Strasbourg, 10 November 2017

                                                           

CEPEJ/TP(2017)2

EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR THE EFFICIENCY OF JUSTICE

(CEPEJ)

12th plenary meeting of the Network of Pilot courts

Kristiansand (Norway), 6 September 2017

Meeting report

Document prepared by the Secretariat

 Directorate General I – Human Rights and Rule of Law


1.    The 12th plenary meeting of the Network of Pilot courts was held in Kristiansand (Norway) on 6 September 2017, with Mr Georg Stawa (Austria), President of the CEPEJ in the chair.  The proceedings were opened by Bård TØNDER, Chairman of the Board of Governors of the NCA (Norwegian Courts Administration) and judge at the Supreme Court of Norway.

1. Activity of the CEPEJ: main achievements and priorities

2.    The Secretariat presented the main achievements of the CEPEJ and the priorities underpinning its activities, with particular emphasis on the updating of the database on judicial systems (CEPEJ-STAT) with a dashboard for gender equality.

2. Information by pilot courts

3.      The pilot courts were invited to exchange ideas to explain why and how innovative good practices had been adopted in their country and to compile a list of good practices worth examining by the CEPEJ innovation centre.

4.      Janis DREIMANIS (Latvia), representing the Latvian courts administration, presented several new services deployed in the country's courts.  The first of these was a system for the audio recording of hearings making it possible to bookmark key moments (statement by a lawyer, witness testimony etc).  Voice recognition was not used but the recordings were appended to the proceedings for use at a later date if necessary (in the event of an appeal for example).  No amendment had been made to procedural legislation to authorise the use of this technology.  The discussion between the pilot court representatives focused on the impact of these recordings on the conducting of the hearing and the limitations of the system (no video recording, clarity of recordings, management of breakdowns etc).  The second service presented was a tool for managing auctions.  The third was a register of execution of bailiff procedures.  The latter service was a global public service offer (e-services) covering the referral of a case to the court, on-line tracking of the case, the schedule of hearings, the calculation of legal costs and access to a map showing courts.

5.      Giacomo OBERTO (Italy), representing Turin Regional court, presented the e-filing system for procedures.  He explained the benefits of electronic communication as well as the limits of its use in practice by judges and in the light of procedural legislation not geared to this technology.

6.      Jose VELA PEREZ (Spain), Judicial Counsellor at the Commercial Court of first instance in Barcelona, presented the reorganisation of work carried out in his court (specialisation, streamlining of tasks) and its institutionalisation in a protocol.

7.      Peter PFEIFER (Hungary), judge at Veszprem Regional court, presented the ELAN network, which was a service providing legal support for judges in an international context.  A total of 60 legal advisers provided judges with non-binding advice and expert opinions.  Moreover, this was an independent organisation.

8.      Kevin O’NEIL (Ireland), Principal Registrar at the Commercial Court within the High Court in Dublin, explained how the development of "expert witnesses" had helped to cut the time needed to examine files.


3.    Judicial time management: European timeframes for judicial proceedings

9.    The participants examined the SATURN guidelines for judicial time management with a view to defining European timeframes for judicial proceedings.  The aim was to receive direct feedback from the pilot courts on their experience as a contribution to the devising of indicators being prepared by the Pilot Group of the SATURN Centre, with the support of a scientific expert, Marco FABRI (Italy).

10.   The Secretariat gave a reminder of the principle of regularly gathering information from volunteer pilot courts in this area, with the aim not only of being able to regularly update timeframes but also of setting up a real observatory of judicial timeframes in the courts.

  1. Mediation and use of ADR in Europe: data collection process for the CEPEJ-GT-MED

11.   The Secretariat reminded the participants that data was being collected in connection with GT-MED work to take stock of the use of alternative dispute resolution methods.   It invited the pilot courts to reply within the set deadlines.

  1. Tools for ensuring proper time management and the quality of justice

12.    The findings of the three workshops with pilot courts (Dashboard for court management, How to weight a case, Improving the quality of justice, new tools from the CEPEJ) were compiled in the report of the 22nd meeting of the SATURN Centre (meeting held from 5 to 7 September 2017).
APPENDIX I: AGENDA

Chair: Georg STAWA (Austria), President of CEPEJ

1.     Opening of the meeting

2.     Activity of the CEPEJ: main achievements and priorities

3.     Information by the Pilot courts

Pilot courts are invited to inform the group of any relevant reform or initiative undertaken by the court (best practice, for instance) and which might be of interest for the other pilot courts.

