citizens and students;

-          informative campaigns in media, internet and twitter;

-          possibility to obtain the negative criminal record certificates electronically;

-          digital open days;

-          presentation of notarial activities in universities;  

Ø  Functioning of the judicial system:

-          “Alternative Dispute Resolution - the Cooperation between the Public Sector and Judiciary with the Economic Sector”;

-          information sessions for the public, the lawyers and the press concerning our new and innovative welcome of citizens and lawyers in the palace of justice;

-          judicial and official cooperation between Germany and the partner country, the Czech Republic;

-          prevention of Sexual and Gender-based Harassment in judicial institutions;

-          "Gender-based violence: Challenges and progress in Bosnia-Herzegovina";

-          “Bringing Justice Closer to European Citizens”;

-          the role of judges in mediation;

-          the role and importance of human rights respect and protection, the European Day of Justice, the CEPEJ’s role on increase of justice effectiveness;

-          theatrical performance portraying the judicial process with the participation of judges, Bar Association members and volunteers;

-          “Does Slovenian succession law need to be reformed?”;

-          Administration of Justice Week;

-          Conference "Justice in Europe";

-          Artificial Intelligence and the Criminal Justice System.

The detailed list of events is available on the CEPEJ website; www.coe.int/cepej.

Short overview of the list of events:

Austria

·                4 October 2019, Linz: Real estate day / Immobilientag: discussion panels with representatives of the local government, architects and real estate experts from different sectors.

Azerbaijan

·                25 October 2019, Courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan: “Open Door” Day: free legal aid, interviews with citizens on the quality of the judicial system and their expectations on innovations in courts, visitors were also educated on the Human Rights protection and the European Day of Justice, talks and explanations were provided to courts staff on mechanisms of respect of human rights based on national and international experience and reforms conducted in the country since its independence;

·                25 October 2019, Baku Court of Appeal: seminar on the role and importance of human rights respect and protection, the European Day of Justice, especially CEPEJ’s role on increase of justice effectiveness;

·                25 October 2019, Law Faculty of the Baku State University: theatrical performance portraying the judicial process with the participation of judges, Bar Association members and volunteers;

·                25 October 2019: free legal aid to low-income people with a lower level of legal awareness provided by the law officers-members of Bar Association;

·                23 October 2019, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics: lecture given by the CEPEJ President Ramin Gurbanov to students of the 4th year of the Faculty of Economics and Law with specialization of jurisprudence.

Belgium

·                24 - 25 October 2019, Antwerp: Information sessions for the public, the lawyers and the press concerning our new and innovative welcome of citizens and lawyers in the palace of justice.

·                22 October 2019, House of Notaries of all Francophone Provinces: General Conferences 'Estate Planning' / Infosessie ‘Ik plan mijn successie’.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

·                31 October 2019, at the Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik: Court open Day: Free access to citizens and organized tours of elementary school, high school and law school students; at Hotel “Central” Vitez: Round Table: "Gender-based violence: Challenges and progress in B&H".

Croatia

·                30 October 2019, Offices of notaries: Open Doors Day in the offices of the notaries.

·                23 - 24 October 2019, Zagreb: 10th International conference “Alternative Dispute Resolution - the Cooperation between the Public Sector and Judiciary with the Economic Sector” (MARS conference).

Czech Republic

·                24 October 2019: Open days of the chambers of notaries in the Czech Republic.

Estonia

·                30 September - 4 October 2019, all over Estonia: Administration of Justice Week.

·                30 October 2019, Notaries' offices: Notaries of Estonia Open Days as a part of Notaries of Europe Open Days.

France

·                25 October 2019, Tribunal de Grande Instance de Strasbourg : Conference "Justice in Europe".

Germany

·                29 October 2019, Leipzig: 4th edition of the Open Days of the European Notariat.

·                9 October 2019, Dresden: European Day of Justice in Germany: Judicial and official cooperation between Germany and the partner country, the Czech Republic.

·                30 September 2019, Zwickau: 4th edition of the Open Days of the European Notariat.

·                23 September 2019, Dresden: 4th edition of the Open Days of the European Notariat.

