The Latvian judicial officers facing European stakes

A serious situation

This seminar intervenes at one particularly important time for the Latvian judicial officers. Elections approach and, on this occasion, certain politicians do not hesitate to blame the enforcement system in Latvia. However, by joining the European Union, Latvia chose a body of liberal judicial officers, following the example of the large majority of the countries of the EU. In order to see more clearly and to engage a debate with the authorities, Andris Spore, president of the National Council of the judicial officers of Latvia, who judges the criticisms unfounded, decided to organise this international seminar in order to treat topicality in comparison of the various models of judicial officers in Europe.
Considering this situation as serious, the board of the UIHJ had decided to send its higher authorities in the persons of its president, Jacques Isnard, of its 1st vice-president, Leo Netten, and of one of its vice-presidents, Roger Dujardin. The delegation was supplemented by the 1st secretary of the UIHJ, Mathieu Chardon, and by Nicola Hesslén, permanent secretary for the Scandinavian countries.
The seminar was preceded by a meeting at the ministry of Justice where the UIHJ delegation could meet with the representative of the Latvian authorities and Mr Kaspars Berkis, State Secretary for Justice.

Professional standards of the judicial officers

On the day of the seminar, a hundred participants were present, for the majority of Latvian judicial officers, who came massively.  Representatives of the delegations of judicial officers of the neighbouring countries, Elin Vilippus (Estonia) and Gintaras Matkevicius (Lithuania), and of Poland (Michal Redelbach), Hungary and Kazakhstan had also convened to bring their support and their experiment to their Latvian fellow-members.
In his speech, Jacques Isnard, president of the UIHJ, initially summarised the history of our organisation since its creation, in 1952 and its objective to connect the judicial officers of the whole world. In this context, he recalled that Latvia had been contacted in 1996. Then the president of the UIHJ indicated what are the professional standards for the judicial officers that UIHJ promotes:
- high legal knowledge
- sufficient experiment of exercise of the profession obtained after a training course followed for one or two years, in addition to a national professional examination
- application of a rigorous disciplinary measure, the judicial officer being fully responsible for its actions
- permanent training
- exercise of the activity in the liberal form.
Jacques Isnard stressed the importance of the profession. “The judicial officer is a powerful contributor, initially in the fight against certain plagues in mafia matters, then as a real legal factor of security and finally as an economic point of impact”.
Echoing on these subjects, Kaspars Berkis, State Secretary for Justice of Latvia, indicated that the role of the judicial officer is very important at both national and international levels. “The implementation of the execution of the decision depends on the professionalism of the judicial officer” he declared.
Juris Stukans, vice-president of the district court of Riga, specified that one of the recurring problems is that related to the lack of information of the citizens on the role of the judicial officers. “When I receive complaints which are related to various litigations, I must as a preliminary explain the system of operation of the judicial officer within the framework of the regional court” explained Mr. Stukans. In addition, the jurisdictions must control the offices of judicial officers every year, including accountancy, which is not the role of the magistrates, and which is not effective, he estimated.

Strict ethical rules

Mr. Aleksejs Loskutova, chief of the Office of the prevention and fight against corruption, indicated that his office inquires into the offences of corruption as regards the administration of the State and the government. “The work of the judicial officers is very important and essential within the framework of our work. It is you who help us to recover the debt, in particular owed by the political parties. For that I want to thank you for your work” declared Mr. Loskutova who also confirmed that the citizens do not understand the work of the judicial officers: “It is advisable to inform the population of their risks if they do not pay their debts in due time”.
Mathieu Chardon developed the topic of the advantages and the disadvantages of an occupation of judicial officer in liberal matter. The 1st secretary of the UIHJ pointed out that 16 of the 25 States of the EU adopted a liberal model. Germany should adopt this model soon while the Austrian and Italian judicial officers, civil servants, are very dissatisfied of their fate. Under the terms of a clear and concise presentation, Mathieu Chardon noted that the disadvantages of a liberal exercise were related to a necessary adaptation of mentalities, as well of the judicial officers as of the authorities and citizens. But once this adaptation is carried out, the advantages of a liberal professional on a liberal model are undeniable: effectiveness, reactivity, service, professionalism, creations of job, no cost for the State budget, etc.
Leo Netten, 1st vice-president of the UIHJ, treated the topic of the importance of the independence of the judicial officers for a better effectiveness of justice. Leo Netten evoked the famous Hornsby V. Greece case of the European Court of human rights of 1997. This fundamental case indeed established that the enforcement of the decisions of court within a reasonable time is an integral part of the right to a fair trial devoted by article 6.1 of European Convention of the human rights. Then the 1st vice-president of the UIHJ presented Rec(2003) 17 of September 9, 2003 of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe to the Member States on enforcement. He indicated how much this recommendation was important and how much it matches the wishes that the UIHJ has been formulating for many years. “The liberal judicial officer is impartial and independent and answers perfectly the criteria of Recommendation 17 since he is submitted to very strict ethical rules”, he concluded.
Then, Nicola Hesslén, permanent secretary of the UIHJ for the Scandinavian countries, described the situation of the civil servant judicial officers in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Mrs Hesslén insisted on the fact that the judicial officers in this zone are high level, well remunerated civil servants, assisted by a qualified staff, and having access to many files and registers allowing them to locate the assets of the debtors. However, the permanent secretary of the UIHJ declared, concerning the countries which have a liberal system, “the execution is more effective, less expensive and much faster according to the calculations which are made”.