These projects may be published on the “CEPEJ innovation centre” website.

-       4 new examples of good practice implemented by the Latvian Court Administration

4.      Judicial time management: European timeframes for judicial proceedings

Pilot courts are invited to inform the group of any relevant use of the CEPEJ Timeframes

-       Presentation of the implementation Guide as adopted by the CEPEJ Plenary in December 2016

-         Feedback from the Norwegian Court Administration and Norwegian courts about their own practises

-       Implementation of these timeframes during cooperation programmes funded by the Norway Grants: the example of Croatia

-       Methodology for a regular update of the European timeframes and for a proper data collection

Discussion

5.     Mediation and use of ADR in Europe: data collection process for the CEPEJ-GT-MED

6.   Tools for ensuring a proper time management and the quality of justice

Workshops aiming at sharing the good practices between all the courts and at contributing to the ongoing work of the CEPEJ-SATURN Center and the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL

§  Workshop 1: Dashboard[1] for court management

Pilot courts are invited to inform the group of any relevant tables, graphics or statistics used for the management of the court

§  Workshop 2: How to weight a case? Sharing of good practices

Pilot courts are invited to inform the group of any relevant practise, promoted at national level or as a result of their own initiative

§  Workshop 3: Improving the quality of justice, new tools from the CEPEJ

§     

This workshop aims at ensuring that the latest tools of the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL cover relevant issues according to the practical experiences of the pilot courts

Synthesis of the workshops: each workshop will appoint a rapporteur to share the conclusions of the discussions in the plenary session

7.     Any other business

8.     Conclusions of the meeting


APPENDIX II 

LIST Of Participants

ALBANIA / ALBANIE

Joana   QELESHI, President of Durres District Court

ANDORRA / ANDORRE

Joan MANEL ABRIL CAMPOY, President of Andorra High Court / Apologised / Excusé

ARMENIA / ARMENIE

Stepan MIKAELYAN, First Instance Judge, Civil Appeals court of Armenia,

AUSTRIA / AUTRICHE

Walter ENGELBERGER, Judge and Head of the District Court, Bezirksgericht Linz,

AZERBAIJAN / AZERBAÏDJAN

Aladdin JAFAROV, President of the Baku City Yasamal District Court, Chairman of the Association of Judges, BAKU

Tofiq PASHAEV, President of the Baku city Narimanov District Court, BAKU

Ramin GURBANOV, Vice-president, Baku City Yasamal District court, BAKU

Mubariz AKBEROV, President of Sheki Regional Appeal Court, SHEKI

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA / BOSNIE-HERZEGOVINE

Katica JOZAK-MADAR , President, Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik, / Apologised / Excusée

BELGIUM / BELGIQUE

Bart WILLOCX, President of the First instance court of Antwerp

CROATIA / CROATIE

Alan Pretković, President, Municipal Court, Varaždin

CZECH REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE TCHEQUE

Václav BENES, Judge, Regional Court, ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM

DENMARK / DANEMARK

Margit LAUB, President, District Court, ESBJERG

ESTONIA / ESTONIE

Villem  LAPIMAA, President, Tallinn Circuit Court of Appeal

FINLAND / FINLANDE

Marjukka HASSEL, Judge, First instance Court of Varsinais, TURKU

Seija KAIJANEN, Administrative judge, Regional Administrative Court, TURKU

Maarit TUKIAINEN, Judge, Court of Appeal of Rovaniemi

FRANCE / FRANCE

Thierry GHERA, President, Regional court of STRASBOURG

Frédérique AGOSTINI, President, Regional court of MELUN

Remy HEITZ, First President, Court of Appeal of COLMAR, / Apologised / Excusé

GERMANY / ALLEMAGNE

Torsten HUB, Judge, Higher Regional court of Stuttgart, STUTTGART / Apologised / Excusé

HUNGARY / HONGRIE

Péter PFEIFER, Judge, Veszprém Regional Court

IRELAND / IRLANDE 

Kevin O'NEILL, Principal Registrar, Commercial Court within the High Court, DUBLIN,

