New participation of the UIHJ in a seminar of the Council of Europe in Russia

A reinforcement of the international co-operation

This seminar was held 60 Km of Irkutsk, in the town of Listvyanka, at the edge of fairy-like and gigantic Lake Baikal, which length is almost 700 Km over a width expanding from 20 to 80 Km, hardly at six hours of plane of Moscow, a small step for Russia!

The seminar was co-organized by the Russian Legal Academy of the ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (RLA), whose head office is located in Moscow but which has antennas in all the areas of Russia (see our article on our website - December 2005). Let us recall that the RLA teaches each year to approximately 15 000 employees of the ministry of Justice, consisting mainly of judicial officers and employees of the jurisdictions. It is to say the importance of this institution which blew its thirty-five candles last year.

The mission of the Council of Europe was lead by Veronika Kotek, administrator at the Division for the judiciary and Legal Programmes of the Council of Europe, Directorate-General 1, Legal Affairs. The experts of the Council of Europe were Mathieu Chardon, judicial officer in Versailles (France), 1st secretary of the UIHJ, Elisabeth Donovan, lawyer in Dublin (Ireland) and Patrick Berglund, legal adviser at the Swedish Tax Agency.

Approximately fifty judicial officers took part in this seminar, for the majority representatives of the offices of judicial officers of various subjects  of the Russian Federation and of the members of the RLA.

In his opening speech, Igor Zvecharovsky, vice-rector of the RLA, welcomed all the participants and pointed out the actions carried out by the Academy during the preceding years, in particular the various seminars organized with the assistance of the Council of Europe and its experts. Mr. Zvecharosky underlined the progress made by this collaboration and wished the continuation of the program in the future.

Mr. Sergey Sazanov, first Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Service of the judicial officers, Chief judicial officer of the Russian Federation, indicated in his speech that the international co-operation was to be presently increased. “Everyone knows that the legislations are different, Mr. Sazanov specified, and that the exchange of experience and knowledge is fundamental. The fact that in certain countries the occupation of judicial officer is liberal and that in others it is exerted by civil servants is by no means an obstacle to the co-operation”. “Our legislation must be in conformity with the European standards, in particular with the requirements of the European Convention on human rights”, said Mr. Sazanov.

Many changes in little time

In echo with the remarks of the Chief judicial officer of the Russian Federation, Veronika Kotek recalled the role of the Council of Europe in the improvement of the national legislations. The Council of Europe, which values are undisputed, can assess the legislations in order to make it possible for the States to conform to the European standards.

Mrs. Kotek indicated that certain countries benefited from much time to conform to these standards, contrary to other countries, like the Russian Federation, which however achieved very many changes in little time. It is one of the challenges of the Council of Europe to help these countries to go in this direction, she judiciously indicated. Mrs. Kotek stressed that the occupation of judicial officer is as important as that of a lawyer or a judge: a court decision must be able to be enforced within a reasonable time. It is one of the bases of article 6 of the European Convention on human rights. Lastly, the administrator of the Council of Europe recalled the importance of the recommendation Rec(2003)17 of 9 September 2003 of the Ministers of the Council of Europe to the Member States on enforcement.

Problems relating to the enforcement of the court decisions in Russia

Then the various topics were developed by the participants. These topics touched with various very specific problems relating to the enforcement of court decisions in the Russian Federation. Eleven themes were exposed. For example, how to regulate the problems concerning enforcement into the immovable property which was transferred to the customer before the state registration for passing of title? This theme was dealt with by Igor Mikhalev, person in charge for the Management of the international co-operation and legal protection.

Alexander Gerasimov, Head of the Enforcement Department of the RLA, dealt with the problems of responsibility in cases of failure of an enforcement decision ordering the debtor to perform or to refrain from performing certain acts. One of the important subjects is that of the responsibility in cases of failure of an enforcement decision by a bank or another credit institution. The various aspects of these problems were learnedly reported on by Mrs. Yulia Krohina, Vice-rector for scientific work of the RLA.

Boris Rossinsky, head of the Administrative Department of the RLA, treated the issue of the responsibility in cases of failure to adhere to legal norms for judicial officers and in cases of violation of enforcement legislation of the Russian Federation.

Another step towards European standards

The experts of the Council of Europe also presented various topics, under the angle of the national laws, thus allowing long and profitable exchanges with their Russian counterparts.
Patrick Berglund made a brilliant presentation on the practical problems encountered in the enforcement into the debtor's property while presenting in particular conceivable solutions concerning the issue of the rights of a third party. Mathieu Chardon mentioned point by point the problems encountered during the enforcement and in particular relating to the violations of the legislation relating to the enforcement of court decisions. Elisabeth Donovan developed in a particularly clear way the ways of ensuring the rights of the restitutioner, the debtor and other persons involved in enforcement actions.

The whole of the interventions will be the subject of a publication on the part of the Council of Europe.

At the end of enthralling debates, where our Russian fellow-members expressed all their interest for the French, Irish and Swedish legislations, Veronika Kotek addressed hers thanks to the whole of the participants, the Council of Europe experts and the Russian Law Academy.  The perfect unfolding of this seminar, she indicated, will have allowed the Federal Service of judicial officers of the Russian Federation to take a further step towards the installation of measures allowing a harmonization of the legislation of this large country with the European standards promoted by the Council of Europe.... And naturally by the UIHJ!