24 countries
Representatives of 24 countries (Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Estonia, Germany, France, Georgia, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Moldova, the Netherlands, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the USA) met for two days on the premises of the Sheraton Hotel in Batumi for this international panel. This international perspective was perfectly mastered thanks to the flawless involvement of the three organizers, and the organizational talents of Nika Melia, chairman of the National Bureau of Enforcement of Georgia (NBE).
The UIHJ delegation included Bernard Menut, first Vice President, Sue Collins, Board Member, Françoise Andrieux, Secretary General, and Mathieu Chardon, First Secretary.
The international panel was opened by Zurab Adeishvili, Minister of Justice of Georgia, who welcomed the participants and thanked the European Commission for its support through the TAIEX (Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument) project operated by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Reigada Ramon, Head of Operations Section of the European Union delegation to Georgia, has also welcomed the participants emphasizing the investment of the European Union in helping Georgia reform the judiciary and the profession of enforcement agent. Then Bernard Menut, on behalf of the UIHJ, thanked the NBE, the Ministry of Justice and the representatives of TAIEX for having associated the UIHJ with this international event that reflects the dynamism of the profession of judicial officer in Georgia. The first vice-president of the UIHJ acknowledged that the results of the NBE were very impressive. He expressed his wish to discover the secrets of this success through the presentations and discussions to come.
The first panel was entitled “Current challenges to enforcement Systems - Business Oriented Services and protection of Balance of Legal Rights in Society”. The first part of the panel was chaired by Roderick Macpherson, Messenger-at-Arms in Edinburgh (Scotland), former president of the Association of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers of Scotland, General Rapporteur of the International Congress of judicial officers of Washington (2006).
Nika Melia presented the NBE on the way towards optimization and streamlining processes and activities within the system.
Then Jos Uitdehaag (Netherlands), first quaestor of the UIHJ Committee, presented the liberal system of judicial officers. He noted how the search for efficiency and profitability, an integral part of the model, is perfectly compatible with the rights of parties.
The second part of the panel was chaired by Jos Uitdehaag. Marc Schmitz, judicial officer (Belgium), quaestor of the Committee of the UIHJ, outlined the status of the Belgian judicial officer, entirely based on a liberal system. He then presented the enforcement system in his country. He stressed the need for judicial officers to be always very effective. "Without efficiency, no cases, without cases, no job, and without job, no income for the judicial officers," he said. He particularly mentioned the three basic enforcement measures: seizure of goods, seizure of bank assets and seizure of immovable. Marc Schmitz also focused on access to information on the debtor's assets, without which enforcement cannot hope to achieve the desired goals of maximum efficiency.
Pedro Lozano Munoz, chief registrar, Ministry of Justice of Spain, spoke in turn on the same topic by focusing on the relationship between the cost of enforcement for the state and the result. In the search for efficiency, the recruitment of staff and their training is essential, as well as relationships with private actors, paperless exchange of data, evaluation of performance and transparency.
Sue Collins introduced the system of enforcement of court decisions in the United States. In her country, there are as many systems as there are states. Our colleague has focused on the lack of homogeneity and the difficulties arising, particularly with regard to cross-state enforcement.
Finally, Antonio Kostanov, president of the National Chamber of Judicial officers of Macedonia, described how was operated in his country the transfer of files between the former state employed enforcement agents and the liberal judicial officers who were instituted a few years ago.
Streamlining Enforcement Procedures
The second panel dealt with IT solutions and technological means for streamlined and effective enforcement proceedings. The panel was chaired in its first part by Lars Klint, International Coordinator of the Swedish Enforcement Authority.
Mihran Poghosyan, Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer of the Republic of Armenia, presented the legislative grounds and procedure of organizing and holding compulsory electronic auctions in the Republic of Armenia.
Simone Ginzburg, Head of Backlog Reduction Project of Judicial efficiency High Unit and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia-Herzegovina, spoke of the pilot system for Electronic processing of the utility cases. Mr Ginzburg has not failed to emphasize the peculiarities of this country of four million people that includes one state, two entities, one district, four laws on enforcement and fourteen ministers of justice...
Elin Vilippus, former president of the Chamber of Judicial officers of Estonia, addressed electronic enforcement in her country and in particular electronic auctions. By means of examples, our colleague explained how, for example, it was possible for a judicial officer to obtain within minutes through the Estonian e-portal complete information on property of the debtor, or how the seizure of bank accounts was made by our colleagues with a simple mouse click.
The second part of the panel was chaired by Eric Vincken, Senior Project Manager of the Center for International Legal Cooperation (the Netherlands).
Bernard Menut addressed the sensitive issue of cross-border recovery of maintenance obligations. Through a concrete example (marriage and divorce of a Georgian and a French), the first vice-president of the UIHJ described the dreads of the recovery of maintenance, each spouse being returned to live in his/her country.
Zlatislava Mihailoff, Project Space Managing Partner (Bulgaria), developed IT solution in the light of the Bulgarian experience. Nino Gogelashvili, internal projects manager of the NBE, promoted e-Enforcement, an active process for Georgia.
The topic of the third panel was “Cooperation with stakeholders and media representatives - Increased public awareness, improved communication, preventive measures, and improved efficiency of enforcement system”. The panel was chaired by Pedro Lozano Munoz.
George Kadagidze, president of the National Bank of Georgia, addressed the legal reforms to support the liquidity in real estate. Roderick Macpherson introduced the topic of the panel in the UK. Finally, Sven Kihlgren, Enforcement Director, Swedish Enforcement Authority, made a presentation on the Enforcement authority in the eyes of society.
During their stay, participants visited the “Public Service Hall”, inaugurated in May 2011. The motto of this sixteen stories modern building is "Everything in One Place”. Indeed, all government departments are grouped together. On can pick up a new ID card, obtain a building permit or welfare, pay taxes, file an enforcement dossier at the NBE and pay debts.
The twenty-three invited countries were not mistaken by coming in Batumi. Through this international seminar, and with the help of TAIEX and the Ministry of Justice of Georgia our Georgian colleagues showed their dynamism, expertise, and willingness to fully participate in the process of harmonization of the profession of judicial officer and enforcement proceedings.
