BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

The project followed a series of international and national recommendations for the improvement of functioning of the Maltese justice system. Some of the areas for improvement included the criminal and civil judicial procedures, the issue of the extensive length of judicial procedure, the organisation of the system of court administration.

The project was funded by the Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) of the European Commission.

OVERALL PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The project aimed to strengthen the efficiency of the Maltese justice system by improving the criminal procedure, with a focus on the committal proceedings, by reviewing the functioning of a senior-level court of appeal and by supporting the development of a human resource strategy for the Maltese justice system.

PROJECT DURATION

12 months: (1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019).

PROJECT BUDGET

Euro 278,000

PROJECT COMPONENTS

Project Component 1 is implemented by the Division for Legal Co-operation and Project Components 2 and 3 – by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).

Project Component 1 focused on the reduction of the length of compilation (committal) proceedings before the Court of Magistrates as a Court of Criminal Inquiry. The project activities within this component included a consultant’s review and assessment of the practice of the committal system in Malta. Also, a series of familiarisation visits were organised for the Maltese judiciary and relevant authorities to the countries of the common law system.

RESULTS FOR PROJECT COMPONENT 1

  • Recommendations as to the improvement of the functioning of the Maltese committal proceedings within the criminal jurisdiction, both as to the practice and the legislation, are developed and agreed with Maltese authorities for further implementation.
  • The experience of other common law countries was taken into account when the measures to improve the functioning of the Maltese judicial system were being developed.
  • The Council of Europe standards as to the organisation and functioning of the judiciary were taken into account when the changes into the justice system of Malta were designed.