The work performed by court experts has a vital impact for the litigation settlement process and jury trials, in general. This work is very much influenced by the internal relations among court experts, as well as the relations between the court experts, lawyers, prosecutors and judges. It is also shaped by the traditional ethics of court experts and the perception of scientific truthfulness.

In order to shed light on crucial legal and ethical obligations of court experts, a Workshop on effective application of ethical/disciplinary procedures and tools was delivered to 40 court experts from Montenegro. The workshop was organised in Budva, on 17/18 December, in a hybrid format, in collaboration with the Association of Court Experts of Montenegro.

The workshop delved into the layers of the critical relationship between courts and court experts, and the key ethical issues that are surrounding them. Through exchanges based on case law, a wide range of experiences were discussed. The new Code of Ethics of Court Experts, developed in June 2021 under the joint European Union and Council of Europe Horizontal Facility programme was promoted and professional and ethical standards for expert testimony were presented.

The workshop participants discussed in particular ways in which expert knowledge is produced and on how eventual right-wrong issues behind the expert testimony are being dealt with. They also agreed on a need for more transparency of expert witness' information, including knowledge of all available information that is relevant for a proper judicial decision.

This event is part of the series of workshops, designed to promote and further enhance the implementation of contemporary European standards pertinent to this profession. The workshop was organised under the action "Accountability and professionalism of the judicial system in Montenegro" which is a part of the joint European Union and Council of Europe programme "Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019 - 2022".