Strasbourg, 29 May 2020                                                                                      

CEPEJ-SATURN(2020)4

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

Working GROUP ON JUDICIAL TIME MANAGEMENT

(CEPEJ-SATURN)

MEETING REPORT

Prepared by the Secretariat

Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law

The 27^th meeting of the CEPEJ-SATURN, planned on 10 June 2020 in Strasbourg, had been canceled due to the COVID – 19 pandemic. It was partially replaced by the meeting held on 18 May 2020 by videoconference with English/French simultaneous interpretation. The working group reached the following conclusions.

The CEPEJ-SATURN:

1. Develop a tool helping to implement a case-weighting system

·         agreed to submit the report on the case weighting in judicial systems to the CEPEJ with a view to its adoption by written procedure which will take place in the second half of June 2020. The working group highly valued the work on the report done by the experts - Shanee BENKIN (Israel) and Marco FABRI (Italy).

·         instructed the experts to proceed with a final quality check and verify the accuracy of the information with the participating states. The key role of judges in the process of case-weighting should be further strengthened in the report. The deadline for the submission of the final report to the Secretariat is June 3, 2020.

·         envisaged to carry out at a later stage further work on recommendations in chapter 6 with a view to producing guidelines for the organisation of the case weighting system.

·         recommended to give publicity to the report and present its findings to the public in a user-friendly manner; and agreed to develop a video clip that could be followed by a conference. A webinar could be envisaged in case of impossibility of organising a conference.

2. Analyse the case-flows, backlogs and timeframes of judicial proceedings and set up dashboards

·         agreed to continue the work on the dashboard template for judicial proceedings. The working group thanked the experts Shanee BENKIN (Israel) and Martin MIKUS (Slovakia) for submitting the joint document on the dashboard template.

·         commented on the expert document; these included the need for terminology to be harmonised with the CEPEJ glossary, clarification of the target audience and agreement on indicators included in the dashboard template. The final document should also provide examples of dashboards, as highlighted in the first draft document submitted on this subject. It was highlighted that dashboards are designed to improve the quality and efficiency.

·         encouraged the members of the working group to actively participate in the process and provide comments to the experts in the collaborative space.

·         invited the experts to review the document and prepare the draft detailed structure of the template. The deadline for its submission to the Secretariat is July 13, 2020.

3. Managing judicial time regulations for criminal cases in ECHR article 5 and 6

·         agreed to propose to the CEPEJ (via its Bureau) to publish the report prepared by the expert Jon T. JOHNSEN together with the document prepared by the Secretariat on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights pertaining to the requirement for reasonable time of proceedings in the ambit of article 5 ECHR. The working group thanked Jon T. JOHNSEN for the high-quality work done on the study.  

Due to time constraints, the other items of the draft agenda, which are part of the terms of reference for 2020 – 2021 of the CEPEJ-SATURN working group, were not discussed in detail. Nevertheless, it is suggested that the work on these items continues in accordance with the following suggestions.

4. Develop a tool enabling to better analyse the various timeframes according to the various steps of the procedure

·         The working group members may instruct the Secretariat to contact an expert who will start working on a first document containing an outline and points for discussion of a detailed description of the different parts of the procedure in order to better detect the delays in judicial proceedings. The expert could be invited to the meeting of the working group to be held in October 2020 to present the first findings. The discussion paper on the role of parties and practitioners in avoiding or reducing delay in disposal of court proceedings should be taken into account in this work. The working group is kindly invited to provide the expert with specific directions as to the assignment beforehand.    

5. Develop rules for actors of justice as regards procedural timeframes

·         In order to follow up on the work already done by the experts – Ivana BORZOVA (Czech Republic) and Noel RUBOTHAM (Ireland), and not to limit the work to the lawyers, it may be envisaged to organise consultations with all relevant professional groups (e.g. lawyers, prosecutors, judges, court clerks, etc.) to gather additional information to better address their needs. Experts could be appointed to lead the discussions and revise the existing document accordingly. In order to ensure a multidisciplinary approach, it is proposed to appoint experts representing different professions, judges, lawyers, court clerks, respectively. Alternatively, it could be envisaged to produce the guidelines for lawyers similarly to those produced by SATURN for judges, prosecutors and court managers.

6. Promote and assess the implementation in the member States of the SATURN Guidelines for judicial time management and update the Guidelines as needed

·         In the light of the discussion at the 26^th meeting held in October 2019, the CEPEJ-SATURN decided to find voluntary courts to test, under the expert’s guidance, the Guidelines for judicial time management in courts. Newly formed clusters of pilot courts were created. The working group is kindly invited to share their views on whether and what kind of follow-up should be given to this decision, including on the pertinence and the timeliness of its implementation.

The members of the working group are kindly invited to express their views in the collaborative space on the follow-up to be given to all the above items before 15 June 2020.

