30 September, 2020
The Judicial Council agreed that ten judicial vacancies of district (city) courts shall be transferred to the Economic Court, which commences its work on January 1.
One vacancy was transferred from Rezekne Court in Balvi, three vacancies from Kurzeme District Court (one in Kuldiga, two in Saldus), three vacancies from Vidzeme District Court - (in Gulbene, Valka and Limbazi), two vacancies from Zemgale District Court (in Bauska and Dobele), and one vacancy from the Administrative District Court.
For the Economic Court to commence its work, four additional positions of a judge are required for the Riga Regional Court. Two positions have been transferred to the Riga Regional Court from the Kurzeme Regional Court and the Latgale Regional Court, two more positions will be transferred from the seven judicial vacancies in the Riga Regional Court itself.
In order to determine which vacancies of judges should be transferred to the Economic Court, the Court Administration has analyzed statistical indicators, court workload indicators, as well as taken into account the opinion of chairs of the respective courts. The Court Administration considers that the reduction of the number of judges in these courts will not significantly increase the backlog of cases and the length of proceedings.
There was no discussion about the transfer of most of the judge's positions, however what regards the two vacancies – in Zemgale District Court in Dobele and in Kurzeme District Court in Saldus – there was no consent of the chairs of courts, and a wider discussion of the Judicial Council was dedicated to this issue.
Having carried out the task set forth in the law “On Judicial Power” to transfer the required number of judicial positions for the establishment of the Economic Court, the Judicial Council pointed out that it is necessary to develop uniform and precise criteria for calculating the workload of courts, as the current mechanical calculations used by the Court Administration are not considered to be objective.
The decision was adopted by the Judicial Council at its meeting on September 28, 2020.
Information prepared by
Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court
E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211
