Transcript European developments in judicial systems Pim Albers Special advisor of the CEPEJ Council of Europe.

European developments
in judicial systems
Pim Albers
Special advisor of the CEPEJ
Council of Europe
European Commission for the
Efficiency of Justice
Compare judicial systems of member
States by using statistics, evaluation
reports
 Assistance of member states in the area of
administration of justice
 Drafting new legal instruments of
changing current ones in the justice area
(Recommendations, Resolutions, etc.)

One of the tasks is evaluation of
judicial systems in Europe
First evaluation was
conducted in the
period 2001 – 2003
(data of the year
2002)
 Second evaluation
was implemented in
the period 2004 –
2006 (data of the
year 2004)
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Topics of the questionnaire
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Budget
Legal aid
Users of the courts and victims
Functioning of courts
Monitoring and evaluation
Fair trial
Timeframes of proceedings
(case information: civil,
administrative, criminal)
Career of judges and
prosecutors
Lawyers
ADR
Enforcement of court decisions
Notaries
Annual budget allocated to
all courts (without
prosecution and legal aid)
Users of the courts and victims
(special arrangements)
Categories of vulnerable
persons
Information
mechanism
Hearing
modalities
Procedural
rights
Other
right/device
Victims of rape
21
33
27
8
Victims of terrorism
15
21
18
6
Child/Witness/Victim
26
41
36
12
Victims of domestic violence
22
25
27
11
Ethnic minorities
16
17
15
4
Disabled persons
18
30
22
8
Juvenile offenders
22
34
37
8
Other categories
3
6
7
4
Number of courts per 100.000 inhabitants
ICT in the courts
100% of
courts
+ 50% of
courts
- 50%
of
courts
- 10%
of
Courts
missing
answers
Word processing
40
5
1
-
1
Electronic data base of jurisprudence
33
5
1
3
5
Electronic files
20
6
1
14
6
E-mail
31
7
4
3
2
Internet connection
33
5
5
2
2
Case registration system
25
9
4
6
3
Court management information
system
17
12
4
8
6
Financial information system
23
7
3
8
6
Electronic forms
13
1
4
21
8
Special Website
18
5
7
13
4
Other electronic communication
facilities
12
4
1
14
16
Functions
Direct
assistance
to the judge /
court clerk
Administration
and
management
Communication
between the
court
and the parties
Facilities
Computer facilities for direct assistance of the judge and
court clerk
Examples of new developments in use of ICT in courts
(money claim online)
Other ICT examples
Electronic business registers (Germany)
Case assignment systems (Slovakia)
Court decisions on the Internet (Netherlands)
Electronic communication with the courts (Switzerland)
Professional judges per 100.000 inhabitants
But also…
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Lay-judges (Croatia, Estonia,
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Citizen participation: trial by
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Rechtspfleger (Armenia,
Latvia, Slovenia, Belgium,
Czech Republic, etc.)
Jury (21 countries)
Austria, Croatia, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Germany, Hungary, Ireland,
Liechtenstein, Malta, Norway,
Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain)
Timeframes (length of proceedings)
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Not many countries are able to provide
information on the length of
proceedings
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Exchange of information between
European courts through the network
of pilot-courts
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Development of tools for reducing
delays (time management checklist)
210000
Moldova
Romania
Bulgaria
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Ukraine
Albania
Latvia
Russian Federation
Poland
Turkey
Lithuania
Czech Republic
Slovakia
Estonia
Hungary
Slovenia
Croatia
Sweden
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Malta
Cyprus
Portugal
Italy
Germany
Monaco
Austria
Spain
France
Finland
Belgium
Andorra
Netherlands
Luxembourg
San Marino
Norway
Denmark
Liechtenstein
Iceland
Ireland
UK England & Wales
UK Scotland
UK Northern Ireland
Q4 Average gross annual salary
Q79 Gross annual salary of a 1st instance professional judge at the beginning of his/her career
Q80 Gross annual salary of a judge of the Supreme Court or of the highest appellate court
I
II
III
IV
V
180000
150000
120000
Gross annual salary in euro
Status and role of judges (and prosecutors)
300000
270000
240000
90000
60000
30000
0
Countries
Combination of the work as a judge or prosecutor
with other activities
Judges
Prosecutors
Activity
Yes
remunerated
Yes, not
remunerated
No
Yes
remunerated
Yes, not
remunerated
No
Teaching
39
12
1
41
10
2
Research and
publication
40
12
1
41
10
2
Arbitrator
10
4
32
8
3
35
Consultant
7
4
33
7
3
34
Cultural function
19
16
14
20
15
13
Other function
11
3
13
6
3
14
Public prosecutors
45
40
35
Russian Federation
UK Scotland
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldova
Armenia
Liechtenstein
UK Northern Ireland
Cyprus
Norway
Hungary
Poland
Estonia
Montenegro
number of prosecutors per 100 000 inhabitants
Monaco
Slovakia
Romania
Croatia
Georgia
Portugal
Serbia
Denmark
Czech Republic
Albania
Slovenia
Luxembourg
Sweden
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Finland
Germany
UK England & Wales
Andorra
Greece
Azerbaijan
Turkey
Spain
Netherlands
Italy
San Marino
France
Austria
Ireland
Iceland
Malta
Countries
IV
III
II
I
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Number of lawyers per 100.000 inhabitants
Trends, risks and developments
More involvement of Councils for the judiciary in budgetary tasks
More influence of Councils for the judiciary
on the recruitment and nomination of judges
More attention for the judicial and organizational quality
Increasing ‘tensions’ between ministry of Justice and judicial Councils
More attention necessary for court statistics (i.e. length of
proceedings
More transparency necessary of the judiciary (more
openness towards citizens and society)
Other activities of the council of Europe in the field
of the judiciary
Consultative Council
of European Judges
 Consultative Council
of European
Prosecutors
 Co-operation
activities with the
EU (Crystal Scale of
Justice, European
Day of Civil Justice)
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For more information: visit our website
www.coe.int/cepej