24 May, 2016
The Council for the Judiciary listened to the information of the Ministry of Justice regarding operation of Section 321 of the Civil Procedure Law, and supported an opportunity to prolong transitional period established in this provision until 31 December 2018.
To solve an issue regarding equalization of load of courts, by amendments to the Civil Procedure Law of 19 December 2013, Section 321 was included therein. This Section allows transferring of cases, adjudication of which has not been yet commenced, to other courts located in the same or another court region, if thus it is possible to ensure faster adjudication thereof. The provision was included in the law for the period until the end of reform related to implementation of clear three-level court system, in particular, until 31 December 2016.
Assessment of operation of Section 321 of the Civil Procedure Law, which is prepared by the Ministry of Justice, attests that the provision has significantly facilitated faster adjudication of cases in courts of Riga court region: in total, 6015 civil cases were transferred from district (city) courts located in Riga court region to another courts located in other court regions, and 225 cases were transferred to another court within Riga court region. 481 civil cases were transferred from Riga regional court to other regional courts.
The Ministry of Justice brought forward a question on preservation of this provision of the Civil Procedure Law – either by prolonging operation thereof for another two years until the end of reform of court houses, or including this provision in the law on constant basis.
The Council for the Judiciary supported a proposal regarding prolongation of legal provision until 31 December 2018, at the same turning attention to necessity to assess indicated problematic aspects and recommendations on application of legal provision in surveys of Chairs of courts, work group on the Civil Procedure Law and at the sitting of the Council for the Judiciary.
The decision was adopted by the Council for the Judiciary at the sitting of 23 May.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: 67020396, 28652211