News: Rule of Law

Basic Mediation Training for Judges of Turkish Pilot Courts

The Basic Mediation Training for judges of Turkish pilot courts was organised in Ankara from 4 to 8 January 2016. The event was hosted by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations. The training was delivered by five trainers of the Baskent University in Ankara, and it focused on communication and negotiation skills, behavioural sciences (psychology), meeting management and mediation. This activity has been organised in the framework of the Project on Developing Mediation Practices in Civil Disputes in Turkey, financed by the Swedish Agency (Sida) and implemented by the Council of Europe.

More information about the project

Methodology for the implementation of the CEPEJ co-operation programmes

The CEPEJ has developed a specific methodology to evaluate the functioning of judicial systems at national and individual courts levels, together with specific tools aimed at public stakeholders (ministries of justice, Parliaments) and professionals working in the field of justice (court presidents, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, clerks, High Councils of Justice). This methodology focuses on judicial time management and quality of justice. The co-operation and the capacity building programmes led by the CEPEJ are based on this methodology and tools, as well as on the experience of CEPEJ members and experts involved in the programmes. As such, they permit the Council of Europe to offer an important added value in the field of judicial system reforms in all beneficiary countries.
Methodology for the implementation of the CEPEJ co-operation programmes

The CEPEJ newsletter is online

The CEPEJ has just published its 14^th newsletter on the subject “The impact of technological tools on the effectiveness and quality of the justice system”. The newsletter contains all presentations made during the study session “How to direct the change towards Cyberjustice?” which took place on 10 December 2015 and it assesses the CEPEJ on-going activities.
Newsletter No. 14: The impact of technological tools on the effectiveness and quality of the justice system

How to direct the change towards Cyberjustice?

A study session entitled “How to direct the change towards cyberjustice?” was organised on the occasion of the CEPEJ plenary meeting on 10 December 2015 in Strasbourg. After an introduction by Mr François Paychère, President of the CEPEJ Working Group on quality of justice (GT-QUAL) and Mr Harold Epineuse, Project manager at the “Institut des Hautes Etudes sur la Justice” (France), examples of applications were presented by: Mr José Muelas, President of the Bar Association in Cartagena (Spain); Mr Dariusz Maslak, Deputy head of the IT division of the Court of Appeal in Wroclaw (Poland); Mr Tiago Lourenço, Technical Advisor Coordinator at IGFEJ, Ministry of Justice (Portugal); Mr Jean-Paul Jean, President of the CEPEJ Working Group on evaluation of the functioning of European judicial systems (GT-EVAL); and by Mr John Hunter, Head of the Department for Information Technology at the European Court of Human Rights. The study session was followed by a round table on the issues identified and the possible evolutions in the field of cyberjustice.
Thematic file: How to direct the change towards Cyberjustice ?

The updated version of the Guide for the implementation of the SATURN tools for judicial time management has been adopted by the CEPEJ

The guide for implementation of SATURN tools on judicial time management has been updated, on the basis of feedback from the experts who have used this document in their various meetings with the national jurisdictions. The guidelines have not been changed but their layout has been updated so as to ensure greater clarity during their appropriation by the courts.
Guide for the implementation of the SATURN tools for judicial time management

Publication of Good practice guide on the enforcement of judicial decisions

The CEPEJ has just adopted a Good practice guide on the enforcement of judicial decisions. The good practices which is comprises refer to various sources of law (laws, rules, case-law), but also to the use of professionals. They reflect in fact the solutions used in one or several member States which are considered satisfacotry as regards respect for private interests (in particular, those of the creditor and debtor) and for the general interest (judicial security, public order, economic health of the country….). This guide concerns at this stage only the enforcement of judicial decisions or non-judicials act in civil matters (ex.: deeds). This guide, furthermore, highlights some solutions which fully reply to the principles and objectives contained in the “Guidelines on enforcement”, adopted by the CEPEJ in 2009.
Good practice guide on enforcement of judicial decisions