Italy

·                23 October 2019,  "Ghione" Theatre, Rome: "This Constitution is a show": national event held in Rome at the Ghione Theater for an audience of about 400 students.

·                24 - 25 October 2019, Rome: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Criminal Justice System.

The Netherlands

·                21 - 26 October 2019, AlleAmsterdam Akten.nl: Digital Open Days at AlleAmsterdamse Akten.nl / Digitale Open Dagen bij AlleAmsterdamse Akten.nl.

Norway

·         25 October 2019, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo: Seminar “The role of judges in mediation”.

Poland

·                30 November 2019 in 28 cities in Poland (incl. Varsaw):  Honestly and securely. It is worth taking care of your fortune – talk about it with a notary / Uczciwie i bezpiecznie. Warto dbać o swój majątek – porozmawiaj o tym z notariuszem.

·                25 - 26 October 2019, Faculty of Law and Administration / Gdańsk University: Bringing Justice Closer to European Citizens.

Romania

·                25 October 2019,Bucharest, Alba Iulia, Bacau, Brasov, Cluj, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Oradea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Suceava, Targu Mures, Timisoara: Open days of the National Union of public notaries of Romania and Notarial offices.

Republic of Moldova

·                25 October 2019, General Prosecutor's Office, Chisinau: Meeting with the National Institute of Justice students.

·                16,18, 23, 25 October 2019, Balti Court of Appeal (Balti), Chisinau first instance Court (Chisinau), Comrat first instance Court (Comrat): Doors Open Days.

·                8 - 9 October 2019, Balti Court of Appeal: Lessons on court administration for high school students.

Slovak Republic

·                28 - 31 October 2019, P.J. Safarik University in Kosice, Trnava University in Trnava: presentation of notarial activities in the universities.

·                22 - 24 October 2019, via email: free legal consultations for the citizens.

·                27 September 2019, Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic: Open day at the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic.  

Slovenia

·         25 October 2019: Possibility to obtain the negative criminal record certificates electronically.

·                25 October 2019, All notaries’ offices of Slovenia: Open days.

·                24 October 2019, Ljubljana: “Does Slovenian succession law need to be reformed?”: conference attended by distinguished lawyers (judges, professors, notaries, lawyers and other legal professions) from the homeland and abroad.

Spain

·                25 October 2019, Media, internet and twitter: notaries and businessmen on European Justice Day: Informative campaign in media, internet and twitter.

4.     Conclusions

Since the creation of the European Day of Justice by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, among the countries that have been organising events by year Germany has shown to be the most dynamic country (15 events since the beginning, which means every year except in 2005), followed by Italy (14), by Bosnia and Herzegovina (12) and Slovenia (11).

Since 2016, the European Day of Justice has gained a new dynamic among the engagement of countries in the organisation of events to bring justice closer to citizens.

APPENDIX I : EDJ participation rate since its creation (2003)

Country

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

TOTAL since 2003

Armenia

1

1

2

Austria

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

9

Azerbaijan

1

1

1

1

4

Belgium

1

1

1

1

1

5

Bosnia & Herzegovina

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

13

Croatia

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

9

Cyprus

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

7

Czech Republic

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

7

Estonia

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

9

Finland

1

1

2

North of Macedonia

1

1

1

1

1

5

France

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

10

Germany

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

16

Georgia

0

Greece

1

1

1

3

Hungary

1

1

1

1

4

Ireland

1

1

2

Italy

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

15

Latvia

1

1

1

3

Lithuania

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

8

Luxembourg

1

1

Malta

1

1

1

1

1

1

6

Norway

1

1

1

3

Republic of Moldova

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

7

The Netherlands

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

7

Poland

1

1

1

1

1

1

6

Portugal

1

1

1

1

1

5

Romania

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

9

Serbia

1

1

1

1

1

5

Slovenia

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

12

Slovakia

1

1

1

1

4

Spain

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

8

Sweden

1

1

Switzerland

1

1

Turkey

1

1

Ukraine

1

1

2

United Kingdom

1

1

1

1

1

5

TOTAL COUNTRIES

8

6

5

9

9

12

15

15

17

11

14

13

10

19

18

17

18