The main objective of the regional project is to promote increased judicial efficiency and quality through regional initiatives, and especially to increase the level of compliance with article 6 of ECHR.
During the initial phase of the project the WGJM together with NCA decided to carry out a regional study that will identify procedural court practices in the region obstructing ECHR article 6 compliance, with subsequent recommendations and guidelines for how to diminish these obstacles. The guidelines will then be tested in a selection of pilot courts in the region.
The project has engaged Prof. Alan Uzelac, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, to assist the project and the WGJM during the drafting of the study.
Civil litigious cases
The study is restricted to civil litigious cases with both natural and legal parties. The regional project intends to follow up the study by focusing on other case categories.
Breakdown in procedural stages of civil litigation
Based upon inter alia case law from the European Court of Human Rights ( ECtHR) as well as discussions in the WGJM the study will de divided into the different stages of civil litigation. It will focus on already acknowledged and identified obstacles to efficiency and quality, but also through data collection identify obstacles that so far have not been sufficiently identified.
Following a study visit to the judiciary in Portugal, the WGJM decided to apply this methodology by inspiration partly from a pilot project conducted in the court of Sintra, Portugal, where there project studied each of the many steps of the internal processes of litigation in the court.
Comprehensive data collection
The study will be supported by collection of two layers of comprehensive data from the courts in the region. The first layer will be aggregated data on civil cases at National level, whereas the second layer will be in-depth data collection from a sample of civil cases resolved in the first instance courts for the year 2023 in all the involved judiciaries.
The project has engaged two experts to carry out the collection of data and subsequent assessment of the collected data:
Mr. Juraj Brozović, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Mr. Amer Demirović, Judicial Statistics Expert, University of Brunei
The data collection is done in close cooperation with the judicial councils and Ministries of Justice in the region.
Timeline
The draft study will be completed in November 2024. After consultations with the judicial councils, the project with the WGJM will proceed with drafting of guidelines based upon the recommendations in the study. The guidelines will then be tested in a selection of pilot courts in the region.
Inquiries
Please contact Ms. Amra Jasarevic ( amra.jasarevic@domstol.no) or Mr Audun Hognes Berg ( audun.hognes.berg@domstol.no) if you want additional information about the study.