Quality justice for all the member States of the Council of Europe

On the occasion of its 26^th plenary meeting, the CEPEJ published a book entitled “High quality justice for all the member States of the Council of Europe”, written by Ramin Gurbanov, PhD in law, member of the CEPEJ Bureau and the CEPEJ working group on the evaluation of European judicial systems, scientific expert of the Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and Judge, with the valuable input of Jean-Paul Jean, Chairman of the Working Group on evaluation of European judicial systems, Associate Professor of the Law Faculty at Poitiers, Chamber President of the Paris Court of Cassation, and the scientific advice of Jacques Bühler, Doctor of law, Chairman of the Steering Group of the SATURN Centre for judicial time management (CEPEJ-SATURN), Deputy Secretary General, Federal Supreme Court, Lucerne, Switzerland, and François Paychère, Doctor of law, Chairman of the CEPEJ working group on quality of justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL), President of the Court of Auditors of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. In addition to a detailed presentation of the functioning of the CEPEJ and of its working groups, this publication recalls and explains the tools and methodologies developed by the CEPEJ. It draws an admirably concise picture of what the CEPEJ stands for today and where it came from.

Speech by Mr Ramin Gurbanov, member of the Bureau of the CEPEJ (Azerbaijan)

Powerpoint presentation by Mr Ramin Gurbanov, member of the Bureau of the CEPEJ (Azerbaijan)
CEPEJ Study No.22: High quality justice for all member States of the Council of Europe [in French / in Russian]

CEPEJ plenary meeting

The 26th CEPEJ plenary meeting took place in Strasbourg on 10 and 11 December 2015. The meeting started with a study session on “How to conduct the change towards Cyber justice ?” The plenary meeting was also an opportunity to review the progress of the CEPEJ co-operation programmes (Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Kosovo*, Morocco, Jordan, and Tunisia), and to assess the on-going work regarding the 2014-2016 edition of the evaluation report of the functioning of European judicial systems. This report will be subject to a new presentation, and it will be offering some online tables and graphics. The report will also contain a fully updated section on the use of ICT technologies within the European judicial systems.
Meeting report
*All references to Kosovo, whether the territory, institutions or population, in this text shall be understood in full compliance with United Nation’s Security Council Resolution 1244 and without prejudice to the status of Kosovo.

Study visit to Strasbourg for the representatives of the Albanian Judiciary

A study with the representatives of the Constitutional Court and the High Court of Albania; the Albanian Ministry of Justice and the High Council of Justice visit took place on 2 and 3 December 2015 at the Council of Europe premises in Strasbourg. The participants have been informed about the recent developments with regards to the ECHR case-law – with a specific focus on Albanian cases. Other aspects have been presented to the delegation: enforcement of European Court of Human Rights’ decisions; new protocols of the European Convention on Human Rights and the work of the CEPEJ and Venice Commission. This activity has been organised in the framework of the Joint Project “Support to the Efficiency of Justice – SEJ”, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.

Mission on the role of judicial inspectors in monitoring the length of judicial procedures in Croatian courts

Mr Jacques Raynaud, Magistrate judicial inspector in France, visited the Ministry of Justice in Zagreb (Croatia) on 1 December 2015, to meet the team of Croatian judicial inspectors, in order to present and discuss: the role of judicial inspectors in France; their legal statute; their missions; and the tools and methodology that they are developing, especially with regards to the control of judicial timeframes. On this occasion, and following the presentation of a Croatian delegation on the function of judicial inspector in Croatia , an exchange of views took place on the specific aspects of the two countries, as well as on the possible integration of management tools on timeframes in the methodology used by the Croatian judicial inspectors. This activity will be followed by a future meeting on 27 January 2016, where Mr Jacques Raynaud will be accompanied by Mr Marco Fabri, researcher and Director of the Research Institute on Judicial Systems at the Italian National Research Council, in order to introduce the tools developed by the SATURN Group on judicial time management. This activity has been organised within the framework of the Cooperation Programme between Croatia and the CEPEJ, funded by the EEA/Norway Grants, which is entitled: “Improvement of the way cases are handled by the judicial system by applying methodologies developed and tested by the CEPEJ”.
Programme
More information about the Programme in Croatia