Project “Continued support to a well performing Slovak judiciary”
September 2019 - November 2021
Context of the Project
A team of CEPEJ experts conducted in 2017-2018 a comprehensive evaluation and formulated recommendations on possible reforms in the judicial sector. The reports “Efficiency and quality of the Slovak judicial system, Assessment and recommendations on the basis of CEPEJ tools” and Evaluation of the current state of affairs of IT tools for the Slovak judicial system and advise on their development” were presented in 2018 to members of the judiciary, political decision makers, non-governmental organisations active in the field of justice and the press. The reports contain recommendations referring to topics of judicial independence, access to justice, efficiency and quality of judicial services, the role of the Analytical Centre, judicial statistics, and on improving the IT tools to support the functions of courts.
The Slovak Ministry of Justice and other national stakeholders follow up on the recommendations of the above reports. The Ministry created thematic working groups tasked with priorities such as further specialisation of judges and increasing the flexibility of judicial offices, improving the system of reporting on courts’ performance, case-weighting and distribution of resources, setting up timeframes for judicial proceedings etc. The Analytical Centre is very active in implementing the CEPEJ methodology for evaluation of the courts’ performance and in formulating informed proposal for justice sector policies and managerial decisions.
The new project further supports the implementation of the recommendations and will build upon the progress achieved by the project finalised in July 2019. The project’s official launching took place on 18 November 2019 and its Steering Committee approved a detailed action plan.
Project's objectives
To improve the access to justice in the Slovak Republic through higher standards of operation of the judicial administration, including improved decision-making, and further modernisation of the court management.
Expected outcomes
National stakeholders will be supported with a view to better strategic planning and evaluation of the impact of judicial reforms. Key performance indicators will be adopted for the assessment of courts’ performance and progress. Expert recommendations will be provided on the prioritised judicial innovations such as the case-weighting system, national indicative timeframes for judicial proceedings, new IT case management tools, and their implementation. The court management will be further modernised through the implementation of the good practices achieved by the CEPEJ pilot courts and capacity building will be provided.
Project beneficiaries and stakeholders
Ministry of Justice and its Analytical Centre, Judicial Council
CEPEJ documents
- Breaking up judges’ isolation - Guidelines to improve the judge's skills and competences, strengthen knowledge sharing and collaboration, and move beyond a culture of judicial isolation / Prelomenie izolácie sudcov Usmernenia na zlepšenie zručností a spôsobilostí sudcu, posilnenie vzájomnej výmeny poznatkov a spolupráce, ako aj posun od kultúry izolácie v súdnictve (CEPEJ(2019)15)
- Guidelines on the Creation of Judicial Maps to Support Access to Justice within a Quality Judicial System - Revidované usmernenia o vytváraní súdnych máp s cieľom podporiť prístup k spravodlivosti v kvalitnom justičnom systéme (CEPEJ(2013)7rev1)
- Guidelines on how to drive change towards Cyberjustice - Stock-taking of tools deployed and summary of good practices - Usmernenia na podnecovanie zmeny smero m ku kybernetickej justícii - Súpis použitých nástrojov a súhrn osvedčených postupov (CEPEJ(2016)13
- Measuring the quality of justice - Meranie kvality justície (CEPEJ(2016)12)
- Time management checklist (Checklist of indicators for the analysis of lengths of proceedings in the justice system) (CEPEJ(2005)12) - komisia rady európy pre hodnotenie efektívnosti justície (cepej) - kontrolný zoznam manažmentu casu - (Kontrolný zoznam ukazovatelov analýzy dlžky konania v systéme súdnictva)
- Revised SATURN guidelines for judicial time management (2nd revision) (CEPEJ(2014)16) - komisia rady európy pre hodnotenie efektívnosti justície (CEPEJ) - Riadiaca skupina Centra SATURN pre casový manažment sudcov (CEPEJ-SATURN) - revidované usmernenia centra saturn k casovému manažmentu sudcov (2. revidované znenie)
- CEPEJ guidelines on judicial statistics (GOJUST) - komisia rady európy pre hodnotenie efektívnosti justície (CEPEJ) - usmernenia komisie cepej o justicných štatistikách (GOJUST) (CEPEJ(2008)11)
- Checklist for promoting the quality of justice and the courts - komisia rady európy pre hodnotenie efektívnosti justície (CEPEJ) - Kontrolný zoznam na podporu kvality súdnictva a súdov - prijatý komisiou CEPEJ na jej 11. plenárnom zasadnutí (CEPEJ(2008)2)
- Towards European Timeframes for Judicial Proceedings - Implementation Guide / komisia rady európy pre hodnotenie efektívnosti justície (CEPEJ) - Cesta k európskym casovým rámcom súdnych konaní - Metodické usmernenie k ich zavádzaniu / CEPEJ(2016)5
- Prírucka prieskumu spokojnosti úcastníkov súdnych konaní s fungovaním súdov v clenských štátoch rady európy / Handbook for conducting satisfaction surveys aimed at Court users in the Council of Europe's member States - (CEPEJ(2016)15)
Consultative Council of European Judges documents (CCJE)
- Opinion n°17 (2014) on the evaluation of judges’ work, the quality of justice and respect for judicial independence / STANOVISKO Č. 17 (2014) O HODNOTENÍ PRÁCE SUDCOV, KVALITE JUSTÍCIE A REŠPEKTOVANÍ SUDCOVSKEJ NEZÁVISLOSTI
- Opinion n°19 (2016) on the role of court presidents - STANOVISKO Č. 19 (2016) FUNKCIA PREDSEDOV SÚDOV
- Opinion n° 20 (2017) on the role of courts with respect to the uniform application of the law - Stanovisko č. 20 (2017) ÚLOHA SÚDOV VZHĽADOM NA JEDNOTNÉ UPLATŇOVANIE ZÁKONA
- Opinion n°22 (2019) on the role of judicial assistants - Stanovisko CCJE č. 22 (2019) ÚLOHA SÚDNYCH ASISTENTOV
Roundtable on the Judicial Map reform in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic
On 23 and 24 February 2021, CEPEJ will organise of a roundtable on the Judicial Map reform in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. The representatives of the Ministry of Justice, of the Judicial Council, of the Supreme Administrative Court, of affected Regional courts,...
Second Steering Committee meeting – Programme “Continued support to a well performing Slovak judiciary”
Cooperation programme in Slovakia: The Second Steering Committee meeting of the joint Council of Europe and European Union project “Continued support to a well performing Slovak judiciary” took place on 8 September 2020, via videoconference, in the presence of the newly appointed Minister of...
CEPEJ ensures participation of partner institutions of cooperation programs into SATURN working group meeting
On 18 May 2020, representatives of the partner institutions of the Judiciary of Georgia, Latvia, Slovak Republic attended the meeting of the SATURN working group on judicial timeframes of the CEPEJ. The meeting focused on the project concerning the development of a tool to implement a...
Presentation of CEPEJ tools for time management in Slovak courts during a workshop held on 13 February 2020 in Bratislava
On 13 February 2020, CEPEJ conducted a workshop on the implementation of tools for time management, namely the timeframes tool, and their monitoring by IT means in Slovak courts, in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic. The workshop was opened by Ms Edita Pfundtner,...
Collaborative workspaces:
