WORKING GROUP OF THE
CONSULTATIVE COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JUDGES
(CCJE-GT)
Report of the 37th meeting
Saverne, 19 – 21 June 2019
Document prepared by the Secretariat
Directorate General I - Human Rights and Rule of Law
I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Working Group of the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE-GT) held its 37th meeting in Saverne from 19 to 21 June 2019. The meeting was chaired by Ms Nina BETETTO (Slovenia), Vice-President of the CCJE.
2. The agenda and the list of participants are appended to this report (Appendices I and II respectively).
II. COMMUNICATION BY THE PRESIDENT, MEMBERS OF THE BUREAU AND WORKING GROUP OF THE CCJE
3. Mr Duro SESSA (Croatia), President of the CCJE, opened the meeting by highlighting the forthcoming celebration of the 20th anniversary of the CCJE, and that the Bureau had decided to invite the President of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to the CCJE plenary meeting in November 2019 in Strasbourg, and to have an exchange of opinions on the case law of the ECtHR as regards the situation of judges and their independence, as well as the contribution of the CCJE to the work and reflections of the ECtHR. The President underlined that the CCJE Opinions were being increasingly quoted in the judgments of the ECtHR, as well as in the judgments of national courts in member States, and in the reports and documents of the Council of Europe bodies, most notably of the Venice Commission.
4. The members of the Working Group fully welcomed this decision of the Bureau noting that it would indeed be an excellent opportunity to exchange opinions and to discuss the ECtHR case law and the standards developed by the CCJE.
5. The President went on by recalling that for preparing the CCJE Opinion in 2020, the topic of the role of judicial associations in upholding judicial independence was previously discussed, and suggested to discuss this topic during the meeting of the Working Group and, in the case of a positive decision, present it for final discussion and adoption during the plenary meeting in November 2019.
6. As a result of discussion, the members of the Working Group agreed with this proposal and the timeliness of such topic for the CCJE Opinion in 2020, and decided to present it during the plenary meeting.
7. The President also mentioned his visit to Warsaw to a workshop organised on 25 March 2019 by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights on the situation of the judiciary in Poland. He presented to the participants the extensive work carried out by the CCJE on negative developments in Poland as regards the independence of the judiciary.
8. The Vice-President referred to her participation, in February 2019, in a Rule of Law Conference organised in Tampere within the framework of the Finnish chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe where she emphasised the development of the CCJE standards and their application both at international and national level.
9. The President and the Vice-President would both participate, in November 2019, in the High-Level Meeting of the Global Judicial Integrity Network in Doha, Qatar, organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The President is the member of the Board of this Network. He mentioned the Network’s particular usefulness in developing the tools for training.
III. PREPARATION OF THE CCJE OPINION NO. 22 ON THE ROLE OF JUDICIAL ASSISTANTS WITHIN THE COURTS AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH JUDGES
10. The Vice-President opened the discussion by presenting the draft Opinion No. 22 (document CCJE-GT(2019)1Prov2), prepared by the CCJE expert, Prof. Dr. Anne SANDERS, with some amendments introduced by the Bureau, and noted that the Bureau had approved it as an excellent basis for discussions and further development of the Opinion during the meeting of the Working Group.
11. The Vice-President proceeded by giving the floor to Prof. Dr. SANDERS who provided an overview of the work done since the last meeting of the Working Group in Paris. She highlighted different practices in member States’ judicial systems and the various types and categories of judicial assistants, and presented the draft Opinion.
12. The members of the Working Group discussed in detail the following issues: who are judicial assistants, court staff outside the scope of the Opinion, what should be the rationale for employing judicial assistants, the role of the judge and the role of the judicial assistant and their interaction, the practices in the member states as regards the status of judicial assistants, their selection, evaluation, training, organisation, remuneration, standards of professional conduct. Recommendations of the Opinion were also discussed.
13. At the end of the meeting, the Working Group entrusted Prof. Dr. SANDERS to prepare, with the assistance of the Secretariat, and on the basis of these discussions, the updated draft of the Opinion, after which it would be forwarded to all members of the Bureau and of the Working Group for final comments and would then be sent to all members and observers of the CCJE for comments before the plenary meeting in Strasbourg.