A manual for the profession

Vita Jonase, judicial officer in the district of Riga, indicated in his intervention on “the development of the occupation of judicial officer in Latvia and his prospects” that the National Council of the Latvian judicial officers currently worked to the development of a handbook concerning the functions of judicial officers in Latvia. This handbook would gather the whole of the documents concerning the profession. “To make the profession more prestigious we will set up a professional examination” he announced. He also mentioned the problem of the enforcement cases entrusted by the State and for which the judicial officers intervened actually without invoicing their expenses, so much the steps to obtain a refunding of those were constraining and disheartening. Mr. Jonase indicated that the access to the information was expensive, very long and complex. “This system should be simplified and we should have a free access to information, in particular by creating special register”, estimated our fellow-member.
Roger Dujardin, vice-president of the UIHJ, exposed the characteristics of the system of the judicial officers in Belgium. In this country, these liberal professionals have various monopolistic activities like the service of the legal documents and the enforcement of court decisions. They can also carry out other activities such as the debt collecting, statement of facts, auction sales, or be appointed as legal sequestrators. “While being professionals having a high standard of competences, training, ethics and offering a service of quality, we will ensure the future of the profession while being an essential element of the legal machine. It is clear that the independent judicial officer is a guaranty against corruption and is an element of the legal security and stability of any State of law” expertly concluded our fellow-member.

Close contact with UIHJ

Using a visual presentation, our colleague Elin Vilippus (Estonia) drew a dynamic picture of the situation of the 49 Estonian judicial officers. It comes out from her talk that the Estonian liberal judicial officers had a perfect command of the process of integration in the EU.
Gintaras Matkevicius, judicial officer in Vilnius (Lithuania), gave a very complete presentation of the situation of his profession in his country. The judicial officers have exerted in a liberal form for now four years and this passage is a success. “By conforming to the principles enacted by the EU and while being permanently in close contact with the UIHJ, we had the opportunity to get acquainted with the international experience and to apply it when creating the national Lithuanian module of the bailiff - the independent professional - profession” explained Mr. Matkevicius.
To finish this review, Michal Redelbach, vice president of the national Chamber of the judicial officers of Poland, presented the situation of the judicial officers in his country, liberals since the law of August 27, 1997. The judicial officer must have followed a university degree and passed a professional examination. He exerts within the framework of a territory. Mr. Redelbach however indicated that criticisms are regularly addressed to the Polish judicial officers, concerning the cost of his services and an effectiveness which is considered as insufficient. “The effectiveness of execution mostly depends on the state of debtor's properties as well as on the securing claims by the creditor. It is worth to say that creditors seldom use their right to secure claims before or during the litigation. Consequently the debtors may sell or hide their properties” deplored our colleague.

A harmonised profession in Europe

The debates were completed by a discussion in the form of questions and answers. Asked on the possibility for Latvia of returning to a civil servant system, Kaspars Kerkis, State Secretary of State for justice, who followed with much attention all the debates, expressed his position in a very clear way: “We cannot go back. Nobody tries to reform a system which functions. The important thing is to solve the problems. From there our co-operation at the international level rises” he said.
President Isnard declared himself happy with the issue of the conference and in the way the things were presented. “The UIHJ makes gigantic efforts to achieve a harmonised occupation of judicial officer in Europe. If it takes three seconds to say this, it will take forty years to do it. The idea to create a profession on the same scale was a particularly difficult operation. In 1990, the difficulties were enormous. When we were knocking on the door of the ministries, everyone was looking at us as if we were coming from Mars! Our principle is, since the liberal profession is created, to make sure that the States do not return to a civil servant system. We were very anxious. These two days fully reassured us. You could see approximately 10 countries. You could exchange, and listen. Now, you must work to make your profession better known in the eyes of the medias, the magistrates, the companies and the citizens” the president of the UIHJ concluded.
It was up to Andris Spore to close this very positive seminar, of which each one underlined the perfect organisation: “It is necessary for to train and to increase our qualification. We must cooperate with the UIHJ and also in a regional way with the other Baltic States. There will perhaps be a standardisation of the profession. My deepest gratitude goes to the speakers and the reporters who opened our eyes on the various activities. Long live the independent judicial officers!”