Participation of the UIHJ in a TAIEX Program in Georgia

For an effective enforcement system in Georgia
 
TAIEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument) is an instrument managed by the Directorate-General Enlargement of the European Commission. It supports partner countries with regard to the approximation, application and enforcement of European Union legislation. In this context, an international workshop was organized with the National Bureau of Enforcement (NBE) of Georgia to discuss the problems relating to the enforcement of court decisions in this country, in the light of the experience of seven countries: Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden.
 
The UIHJ was represented by its first president, Bernard Menut (France), its first secretary, Mathieu Chardon (France) and its first quaestor, Jos Uitdehaag (the Netherlands). The other international experts were as follows: Patrick Safar (France), vice-treasurer of the board of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France, Ronit Rozin (Israel), director of the districts of the North and Haïfa of the Israeli Enforcement and Collection Authority, Dovile Satkauskiene (Lithuania), director of the National Chamber of the judicial officers of Lithuania, Eva Liedstrom Adler, Sven Kihlgren and Jan Johansson (Sweden), respectively Chief enforcement director, Head of Enforcement, and representative of the Swedish Enforcement Authority, Rocki Albert (Estonia), judicial officer, and Winfried Schuschke (Germany), professor at the university of Koln.

The international character of the conference was also given by the presence, amongst the 80 participants, of GTZ, Team Leader of the program on “Advice on Legal and Judicial Reform in South Caucasus”, USAID, UNDP, the US Embassy, a German lawyer and a Slovakian expert. Also attended the conference high representatives of Georgian authorities such as prosecutors, high judges, an attorney, representatives of the Parliament, the ministries of justice, of Finances, of Health, Labor and Social Security, as well as the Chairman of Notary Chamber and many banks, credit and insurances companies.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Jaba Ebanoidze, Deputy Minister of justice of Georgia, Per Eklund, ambassador, Head of the delegation of the European Commission to Georgia, Bachana Shengelia, Chairman of the NBE, and Bernard Menut. In his welcome speech, Bachana Shengelia, indicated that this was NBE's first international conference. He thanked all the speakers and wished for this meeting to be valuable for the development of the enforcement system in Georgia. Mr. Ebanoidze evoked the many reforms in progress in Georgia for its economic development. “If we do not have an effective enforcement system, we will not manage to achieve our goals in term of economic development. We want to have more effective tools so that the creditor is ensured of a good collecting. It is also necessary, in a transparent system, to guarantee the rights of all parties” he declared. The Deputy Minister of justice also evoked the installation of a debtors' register and the forthcoming electronic treatment of cases, as well as electronic auction sales, “for more transparency”. He ended his speech by indicating that he considered this conference as very important because it was going to make it possible to share the experience with other countries.
 
Bernard Menut thanked the Georgian authorities for their invitation and congratulated the NBE for the excellent organization of the conference. He indicated that the UIHJ gave all its support to Georgia which showed its dynamism and its reactivity to develop the economic sector through the good enforcement of court decisions. He declared himself very satisfied and happy of the forthcoming membership of Georgia to the UIHJ at the time of the next permanent council of the UIHJ in Glasgow (Scotland) in May 2010. Then his Excellency, Per Eklund, confirmed the support of the European Commission to Georgia and to this event. “Enforcement is an essential element of the Rule of law. We want to help you to reach European standards” he said.
 
A perfect organization for very productive exchanges
 
During two days of an intensive work under excellent conditions, thanks to a perfect preparation, the many Georgian speakers and international experts could lengthily exchange their experience on rich and varied topics. Mr. Shengelia and Mr. Shavleg Todua, head of the Legal Division of the NBE, indicated that since July 2009 there is a double system of enforcement in Georgia, where civil servant judicial officers mix with their thirty-seven “competitor” liberal counterparts while mentioning the excellent collaboration between the two professionals.
 
Jos Uitdehaag gave a very complete presentation of the current standards as regards enforcement, in particular in the light of the recommendations and the Guide Lines of the Council of Europe and the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) on enforcement. Bernard Menut presented the pros and cons of the liberal and civil servant systems as regards enforcement of court decisions. Mathieu Chardon gave an outline of the daily activities of a liberal judicial officer. Ronit Rozin and her colleague Yael Simonds-Yoaz, legal adviser, presented the characteristics of the Israeli Enforcement system.

Aleksandre Barnabishvili, Head of Regional Supervision of the NBE, and Dovile Satkauskiene, evoked the enforcement of cases with regards to mortgaged property. Lasha Maghradze, Deputy Chairman of the NBE, and Sven Kihlgren evoked the issues relating to debtors' registry.Then Eva Liedstrom Adler, presented the Swedish Enforcement authority's role in society, in particular that to ensure balance between debtor's and creditor's rights.
 
A roundtable also took place on auction procedures, including online auctions in Georgia and Europe. The experience of Nika Melia, Head of Tbilisi Bureau of the NBE and Rocki Albert, could be shared with the participants. It was also question of the rights of the new owner after realization of immovable property and procedure of eviction. This delicate topic was adequately touched upon by Shavleg Todua, Winfried Schuschke and Patrick Safar. Lastly, the final topic approached the even more delicate enforcement procedures of cases with regards to transfer of a child, by Nika Melia and Giorgi Kabachia, Head of Unit for Child Care and Social Programs of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Security.
 
During the conference, the participants could visit the new head office of the NBE, located in the suburb of Tbilisi and still under construction.

The professionalism with which the conference was organized and the excellence of the reception of our Georgian friends must be specially mentioned here. In front of such expressions of friendship and generosity, it is easy to understand why the foreign speakers were not in a hurry to go back home. Well, their wish was partially granted. Following the panic caused in Europe by the eruption of the Icelandic volcano, they were able to extend their Georgian stay for several days!
 
This seminar also made it possible for the representatives of the UIHJ to meet the Israeli delegation for which it was the first international mission. Mrs. Rozin declared herself very interested by the UIHJ. Contacts are made and soon should give place to a meeting.