IV. OTHER ITEMS
14. The Working Group, together with the Bureau, expressed its high appreciation for the invitation by the City of Saverne and its generous support for this meeting.
15. The plenary meeting of the CCJE would take place on 6-8 November 2019 in Strasbourg.
APPENDIX I
AGENDA / ORDRE DU JOUR
1. Opening of the meeting / Ouverture de la réunion
2. Adoption of the agenda / Adoption de l’ordre du jour
3. Communication by the President, members of the Bureau and the Secretariat / Communication du Président, des membres du Bureau et du Secrétariat
4. Preparation of the draft Opinion No. 22 on « The role of judicial assistants within the courts and their relations with judges » / Préparation du projet de l’Avis No. 22 sur « Le rôle des assistants de justice au sein des tribunaux et leurs relations avec les juges »
5. Any other business / Divers
APPENDIX II
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS / LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS
MEMBERS OF THE CCJE-GT / MEMBRES DU CCJE-GT
Ms Nino BAKAKURI, Judge, Supreme Court, TBILISI, GEORGIA / GÉORGIE
Ms Jasmina ĆOSİĆ DEDOVİĆ, Judge, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA / BOSNIE-HERZÉGOVINE
Mr Nils ENGSTAD, Judge, Hålogaland Court of Appeal, TROMSØ, NORWAY / NORVEGE
Mr Viktor GORODOVENKO, Judge, Constitutional Court, KYIV, UKRAINE
(apologised / excusée)
Mr Rubén Antonio JIMÉNEZ FERNÁNDEZ, Senior Judge, President of the Social Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Murcia, MURCIA, SPAIN / ESPAGNE
Ms Canòlic MINGORANCE CAIRAT, Juge, Seu de la Justicia Av Tarragona, ANDORRA LA VELLA, ANDORRA / ANDORRE
Ms Mirjana POPOVIC, Judge, High Court of Podgorica, PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO (Gender equality rapporteur / Rapporteur pour la questions de parité)
(apologised / excusée)
Mr Gerhard REISSNER, President of the District Court of Floridsdorf, VIENNA, AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE
The Hon. Ms Justice Leonie REYNOLDS, The High Court, DUBLIN, IRELAND / IRLANDE
Prof. Mr Marc DE WERD, Judge, Amsterdam Court of Appeal, Professor of European Law at Maastricht University, MAASTRICHT, NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS
MEMBERS OF THE CCJE-BU / MEMBRES DU CCJE-BU
Mr Duro SESSA, President of the Supreme Court, ZAGREB, CROATIA / CROATIE (President of the CCJE / Président du CCJE)
Ms Nina BETETTO, Judge, Supreme Court, LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA / SLOVENIE (Vice-President of the CCJE / Vice-Président du CCJE)
Ms Anke EILERS, Presiding Judge, Court of Appeal, COLOGNE, GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE
Lord Justice Kim LEWISON, Royal Courts of Justice, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM / ROYAME UNI
SCIENTIFIC EXPERT / EXPERT SCIENTIFIQUE
Prof. Dr. Anne SANDERS, Professor for Civil Law, Company Law and Comparative Judicial Studies at Bielefeld University, BIELEFELD, GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE
COUNCIL OF EUROPE’S SECRETARIAT /
SECRETARIAT DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE
Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law / Division for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice
Direction générale I – Droits de l’Homme et Etat de Droit / Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice
E-mail: [email protected]
Mr Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Head of the Division, Secretary of the CCJE / Chef de la Division, Secrétaire du CCJE
Tel: + 33 (0)3 88 41 34 12, E-mail: [email protected]
Mr Artashes MELIKYAN, Co-Secretary of the CCJE / Co-Secrétaire du CCJE
Tel: + 33 (0)3 90 21, E-mail: [email protected]
Ms Despina TRAMOUNTANI, Assistant / Assistante
Tel. +33 (0)3 90 21 62 95, E-mail: [email protected]
Ms Annette SATTEL, Administration and Networks / Administration et réseaux
Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 39 04, E-mail: [email protected]