A Profitable Co-Operation
The time was 17 December 2004. After ten years of contacts, the UIHJ signed a charter of co-operation with the Department of Legal Enforcement of the ministry of justice of Thailand (DLE). Since then, three times per annum, Thai judicial officers come to France to carry out a one week training course in offices of judicial officers of this country. In return, the UIHJ is invited once a year by the authorities of Thailand to take part in training seminars.
This year, the topics of the legal organisation and the functions of judicial officers in France had been retained for the seminar which took place on 25 and 26 March 2008 in Bangkok. The delegation of the UIHJ consisted of Jacques Isnard, president, René Duperray, secretary-general, Roland de Meerleer, member of the board and Mathieu Chardon, 1st secretary. The delegation was accompanied by Jean-Michel Rouzaud and Sophie Gaublomme, respectively president and director of the National School of Procedure of Paris (ENP). The ENP indeed for a long time is closely associated to the training activities of the UIHJ world-wide.
Kraisorn Barameeauychai, general manager of the DLE at the time of signature of the charter of co-operation, is today replaced by Mrs Kanyanuch Sortip. But the bonds of friendship between the former director and the UIHJ are undoubtedly very strong since Mr. Barameeauychai personally came to meet the delegation of the UIHJ. During two convivial dinners during which the Thai and French cultures could compete in their excellence, Mr. Barameeauychai confirmed his connection to the work of the UIHJ and the co-operation which was installed under his directorate.
A Perfect Organisation
Mrs Kanyanuch Sortip, news director of the DLE, did not fail in the Thai reputation as regards hospitality. The contacts with the UIHJ were cordial, convivial and profitable. Mrs Sortip expressed her wish at Jacques Isnard to strengthen the existing co-operation by increasing the frequency of the training courses in France.
The members of the delegations also had the joy of meeting once again a friend of long date in the person of Pimonrat Vatthanahataï, Judge at the Supreme Court of Thailand, who, in spite of an overloaded timetable, was present throughout their stay. By her exceptional competences and her perfect knowledge of French, Mrs Vatthanahataï showed once again that she was one of the key elements of the co-operation between the UIHJ and her country. Lastly, the members of the UIHJ again met Mrs Ornyajay Phoolthanang, employee of the DLE, who had been noticed at the time of the UIHJ international congress in Washington D.C. (USA), in April 2006 in her capacity as a representative of Thailand. Mrs Phoolthanang could show her great legal knowledge, her perfect control of English, and her communicative good mood!
It is important to acknowledge Mrs Sortip for the perfect organisation of the two days training seminar in which approximately 120 DLE judicial officers took part. In his introductory short speech, Jacques Isnard thanked the authorities of Thailand and Mrs Sortip for the quality of the reception. The president of the UIHJ pointed out that he always had much pleasure to meet his Thai counterparts and that he achieved here his 6th journey. “In order to implement the reforms which are in hand, the DLE decided to organise international seminars. It is within this framework that we are here. It is an excellent initiative because it is important to multiply the dialogues.” Jacques Isnard indicated.
Then he recalled that the occupation of judicial officer in Thailand consists of three groups of agents: those in charge of attachments, those in charge of auction sales and the bankruptcies curators. The president of the UIHJ explained why the European States are interested in the statute of a self-employed judicial officer, primarily for reasons of efficiency of the liberal professionals and of economy for the country. “But wherever we live and whatever the language we use, we share the same work, the same identity and that is extraordinary.” president Isnard concluded while wishing everyone a profitable work.
The Place of the French Judicial Officer in Europe
Jean-Michel Rouzaud, judicial officer in Montpellier (France) and President of the ENP recalled that, at the time of a recent congress, the French Minister for justice had stressed that “the work of justice would be unfinished without the judicial officers” and that these professionals “have a major place in the legal system”.
Then Sophie Gaublomme, director of the ENP, drew up a detailed panorama of the French jurisdictions, while insisting on the civil, commercial and penal jurisdictions. Coming to widen the presentation of Mrs Gaublomme, Jacques Isnard then evoked the jurisdictions which exist on a European level, namely the European Court of Human Right for the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe, and the Court of Justice of the European Communities for the 27 Member States of the European Union.
In the same direction, Mathieu Chardon, 1st secretary of the UIHJ and a Council of Europe expert, presented the recommendation (Rec)2003/17 of 9 September 2003 of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe to the Member States as regards enforcement of court decisions. Mathieu Chardon also stressed the importance of the Community regulations as regards service of documents and enforcement of court decisions in cross-border matter.
Jean-Michel Rouzaud then evoked the various actors of the French legal world, both magistrates and auxiliaries of justice. Then the president of the ENP presented the occupation of judicial officer in France, by detailing some of its various components: status, organisation, and training, access to the profession, liability, ethics, discipline and activities. Mathieu Chardon explained the place of the judicial officer on a European level as well as the incidence of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet block in the installation of a self-employed judicial officer on a European level, under the impulse of the UIHJ. For his part, Roland de Meerleer recalled that in Belgium, the judicial officer has a statute almost identical to his French counterpart, to some distinctions which he underlined perfectly.
A French School Unique in the World
Sophie Gaublomme presented the school which she directs, helped in that by a visual presentation of the Web site of the ENP (http://www.enpepp.org/). Unique in the world, it is a fact that the ENP is used as a model at a European and African levels. Several countries are currently inspired by the French model to create training schools for employees of judicial officer and for future judicial officers.
After these presentations, it was the turn of the Thai fellow-members to intervene by the means of many questions which nourished the debates during several hours. Alone, the conditions of implementing movable and immovable auction sales would have required an entire seminar!
At the time to conclude these two intense days, president Isnard thanked all the participants and the speakers, and particularly Mrs Sortip and Mrs Vattanahataï for their flawless organisation and assistance. Praising the richness of the judicial law of Thailand, the president of the UIHJ proposed to strengthen the co-operation between Thailand and the UIHJ by the organisation of a seminar of comparative law.
After the meeting, the delegations went to Trang (southern west of Thailand) to visit the office of this province, directed by Mr. Anuchtsiang Yai.
And while waiting for a forthcoming meeting in Thailand, two new series of training courses are already programmed in France for our fellow-members of the DLE, in June and September 2008.
