The Judicial Reform Working Group held its 3rd meeting in Borjomi on 3-4 December 2017 to discuss the 4th wave of judicial reform draft amendments. The Chair of the Parliament, Mr Irakli Kobakhidze, opened the meeting to highlight recent constitutional changes aimed at strengthening the constitutional guarantees for the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee members, High Council of Justice and the Ministry of Justice representatives discussed possible ways of amending the legislation to reduce case backlog and court delays, as well as to enhance the foreseeability of grounds for disciplinary procedures in the judiciary. Judge Gerhard Reissner, the Council of Europe expert, commented on the proposed amendments discussed at the meeting based on Council of Europe standards on disciplinary liability of judges. The Working Group members appreciated the expertise provided for the finalization of the draft amendments with a view to submitting them to the Parliament.
The Working Group meeting was co-organised by the Council of Europe “Support to the Judicial Reform Project”, “EU for Justice” Project, and the USAID funded EWMI Promoting the Rule of Law in Georgia Program.
The “Support to the Judicial Reform” project is funded by voluntary contributions of Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, the Slovak Republic and Sweden to support the implementation of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Georgia 2016 - 2019.
Key words: Support to Judicial Reform, disciplinary liability of judges, Council of Europe standards.