ITALY / ITALIE

Giacomo OBERTO, Judge, Regional court of TURIN

Giorgia TELLOLI, Head of Statistics, Court of Appeal, BOLOGNA

LATVIA / LETTONIE

Adrija BULINA, Judge, Riga city court of Pardaugava, RIGA

Zaiga ZAICEVA, Judge of Kurzeme regional court, LIEPĀJA

LITHUANIA / LITUANIE

Marius BAJORAS, Judge, Vilnius Regional Administrative Court, VILNIUS

Ruta TRIMAILOVIENE, Judge, District Court of Vilnius City, VILNIUS

LUXEMBURG / LUXEMBOURG

Brigitte KONZ, Judge – Director, Justice of Peace, LUXEMBOURG,

MONACO

Martine COULET-CASTOLDI, President of the First Instance court of MONACO / Apologised / Excusée

MONTENEGRO

RADOVIC Zoran, President, Basic Court, PODGORICA

THE NETHERLANDS / PAYS-BAS

Otto NIJHUIS, Judge, Head of the Civil Dpt, District Court, ZUTPHEN

NORWAY/ NORVEGE

Yngve SVENDSEN, President, Court of Kristiansand, KRISTIANSAND

Dag BRATHOLE, Court of Appeal of Frostating, TRONDHEIM

POLAND / POLOGNE 

Paweł Wrzaszcz, Court Registrar, District Court of Lublin-East, SWIDNIK

Anna WASILEWSKA, Judge, District Court, VIII Commercial Department, WARSAW

PORTUGAL

Isabel MATOS NAMORA, President, Tribunal de Comarca, COIMBRA

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA / REPUBLIQUE DE MOLDOVA

Radu TURCANU, President, First instance court, CHISINAU

SERBIA / SERBIE

Marija ARANDELOVIC JURESA, First Basic Court, BELGRADE

SLOVAK REPUBlC / REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUE

Barbora SOPKOVA, Judge, District Court, BANSKA BYSTRICA

SLOVENIA / SLOVÉNIE 

Mitja KOZAR, District Court, MARIBOR

SPAIN / ESPAGNE

José VELA PÉREZ, Judicial Counsellor, Commercial Court of first instance, BARCELONA

SWEDEN / SUÈDE

Charlotte HALLÉN, Court of Appeal for Western Sweden, GÖTEBORG

Karin PALE-BARTES, Judge, Södertorn District Court, HUDDINGE / Apologised / Excusée

SWITZERLAND / SUISSE

Patrick BECKER, Secretary General, Court of Justice of the Republic and canton of Geneva, GENEVA

Philippe THELIN, Judge, Administrative Chamber of the Court of Justice, GENEVA

UNITED KINGDOM / ROYAUME‑UNI

Marie DAY, Head of Regional HM Courts & Tribunal Service, Milton Keynes Magistrates’ court, First Instance criminal and family court, MILTON KEYNES / Apologised / Excusée

***

OBSERVER STATES TO THE CEPEJ / ÉTATS OBSERVATEURS AUPRES DE LA CEPEJ

ISRAEL / ISRAËL

Shanee BENKIN, Researcher, Israeli Courts Research Division, Supreme Court

Gali AVIV, Director, Israeli Courts Research Division, Supreme Court

MOROCCO / MAROC

Bouzian EL FAHMI, Crown Prosecutor general at the Court of appeal of Fez

Ahmed NAHID, First president, Court of appeal of Marrakech

Mustapha SIMOU, President, Administrative court of Rabat

TUNISIA / TUNISIE

Meftah BOUZAIENE, President, Court of first instance of Kairouan / Apologised / Excusé

Fatma MKAOUAR, President, Court of first instance of Nabeul / Apologised / Excusée

***

INVITED DELEGATIONS / DELEGATIONS INVITEES

ALBANIA / ALBANIE

Kastriot SELITA, President of the Administrative Court of Appeal in Tirana

Ornela NAQELLARI, President of the Court of Lezhë

KOSOVO*[2]

Sali TOPALLI, Head of the Court Management Office, the Basic Court of Ferizaj (Pilot Court for the ICT/CMIS Project)

Valdete MUSTAFA, Senior Statistics Officer, Basic Court of Pristina and the Kosovo Judicial Council

Besnik RAMOSAJ, Director of the Statistics Department, representative of the ICT/CMIS Project,  Kosovo Judicial Council

