Speed, Efficiency, High Performance
During the opening ceremony, the President of the National Order of Moroccan Judicial Officers, Abdelaziz Fouganni, welcomed such a wide audience. He gave the floor to the representative of the Minister of Justice who straight away emphasized the importance of enforcement.
He indicated that in Morocco, a reform is currently underway to ensure security of trade. He added that the staff in charge of enforcing court decisions is an essential element for security and therefore should have a solid training.
Taking the floor, the President of the UIHJ, Leo Netten, recalled that the main objectives of the Mediterranean countries result of the Barcelona Process which aims to build together an area of shared peace, security and prosperity.
UIHJ-EuroMed has the same objective: to offer litigants from the Mediterranean legal security through the guarantee of the enforcement of court decisions.
"Speed, efficiency, high performance in debt collection: our profession meets these requirements."
The President of the UIHJ also touched on the topic of e-Justice recalling that technology is a universal language that can also connect people.
The representative of Egypt then took the floor. He announced that, considering the successful experience of his country in the UIHJ he had proposed to the Ministry of Justice to liberalize the profession of judicial officer in Egypt.
Finally the President of the National School of Procedure of Paris, Jean Michel Rouzaud, reminded the audience that it is through training that a profession can rise, grow and prosper. Through training, a profession is credible, legitimate and complete.
Leo Netten, Abdelaziz Fouganni, Jean-Michel Rouzaud and Patrick Safar, representing the National Chamber of judicial officers of France of which he is the deputy secretary, then proceeded to the signing of a collaborative Charter. This charter aims at training not only Moroccan judicial officers but also to support them in creating their training system.
Thus ended the opening ceremony of the session and the work could begin.
The Judicial Officer, Guarantor of Legal Security
Four workshops followed. The first workshop was entitled: "The status of the judicial officer: an asset or a hindrance? ".
Speakers worked to demonstrate the usefulness of the existence of a statute for judicial officers including duties and obligations as well as advantages (such as the monopoly of certain activities, for example).
Then in a second time they put forward the benefits of a liberal and independent status. They insisted on such fundamental concepts as the judicial officer guarantor of legal certainty or on European standards related to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, and recommendation 17 and the Guidelines of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice. This workshop was followed by a discussion with the public.
The second workshop was entitled: "Structures and professional practices." Each of the speakers described the structures of his profession critically and objectively, without forgetting to address the issue of professional ethics and their codification.
The third workshop dealt with the traditional economic part on the subject of "Evidence " and particularly the role of the judicial officer in the conservation, establishment, looking for evidence. The various speakers sought out what is the role (formal or informal, identified or not) of the judicial officer in the finding of evidence.
Finally the works ended with the fourth workshop on counterfeit proceedings. The speakers engaged in a comparative study of this procedure with conclusive analysis as regards the needs of businesses.
Then UIHJ-EuroMed issued five recommendations.
Recommendations of the Seventh Session of the UIHJ EuroMed of 3-7 June 2010 in Marrakech (Morocco)
Recommendation 1
Considering the desire to achieve a harmonization of the status of the profession of judicial officer in the different UIHJ-EuroMed member countries
Considering the need to increase the scope of activities of judicial officers,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends to consider as a minimum basis of harmonization the recommendations of the CEPEJ guidelines on the implementation of recommendation 17, which text is reproduced below:
4.3. Rights and obligations
33. Enforcement agents, as defined by a country's law, should be responsible for the conduct of enforcement within their competences as defined by national law. Member states should consider giving enforcement agents sole competence for:
• enforcement of judicial decisions and other enforceable titles or documents, and
• implementation of all the enforcement procedures provided for by the law of the state in which they operate.
34. Enforcement agents may also be authorized to perform secondary activities compatible with their role, tending to safeguard and secure recognition of parties' rights and aimed at expediting the judicial process or reducing the workload of the courts. These may be, among others:
• debt recovery;
• voluntary sale of moveable or immoveable property at public auction;
• seizure of goods;
• recording and reporting of evidence;
• serving as court ushers;
• provision of legal advice;
• bankruptcy procedures;
• performing tasks assigned to them by the courts;
• representing parties in the courts;
• drawing up private deeds and documents;
• teaching.
Recommendation 2
Whereas ethics is the cornerstone of self-employed professions,
Whereas only a truly enforced discipline may give credibility to the members of these professions and their professional bodies,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that ethical rules for judicial officers be codified in the countries where they work.
Recommendation 3
Considering the increase in cross-border relations,
Considering the need to ensure equal treatment of litigants wherever they are established,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that member countries of this organization define together common guiding principles of ethics.
Recommendation 4
Considering that the judicial officer is a liberal, independent and liable professional
Considering that ethics require from him loyalty, honesty and impartiality,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that the judicial officer is the professional of the establishment of evidence in particular through statements of facts, noting that this activity is including in the above CEPEJ guidelines.
Recommendation 5
Considering that the judicial officer serves the litigant, being a natural or a legal person.
Whereas the purpose of UIHJ-EuroMed is to facilitate trade between companies by guaranteeing them through the activity of judicial officers the enforcement of the obligations of the other contracting party,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that counterfeit procedure be extended to all members of this organization. Training should be the safest way to install or upgrade this procedure and its application.
Marrakesh (Morocco) June 4, 2010
