On 6-9 November 2017 a delegation composed of representatives of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, the Supreme Court and the Supreme State Prosecution Office of Montenegro visited the main judicial institutions in Portugal. Through an intensive three-day study visit programme, the Montenegrin delegation was able to get an insight of the structure and of the key competences of Portuguese judicial institutions. Notably, they visited the High Judicial and the High Prosecutorial Councils, the Supreme Court of Justice, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Appellate Court of Lisbon, the Lisboa-Oeste Court (Sintra) – the first instance court and the Center for Judicial Studies (CEJ) – National school of judges and prosecutors.
The objective of the study visit was to provide a platform for discussion of on-going reforms in the judicial systems of both countries – especially issues related to the implementation of standards of independence and accountability in the judiciary and prosecution services. The structure of the judicial systems and the competences of the key judicial institutions of the two countries are similar, and this allowed for fruitful discussions and exchanges of experiences in specific areas such as recruitment, selection and career development, systems of professional evaluation and disciplinary systems for judges and prosecutors. The advanced IT system of document management used by Portuguese courts, and the online, paper free “Citius” system for e-managing of court cases were presented to the Montenegrin delegation.
The study visit was organised in the framework of the Action “Accountability of the Judicial System”, jointly funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe.