16 June, 2023
On Friday, June 16, the Judicial Council approved the guidelines for drawing up court judgments and examined the priority measures of budget for district (city) courts, regional courts, and the Supreme Court for 2023-2025, as well as addressed amendments to the law "On Judicial Power" and the Office of the Prosecutor Law.
The Judicial Council approved the guidelines developed by the Division of Case-law and Research of the Supreme Court for drawing up court judgments in administrative cases and civil cases for courts of first instance and appellate instance in order to facilitate the improvement of the quality of judgments and to ensure a uniform approach to drawing up court judgments in all courts. The development of guidelines facilitates the implementation of the tasks set by the Judicial Council’s operational strategy 2021-2025 on strengthening the performance efficiency and quality of the Judicial Council.
Furthermore, the Judicial Council supported the priority measures of budget for district (city) courts, regional courts, and the Supreme Court in 2024-2026 proposed by the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Court. Priority measures of the Supreme Court include competitive remuneration for the employees of the Supreme Court, organization of the Conference of Chief Justices of Central and Eastern Europe, and maintenance of the information technology infrastructure of the Supreme Court. Whereas, the priority measures of the district (city) courts and regional courts include ensuring the operation of the courts and covering infrastructure maintenance costs, integration of Horizon platform, covering the increase in the rental price of the state unified computerized land registers and licenses, replacing the stationary computers in the courtrooms, modernizing the audio recording system in the courtrooms, improvement of the Court Information System, introduction of the eSeal technical solution and introduction of the e-Evidence system in the international civil proceedings.
The Judicial Council generally supported the amendments developed by the Ministry of Justice to the law "On Judicial Power" and the Office of the Prosecutor Law aiming to execute the judgment of the Constitutional Court of December 15, 2022 in the case No 2021-41-01. The amendments provide for further individual evaluation of a candidate for the position of judge or prosecutor in case the candidate has committed a criminal offense or a less serious crime due to negligence. Furthermore, the Judicial Council called on the Ministry of Justice to specify the wording of the proposed legal framework regarding the institutional solution, namely the creation of a new commission, which is contrary to the expansion of the competences of the existing institutions.
The Judicial Council also heard the report of Andris Munda, the Director of the Court Administration, on the achievements of the Court Administration in 2022. A. Munda informed that in 2022 the European Social Fund Project “Justice for Development” ended, within the framework of which important projects for improving the quality of the judicial system were completed. In 2022, the Academy of Justice project was also launched, the goal of which is to create a unified training centre for improving the qualifications of judges, court employees, prosecutors, assistants to prosecutors, and investigators. Moreover, the Court Administration has equipped the courts with new safety and labour protection systems, as well as provided ergonomic workplaces.