***

Members of the Steering Group of the SATURN Centre for Judicial Time Management

(CEPEJ-SATURN) /

Membres du Groupe de Pilotage du Centre SATURN pour la gestion du temps judiciaire

(CEPEJ-SATURN)

Ivana BORZOVÁ, Head of Department of Civil Supervision, Ministry of Justice, CZECH REPUBLIC

Ivan CRNČEC, Assistant Minister of Justice, CROATIA

Francesco DEPASQUALE, Magistrate, Legal Advisor to the Director General, Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, MALTA

Gerassimos FOURLANOS, Vice-President of the Supreme Civil and Penal Court, GREECE / Apologised / Excusé

Giacomo OBERTO, Judge, Regional court of Turin, ITALY, (President of SATURN / President of SATURN)

Noel RUBOTHAM,Head of Reform and Development, Courts Service, IRELAND

***

PRESIDENT OF CEPEJ / PRESIDENT DE LA CEPEJ

Georg STAWA, Secretary General of the Austrian Ministry of Justice, Federal Ministry of Justice, AUSTRIA

***

Scientific ExpertS / Experts scientifiques

Julinda Beqiraj, Associate Senior Research Fellow in the Rule of Law, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, UNITED KINGDOM

Marco FABRI, Director, Research Institute on Judicial Systems, National Research Council (IRSIG-CNR), ITALY

Jon T. JOHNSEN, Professor in Law, Faculty of law, Norway

Christian LICOPPE, Department of Social Science, Telecom Paristech, FRANCE

***

INVITED DELEGATIONS / DELEGATIONS INVITEES

LATVIA / LETTONIE

Jānis DREIMANIS 

Lauma LEGZDIŅA

SLOVAK REPUBLIC / REPUBLIQUE SLOVAQUIE

Danka KOVALOVÁ, Director of the analytical Centre, Ministry of Justice, BRATISLAVA,

***

OBSERVERS / OBSERVATEURS

EUROPEAN UNION OF RECHTSPFLEGER AND COURT CLERKS / UNION EUROPEENNE DES GREFFIERS DE JUSTICE (EUR)

Michel CRAMET,Deputy Director of the Regional Judicial Administration, Court of Appeal of LYON, France / Apologised / Excusé

***

HOSTS OF THE MEETING / HOTES DE LA REUNION

The National Courts Administration, Norway

Bård TØNDER, Chairman of the Board of the Norwegian Courts Administration, Judge of the Supreme Court of Norway, OSLO

Audun BERG, Head of International Secretariat, Norwegian Courts Administration, TRONDHEIM

Sissel ROOS,Norwegian Courts Administration, TRONDHEIM

Elisabeth Jøta Holter HANEVOLD, Norwegian Ministry of Justice and Public Security, OSLO

 

***

COUNCIL OF EUROPE / CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

SECRETARIAT

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

Division for the Independence and Efficiency of Justice /

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

Division pour l’indépendance et l’efficacité de la justice

E-mail : [email protected]

Stéphane LEYENBERGER, Executive Secretary of the CEPEJ / Secrétaire exécutif de la CEPEJ,

Tel: +33 (0)3 88 41 34 12, e-mail: [email protected]

Yannick MENECEUR, Administrator / Administrateur, Tél: +33 (0)3 90 21 53 59,

mail : [email protected]

Stéphanie BUREL, Project coordinator, Albania, Kosovo* / Albania, Kosovo*, Tel : +33 (0)3 88 41 22 27,    e-mail : [email protected]

Annette SATTEL, Administration and Networks / Administration et réseaux, Tél: +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 (03) 90 21 42 94,  e-mail: [email protected]

Elisabeth HEURTEBISE, Assistant/Assistante, Secretariat of the CEPEJ / Secrétariat de la CEPEJ,

Tel : +33 (0)3 88 41 35 54, e-mail: [email protected]  

***

INTERPRETERS / INTERPRETES

Corinne MCGEORGE, [email protected]

Nicolas GUITTONNEAU, [email protected]

Adelina ALBRAHIMI, [email protected]

Lisena GJEBREA, [email protected]



[1] A dashboard is a set of tables and/or graphics (bar charts, pie charts, etc) to monitor the flow of cases, the allocation of human resources etc.

[2] *This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.