Between June 2015 and March 2017 the Council of Europe and authorities of the Republic of Moldova were actively engaged in cooperation to improve the efficiency of courts and the quality of judicial services, as well as lawyers’ self-governance. This cooperation was part of the project "Strengthening the efficiency of justice and support to lawyer’s profession in the Republic of Moldova", conducted under the European Union and the Council of Europe Partnership for Good Governance (previously designated as Programmatic Co-operation Framework in the Eastern Partnership Countries). The Superior Council of Magistracy, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court and the National Institute of Justice of the Republic of Moldova played active roles in the implementation of the said project. 6 pilot courts, including the Supreme Court of Justice and some of the biggest and busiest appellate and fist instance courts, applied tools developed by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) in their day-to-day activities. To support the pilot courts, a team of CEPEJ experts conducted a thorough court coaching programme, which was concluded by an assessment of the pilot courts’ results and the development of a set of recommendations in view of further implementation of the CEPEJ tools in all courts of the Republic of Moldova. The results achieved by the pilot courts and other national partners are quite impressive in terms of improved time and quality management in courts, increased openness towards court users, transparency, and accountability of individual courts, introduction of adapted courses on court management in the training curricula for judges and court staff.

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