March 2023 – February 2026

Support to further modernisation of court management in the Republic of Moldova

The project is funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe and implemented by the Council of Europe in their Partnership for Good Governance III (2023-2027). An earlier phase of this programme (November 2019 - February 2023) was supported by the European Union.

Context and objectives of the project

The project “Support to further modernisation of court management in the Republic of Moldova” seeks to promote further modernisation of the judicial administration, improving the evaluation, efficiency, and quality of the functioning of courts, in particular by strengthening the court management and preventing backlogs, improving the transparency, communication, and accessibility of courts, as well as the public trust and user satisfaction, in line with European standards. The action will support the implementation of key judicial reforms included in the Strategy for Ensuring the Independence and Integrity of the Justice Sector 2022-2025 and its Action Plan, as well as those required in the context of Republic of Moldova’s candidacy for membership of the European Union.  

Based on the lessons learnt from the cooperation in previous phases, three main axes will be pursued by the action, namely:

1. Court approach: improving the efficiency and evaluation of courts, in particular by strengthening court management;
2. Justice professionals’ approach: improving the working conditions, transparency, and communication of the judiciary;
3. Users’ approach: improving the quality of judicial services with better accessibility of the judiciary and user satisfaction.

Main activities

• Launching the JUSTAT autonomous information system for publication of key judicial statistics, technical support to implementation;
• Updating the policy documents on judicial communication and practical steps for their implementation;
• Working group to report on improving the efficiency of courts and the quality of judicial services in the context of the on-going judicial reforms;
• Promoting the evaluation of the performance of courts with a view to improving their efficiency and the quality of judicial services;
• Support to establishing a mechanism for the optimisation of the workload of judges;
• Support to regular evaluation of the satisfaction of court users and supporting measures suggested by the results of such evaluation;
• Supporting measures to ensure the centrality of the user in legal proceedings, improving the interaction of judges and court personnel with users, and to facilitate the access to courts for vulnerable people;
• Enriching the training resources of the National Institute of Justice on CEPEJ tools.  Organising thematic trainings for judges, court staff, and central judicial administration.

Project beneficiaries and stakeholders

General public and court users, Superior Council of Magistrates, Ministry of Justice, Agency for Court Administration, and the National Institute of Justice, judges.

Translated documents

• European Ethical Charter on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Judicial Systems and their environment
• Checklist for promoting access to justice
• Guidelines on the use of generative AI for courts
• Guidelines on the organisation and accessibility of court premises
• Time management checklist
• Explanatory note for the time management checklist
• Backlog reduction tool
• Guidelines on gender equality in the recruitment and promotion of judges
• Guidelines on electronic court filing (e-filing) and digitalisation of courts
• Guidelines on videoconferencing in judicial proceedings
• Guidelines and comparative studies on the centrality of the user in legal proceedings in civil matters and on the simplification and clarification of language with users
• Revised SATURN guidelines for judicial time management (4th revision)
• OPINION aimed at proposing an update to the Recommendation CM/REC(86)12 concerning measures to prevent and reduce the excessive workload in the courts 
• Questionnaire on analysing the length of civil proceedings
• Guidelines on online alternative dispute resolution
• Guidelines on the evaluation of the quality of work of judges
• Time management checklist for public prosecution services
• Guidelines on the quality of the jurisdictional debate in civil and administrative matters
• CEPEJ Handbook on court dashboards
• Good practice guide on enforcement of judicial decisions 
• Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing CoE's Recommendation on enforcement 
• Guide for implementing SATURN management tools in courts 
• Guide on communication with the media and the public for courts and prosecution authorities 
• Use of social media by judges. Deontological rules or instructions / relevant case-law 
• Guidelines on how to drive change towards Cyberjustice 
• Toolkit for supporting the implementation of the Guidelines on how to drive change towards Cyberjustice 
• Guidelines to improve judge's skills and competencies, strengthen knowledge sharing and collaboration, and move beyond a culture of judicial isolation 
• Case weighting in judicial systems 
• SATURN guidelines for judicial time management - comments and implementation examples
• Revised SATURN guidelines for judicial time management (2nd revision)
• CEPEJ guidelines on judicial statistics (GOJUST)
• Checklist for court coaching in the framework of customer satisfaction surveys among cour users
• Guidelines on the Creation of Judicial Maps to Support Access to Justice within a Quality Judicial System
• Checklist for promoting the quality of justice and the courts
• Handbook for conducting satisfaction surveys aimed at Court users in Council of Europe's member States
• Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing recommendation concerning mediation in penal matters
• Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing recommendation concerning family mediation and mediation in civil matters
• Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing Recommendation on alternatives to litigation between administrative authorities and private parties
• Saturn guidelines for judicial time management
• Checklist for promoting the quality of justice and the courts - Lista de criterii pentru promovarea calităŃii justiŃiei si instanŃelor judiciare