The conference was attended by representatives of 58 countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and America. Among the participants there were representatives from Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Estonia, Latvia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Azerbaijan, Iran, Belarus, Netherlands, Moldova, Mozambique, Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Guinea, Uzbekistan, Albania, Montenegro, Cameroon, Czech Republic, Venezuela, Israel, Congo-Brazzaville, Cambodia, Thailand and Peru.
UIHJ was represented by its president, Marc Schmitz, and Francoise Andrieux, honorary President, Jean Didier Bidié, Vice President Luis Ortega, Vice President, Jos Uitdehaag, Secretary, Patrick Safar, Member of the board.
The conference was opened by Anatoly Seryshev, Aide to the President of the Russian Federation; Vadim Fedorov, State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation; Dmitry Aristov, Director of the Federal Bailiffs Service of the Russian Federation; and Mark Schmitz, President of the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ).
The conference started with the signing of the memoranda of understanding between the Russian Federal Bailiff Service with the State Tazirat Organization of Iran, with the Legal Execution Department of the Ministry of Justice of Thailand, with the Agency of Judicial Officers of Finland, and with the General Administration of Judicial Enforcement of Mongolia.
Over 40 reports were delivered during the 2 day-conference. Besides the status of enforcement in the various countries, a common thread through all reports was the importance of the digitization of the enforcement profession. Such digitization not only focuses on the automated case management system or access to asset-information, but also on the use of artificial intelligence in the field of enforcement and the practical problems enforcement agents are confronted with when it comes to the attachment of digital assets. As president Marc Schmitz articulated in his speech: “The digital world is cross-border. The world wide web ignores borders! For that reason, consideration of continental and even global harmonization is crucial, particularly with regard to tracing and gaining access to digital assets which could be stored on servers anywhere, all over the world. An approach that goes beyond legal traditions is needed and also a consensus with and within the IT industry ought to be reached.
The major companies of on-line services have their policy how to deal with digital assets stored on their servers in case of death or incapacity of a user. However, not all companies have such policy. Besides, the question may arise if, in case of such policy, the rights of the users are really well protected. The International Union of Judicial Officers should play a central role in the development of digitization of justice and more precisely in the field of civil enforcement, be one of the pioneers and take a leading position by drafting position papers, recommendations and why not … extend the already existing Global Code of Enforcement of the UIHJ to the field of digitization of justice and enforcement of digital assets! We should not miss this opportunity!!!”
His remarks enjoyed broad support from all participants.
The 2-day conference was closed by Director of the Federal Bailiffs Service of Russia Dmitry Aristov and President of the International Union of Judicial Officers Mark Schmitz. On this occasion the director of the Federal Bailiff Service had for the participants another new feature: the 10th anniversary of the enforcement conference was the last one. From next year the event will be organised as a new concept: an International Enforcement Forum. President Schmitz thanked all participants for their active contribution and praised the excellent partnership between the Russian Bailiff Service and the UIHJ.