APPENDIX I : Agenda

1.       Opening of the meeting

2.      Information by the members of the Working Group and the Secretariat

3.      Future activities of the CEPEJ-SATURN, in accordance with its terms of reference for 2020-2021

a.     Develop a tool helping to implement a case-weighting system

                  

Experts in charge of this item:  

Shanee Benkin (Israel) and Marco Fabri (Italy)

b.    Analyse the case-flows, backlogs and timeframes of judicial proceedings and set up dashboards

Proposal to be discussed by the Working Group: preparation of a dashboard template (with options) to be used by various stakeholders (courts, judicial bodies, etc.)

Experts in charge of this item:  

Shanee Benkin (Israel)and Martin Mikus (Slovak Republic)

c.     Managing judicial time regulations for criminal cases in ECvHR article 5 and 6

Discussion with Jon T. Johnsen (Norway) on its draft document

4.       Other items[1]

a.     Develop a tool enabling to better analyse the various timeframes according to the various steps of the procedure

Proposal to be discussed by the Working Group: preparation of a detailed description of the different parts of the procedure in order to better detect the delays

b.    Develop rules for actors of justice as regards procedural timeframes

Discussion on a future tool containing rules for actors of justice as regards procedural timeframes

c.     Promote and assess the implementation in the member States of the SATURN Guidelines for judicial time management and update the Guidelines as needed

Discussion on further work to test the SATURN Guidelines in voluntary courts in the light of the decision taken at the 26the meeting of the CEPEJ – SATURN

Appendix II: List of participants

MEMBERS / MEMBRES

Ivana BORZOVÁ, Head of Department of Civil Supervision, Ministry of Justice, Vysehradská 16, 128 10 PRAGUE 2, CZECH REPUBLIC

Ivan CRNČEC, Assistant Minister of Justice, Ulica grada Vukovara 49, 10 000 ZAGREB, CROATIA

Francesco DEPASQUALE, Magistrate, Legal Advisor to the Director General, Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, 184 St Lucia Street, VALLETTA 1189, MALTA

Vassilis ANDROULAKIS, Judge at the Council of State, ATHENS, GREECE

Giacomo OBERTO, Magistrat, Tribunal de Grande Instance, via San Francesco d'Assisi 14, 10122 TURIN, ITALIE (President of SATURN / Président du SATURN)

Xavier RONSIN, Premier président de la cour d'appel de Rennes, France

***

PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ /PRESIDENT DE LA CEPEJ

Ramin GURBANOV, Judge, Baku City Yasamal District Court, Co-ordinator of Judicial Modernisation Project, BAKU

***

Scientific ExpertS / Experts scientifiques

Shanee BENKIN, Scientific expert, Moshav Ein Iron 039, HADERA, ISRAEL

Marco FABRI, Director, Research Institute on Judicial Systems, National Research Council (IRSIG-CNR), Via Zamboni 26, 40126 BOLOGNA, ITALY

Jon T. JOHNSEN, Professor in Law, Faculty of law, University of Oslo, Postboks 6706, St. Olavs plass, 0130 OSLO, Norway

Martin MIKUŠ, Analytical Centre, Ministry of Justice, BRATISLAVA, SLOVAK REPUBLIC

***

INVITED DELEGATIONs / DELEGATIONS INVITEES

GEORGIA / GEORGIE

Aleksandre TSULADZE, Judge, Supreme Court Justice

Tamar PAPASHVILI, Head of international cooperation section of the HCoJ

LATVIA / LETTONIE

Adrija KASAKOVSKA, Judge, Deputy President of Zemgale District Court, RIGA

 

Anna SKRJABINA, Representative of Court Administration of Latvia, RIGA

SLOVAK REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUIE

Zuzana SCHURER PIOVARČIOVÁ, Adviser of the Analytical Unit, Ministry of Justice, BRATISLAVA

Peter SULEK, Adviser of the Analytical Unit, Ministry of Justice, BRATISLAVA

 

***

COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

SECRETARIAT

Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) 

Direction générale droits de l’Homme et Etat de droit (DGI)

E-mail : [email protected]

Hanne JUNCHER, Head of the Justice and Legal Co-operation Department / Service de la coopération 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, Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 44 55, e-mail: muriel.dé[email protected]

Eva KONECNA, Secretary of the Group CEPEJ-SATURN / Secrétaire du groupe CEPEJ-SATURN, Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 23 07, e-mail: e[email protected]

Milan NIKOLIC, Co-Secretary of the Group CEPEJ-SATURN / Co-Secrétaire du groupe CEPEJ-SATURN, Tel : +33(0) 88 41 22 49, e-mail : [email protected]

Guergana LAZAROVA-DECHAUX, Legal officer / Juriste, Tel: +33 (0)3 90 21 62 11, e-mail: [email protected]

Mihaela CASTRUBIN, Trainee/Stagiaire, e-mail [email protected]

Annette SATTEL, Administration and Networks / Administration et Réseaux, Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, e-mail: [email protected]

Ioana VOELKEL, Assistant/Assistante, Secretariat of the CEPEJ / Secrétariat de la CEPEJ, Tel : +33 (0)3 90 21 42 94, e-mail: [email protected]

INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES

Nicolas GUITTONNEAU

Isabelle MARCHINI