26 June, 2018
On June 25, Anita Zikmane, the Head of the Division of Case-law and Research of the Supreme Court, informed about the implementation of the Council for the Judiciary’s decision of February 5, 2018, analyzing the cases of insolvency and legal protection, in which the Supreme Court satisfied the protests submitted from 2008 to 2014. An in-depth analysis was initially carried out in 30 cases, adding up to 10 more cases during the work process. At present, with the involvement of experts from the field of justice, there are rulings in 118 cases, corresponding to ¾ of the planned volume of work. Experts continue to work on problem analysis and the formulation of systematic conclusions. Although it cannot be excluded that expert opinions may differ on some issues, the Council for the Judiciary invited experts to find the opportunity to complete the work by the end of August, so that the conclusions could be heard at the next sitting of the Council.
When considering the proposals submitted to the Saeima (parliament) before the third reading in connection with the procedure for the appointment of chairs of district (city) and regional courts, the Council for the Judiciary decided not to support the proposal to authorize the general meeting of judges to nominate candidates. In its turn, unanimous support was provided for the Supreme Court's proposal to restore its historic name "Senate".
The Council for the Judiciary approved the procedure for the selection, apprenticeship and taking of qualification examination of a candidate to the office of a judge of the Supreme Court and the procedure for the selection, apprenticeship and taking of qualification examination of a candidate to the office of a judge of a district (city) court.
The Council for the Judiciary took note of the EU Justice Scoreboard on the rule of law in the EU published by the European Commission, which analyzes and compares the effectiveness, quality and independence of the judicial systems in the EU Member States. The report concludes that in many aspects related to judicial proceedings, Latvia, like many other EU Member States, shows stable performance indicators without significant annual fluctuations (for example, the number of incoming and pending cases in Latvia has remained practically unchanged in recent years, in 2016 length of proceedings has slightly increased at courts of first instance; the completion rate of adjudication of cases has slightly decreased). The total length of proceedings in all courts in Latvia is at the average EU level (similar to Finland).
The Council for the Judiciary also ruled on the organizational issues of the Latvian Judges’ Conference of September 7, 2018, and instructed the judge of Riga District Court Natalija Zavadska to perform the duties of a judge in Zemgale District Court in Ogre during the temporary absence of a judge.
Information prepared by
Solvita Harbacevica, the Head of the Secretariat of the Council for the Judiciary