On 1 and 2 February 2023, two roundtable discussions took place in the framework of the forthcoming establishment of the Court Service in Cyprus.

The discussions with Cypriot judges and registrars focused on the exchange of views on the proposals for the improvement of administrative processes in registries and case-processing arrangements. The proposals were formulated on the basis of the Evaluation Report prepared by a working group of the CoE and international experts. The conclusions formulated in the course of discussions will be reflected in the and Recommendation Report which aims to support the Supreme Court and the Cypriot authorities in their efforts to establish the Court Service in Cyprus and improve the overall efficiency of the justice system.

The participants exchanged views on key issues related to the role of judges and registrars in administrative and case management procedures, as well as to the support that can be provided by the court staff for a smoother and more efficient case adjudication process. Finally, the discussions concentrated on key internal functions, processes, and staffing arrangements, the main areas for developing staff manuals and guidelines, the staff structures and training and the need for developing new categorisation and prioritisation approaches.

This last activity marked also the end of the EU-CoE Project in Cyprus, which was co-funded by the European Union via the Structural Reform Support Programme and implemented by the Council of Europe in cooperation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission and the office of Director of Reform on behalf of the Supreme Court of Cyprus.