Meeting in Brussels between the UIHJ and the Council of the European Union

 

 

The European e-Justice Portal of the European Union was put “one line” on July 16th, 2010 (see our article on our site). It aims at giving a practical tool to the citizens, businesses, legal practitioners and the Judiciary. Collaboration with legal practitioners appears essential for the good development of the portal. After the lawyers, the judicial officers are solicited by the working group of the portal to organize a future collaboration. It is within this framework that a first informal meeting was held at the Consilium, the seat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels, on 21 September 2010.
The UIHJ was represented by its president, Leo Netten, by its 1st secretary, Mathieu Chardon, and by Alain Bobant, president of the National federation of trusted third parties, in charge of the e-Justice department of the UIHJ, and chair of the Association Law, Economy and Communication (Adec) of the National Chamber of the judicial officers of France. The delegation of the UIHJ was cordially greeted by Fernando Rui Paulino Pereira, president of the legal data processing Group of the Council of the EU. Margaret Tuite, vice-chair of the General Unit Justice Issues and E-Justice at the European commission was also present as well as seven other participants, including a representative of the Belgian presidency at the EU, and a representative of the future Hungarian presidency.
Mr. Paulino Peireira welcomed the delegation of the UIHJ. He confirmed the agenda of the meeting. Leo Netten presented the UIHJ. He said how much E-Justice was an important aspect for the development of the occupation of judicial officer and for the security of exchanges. The president of the Legal data processing Group of the Council then pointed out the broad outlines of the European strategy as regards E-Justice of 30 May 2008 and its three great points:
-    General information on justice, at domestic level (law, case law, experts) and access to information.
-    Courts and citizens and use of e-Justice for the citizens
-    Communication between legal entities (judges and entities having responsibilities in the administration of justice)
The exchanges which followed during two hours revealed very open and very profitable. Mrs. Tuite declared herself interested by the opinion of the judicial officers on the information found on the website. Alain Bobant mentioned that the profession suffered from a problem of “technological language” and that the aim was to obtain communicating systems to be able to exchange.

The beginning of a long co-operation

 

Discussions then primarily focused on the European e-Justice Portal. Mr. Paulino Pereira asked for the co-operation of the UIHJ. He indicated that he wished to entrust to the UIHJ the realization of a directory of the occupation of judicial officer for the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union. This directory is intended to be integrated in the website of the European e-Justice portal. It will make it possible for each visitor to find precise information on the profession and to identify the judicial officers in the whole of the Member States of the European Union. President Netten thanked President Paulino Pereira for the trust shown in the UIHJ and ensured him that the UIHJ would do everything possible to implemente this vast project as soon as possible. The representative of the Council of the European Union added that this exercise constituted only the beginning of a co-operation between the two entities, co-operation that he wished long and profitable.
This meeting in Brussels shows that a new stage is reached concerning the relations between the UIHJ and the international institutions. From now on, the institutions themselves turn to the UIHJ to suggest cooperation in projects which touch the occupation of judicial officer at international level.