Reform of the Code of Execution in Slovakia

Slovakia currently prepares reforms on enforcement procedures and the occupation of judicial officer. In this context, the State Secretary of the ministry for Justice of Slovakia and a delegation of the National Chamber of the judicial officers of Slovakia went to Paris on April 15th, 2009 to meet representatives of the UIHJ in order to get information about many aspects relating to the occupation of judicial officer in France, enforcement procedures and the legal system.
The delegation consisted in Daniel Hudak, State Secretary for Justice of Slovakia, Jozef Risian, president of the National Chamber of the judicial officers of Slovakia, and Peter Molnar, member of the board of the Chamber. The UIHJ was represented by its president, Jacques Isnard, its 1st secretary, Mathieu Chardon, and by Anne Kérisit, member. Our Slovak fellow-members explained that there is no “numerus clauses” for the occupation of judicial officers in Slovakia and that the number of judicial officers is too important (280 per 5 million inhabitants). The judicial officers cannot form associations and cannot carry out additional activities apart from enforcement, as it is the case in many countries, like France. Moreover, control on the judicial officers is insufficient and it appears necessary to restrict access to the profession.
The experts of the UIHJ evoked the various points which the Slovak delegation wanted to approach:
- Access to the profession, opening and closing of offices, fixing of the number of offices
- Security of funds collected by judicial officers
- Various forms of exercise of the profession
- Movable and real estate auctions
- Additional activities of the judicial officers
- Service of documents by judicial officers
- The storing of files
- The tariff of judicial officers.
Mathieu Chardon and Anne Kérisit explained the interest to have qualified judicial officers having an high degree of legal knowledge, which gives them vocation to carry out additional missions apart from enforcement of legal decisions and thus to contribute to a better administration of justice. For example, statements of facts and amicable debt recovery contribute to reduce the backlog of cases by avoiding lawsuits. They also explained how too many judicial officers were counterproductive as it leads to a disproportionate pressure on the debtor. For the UIHJ, access to the profession as well as the installation requirements must be strictly regulated. It was indicated to the Slovak representatives that the system of compulsory insurance and civil liability of the profession is regulated at national level in France and thus allows a complete repair of the possible damage caused by judicial officers at the time of the exercise of their profession.
Attributions of the execution judge as his interaction in enforcement procedures were also developed. Lastly, the principles of the tariff of judicial officers were presented to them.
At the conclusion of a lengthy and profitable meeting, the Slovak representatives thanked the UIHJ and indicated that the information obtained constituted a think tank which would be very useful for them at the time of the reform currently in hand.Guy Duvelleroy, President of the National Chamber of judicial officers of France met the delegation at the end of the meeting. He said his board was at their disposal to go deeper into the topics that had been developed.