In the framework of the Action Plan for Azerbaijan 2018-2021, the Council of Europe supports the efforts of Azerbaijan to increase trust in the justice system, to improve relevant legislative and institutional frameworks in accordance with European standards, to facilitate implementation of existing legislative and normative acts for a functional independence and accountability of the justice system and to improve enforcement of the national courts decisions as well as the execution of the ECtHR judgments.
Within this context the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) is implementing the project “Strengthening the efficiency and quality of the judicial system in Azerbaijan” in order to support the key judicial reforms in Azerbaijan through essential measures strengthening the independence, impartiality, efficiency and accountability of the judiciary on the basis of the common values of human rights, democracy and the Rule of law. This project is part of the programme Partnership for Good Governance II (PGGII), financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe. This project aims at consolidating and sustaining:
• The enhancement of the efficiency and quality of Azerbaijani courts through the application of CEPEJ tools at national level.
• The improvement of the enforcement of court decisions through legal and institutional modernisation of the enforcement system and strengthened capacities of the involved institutions.
The UIHJ, represented by Mathieu Chardon, 1st Vice-President of the UIHJ has already participated in April and July 2019 in two missions in Baku as part of this program, relating to the enforcement of court decisions and the profession of enforcement agent. The Azerbaijani Government is currently discussing the opportunity of setting up a self-employed judicial officer profession in Azerbaijan. To this end, a study visit was organised in France and the Netherlands.
The delegation of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan consisted of Nuraddin Mustafayev, Chief of the Directorate General of Enforcement, Aga Karim Smad-Zada, Head of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Tural Mammadov, Group Leader at the Directorate General of Enforcement, Yagub Gurbanov, Chief Adviser at the Directorate General of Enforcement, and Tural Suleumanov, Adviser at the Directorate General of Enforcement. The delegation was accompanied by Mariana Fernandez-Puche, Program Manager at the Council of Europe and Vafa Rovshanova, Senior Officer of the project.
The delegation, accompanied by Mathieu Chardon, went in the morning to the headquarters of the National Chamber of Commissioners of Justice of France where it was received by Patrick Safar, Vice-President, and also board member of the UIHJ. Mr Safar presented in detail the profession of judicial officer in France and the reasons that led to the merger between this profession and that of auctioneer, a reform put in place since 1st January 2019 which will end in 2026. The representatives of the Azerbaijani delegation asked many questions about the functioning of the profession of judicial officer in France.
Then the delegation, still accompanied by Mathieu Chardon, went in the afternoon to the headquarters of the UIHJ in Paris where it was received by Marc Schmitz, President. Mr Schmitz spoke about his strong personal ties to Azerbaijan since 2005, during a European Tacis project in which he participated. The president of the UIHJ gave a long presentation about the UIHJ, its structures, its achievements, its future projects and its relations with international institutions and organisations. After fruitful exchanges, President Schmitz announced that the UIHJ was at the disposal of the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan to help in its plans to reform the profession of judicial officer and would be pleased to welcome Azerbaijan as a member of the UIHJ, upon request.
On 17 September 2019, the delegation visited a judicial officer’s office in Paris and then continued its study visit to the Netherlands.
