The UIHJ attends the 24th Plenary Meeting of the CEPEJ on 11th and 12th December 2014

 

Twice a year, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe (CEPEJ) is organising a plenary meeting. In its capacity as permanent observer member, the UIHJ participates in these meetings. The 24th plenary meeting was held on 11 and 12 December 2014 at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (France). The UIHJ was represented by its president, Leo Netten, and its first secretary, Mathieu Chardon.

The meeting was opened by Hanne Juncher, Head of the Department of Justice and Legal Cooperation of the Council of Europe, John Stacey, President of the CEPEJ, and Stéphane Leyenberger, Head of the Division for the independence and efficiency of justice, Secretary to the CEPEJ.

The CEPEJ member countries provided information on recent developments in the judiciary in the Member States of the Council of Europe. As such, it was reported that Azerbaijan was planning to set up a liberal judicial officer system.

It was given an account of the various CEPEJ cooperation programmes, including:
    Norway Grant Programme: Improving the quality and efficiency of the judicial system through infrastructure development and better management in Croatia;
    Joint Programme with the European Union for Albania;
    Joint Programme with the European Union for the Eastern Partnership: efficiency of justice in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Ukraine;
    Neighbourhood policy: Joint programmes with the European Union for Morocco, Tunisia ("South Programme") and Jordan.
 
With regard to Albania, Morocco and Jordan, the CEPEJ has recently enlisted the expertise of the UIHJ under these programmes. Regarding cooperation with Morocco, Jacques Bühler, Chairman of the SATURN Centre for judicial time management of the CEPEJ, thanked the UIHJ for the work carried out concerning the service of documents. During the round table held in Casablanca in 2013 at the Court of First Instance of Casablanca, proposals for simplification of notification were presented and tested for a few months with the Moroccan judicial officers, the local authorities, judges and clerks. The tests were positive. The changes will be incorporated in the new Moroccan Code of Civil Procedure which should be voted soon.

Regarding Jordan, it was announced the next coming of CEPEJ experts Mathieu Chardon and John Marston in Amman as part of the enforcement of court decisions.

Jean-Paul Jean, President of the CEPEJ Working Group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems (CEPEJ- GT-EVAL), presented a report on the impact of the 5th CEPEJ report on European judicial systems released in October 2014. He stressed the excellent response to this report, the most comprehensive since its inception. He announced the implementation of the 2014-2016 evaluation cycle.

Cooperation is ongoing with the European Commission in the evaluation of judicial systems. A study on judicial systems in the Member States of the European Union is being prepared, based on the methodology developed by the CEPEJ, from the 2013 data, aimed to provide information allowing the European Commission to prepare its “EU Justice Scoreboard”.

On the promotion of the CEPEJ Guidelines on enforcement, François Paychère, President of the CEPEJ Working Group on Quality of Justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL), recalled that the Council of Europe, the CEPEJ and the UIHJ have just jointly organised on 10th December 2014 at the Council of Europe the 1st Global Forum on Enforcement. The event was organised to mark the 5th anniversary of the CEPEJ Guidelines adopted by the CEPEJ on 10th December 2009 and adopted by Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 17th December 2009. (see the article on our site :
http://www.uihj.com/en/1st-global-forum-on-enforcement_2162943.html)

Mathieu Chardon gave an account of the event. He thanked the CEPEJ for its support in organising this international event, which was sold out and met a great success. He again emphasised the importance of the CEPEJ Guidelines on Enforcement and their influence as a model for the profession of enforcement agent at global level.

On this subject, François Paychère went on to say that the CEPEJ-GT-QUAL would continue to work for optimal distribution of these Guidelines. It is expected to begin a work of collecting good practices on enforcement in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. This will systematise these good practices and a better knowledge of the subject of enforcement and to have criteria for the efficiency of national systems as dynamic as possible.

Leo Netten welcomed this excellent initiative. He said that best practices are consistent with tools, an issue much discussed during the 1st Global Forum on Enforcement. The President of the UIHJ showed the CEPEJ his full support and confirmed that the UIHJ was ready to continue working with the CEPEJ and the Council of Europe.

Leo Netten and Mathieu also mentioned the UIHJ report on enforcement, which was presented at the 1st Global Forum on Enforcement, and the Global Code on Enforcement. Leo Netten invited all members of the CEPEJ to attend the official launch of the Global Code on Enforcement during the 22nd International Congress of Judicial Officers to be held in Madrid (Spain), from 2 to 5 June 2015.

The Crystal Scales of Justice prize was held in Aveiro (Portugal) during the European Day of Justice. It was this year awarded to the General Council of the Spanish Bar for its initiative, "Online legal aid: Better solutions for people's rights".

In order to cope with the growing demand for CEPEJ experts, particularly in the framework of the implementation of cooperation programmes, member countries are required to appoint experts willing to participate in the work of the CEPEJ. Training sessions will be organised for the experts in order that they may contribute to promoting the CEPEJ tools within the framework of these programmes. A first training session is to take place in Paris on 30th January 2015

John Stacey is approaching the end of his second, non-renewable, term as President of the CEPEJ. The election of the new President and the Bureau has therefore taken place.
Were elected - and warmly applauded - for a period of two years:
- President: Georg Stawa (Austria)
- Vice-President: Irakli Adeishvili (Georgia)
- Member: Ivana Borzova (Czech Republic)
- Member: Ramin Gurbanov (Azerbaijan)

President Stacey was very lengthy and warmly applauded and congratulated by the members of the CEPEJ and the Secretariat. In return, he thanked every member of the CEPEJ and the Secretariat for the quality and the consistency of the work carried out during the past four years.

The observer members of the CEPEJ did not fail to acknowledge the work of President Stacey and deeply thank him.

The UIHJ is grateful to John Stacey for his excellent work during this period. It welcomes the actions of his bureau for the quality of justice and the significant progress concerning enforcement of court decisions and the profession of enforcement agent.

The UIHJ addresses its warmest congratulations to the new bureau of the CEPEJ and its president Georg Stawa and calls for the continuation of relations between the two institutions.