Adoption of the 2024 Judicial Systems Evaluation Report by the 42nd European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) Plenary Meeting (June 18-19, 2024)

On 18 and 19 June, 2024 the 42^nd plenary meeting of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) took place in Strasbourg. IAJ and EAJ were represented there by IAJ Secretary-General Mr. Giacomo Oberto. Among the many projects examined by the CEPEJ during the meeting include the 2024 evaluation Report on European judicial systems, artificial intelligence in the field of justice, as well as the reduction of the backlog of court cases.

The assembly unanimously adopted the new judicial systems evaluation Report for the 2024 cycle (covering 2022 data) prepared by the Working Group on the evaluation of judicial systems CEPEJ-GT-EVAL. This Report provides the main trends of the Council of Europe member states’ judicial systems on various themes such as court efficiency, justice budgets or access to justice, as well as statistical data sheets for each country, completed by a short analysis of the main key indicators. The Report will be published in October, following its presentation to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.

Another highlight of the meeting has been the presentation of the joint work of the working groups on the quality of justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL) and on cyberjustice (CEPEJ-GT-CYBERJUST) in the field of artificial intelligence (AI): the continued operationalization of the CEPEJ AI Charter through the implementation of pilot evaluations of selected AI tools, the development of the AI and Cyberjustice Resource Center, and the new missions of the AI Advisory Bureau (AIAB).

The plenary meeting has also been the opportunity for the President of the Working Group on judicial time management (CEPEJ-SATURN), IAJ Secretary-General Oberto, to discuss the future database on practices aimed at reducing judicial backlogs, the tool currently being prepared to help set up a case weighting system, and the development of a checklist for time management in public prosecutors’ offices.

A team of students from the Faculty of Law at Leiden University (Netherlands), winner of the 3^rd  Junior Crystal Scales of Justice Prize, presented its project. It defended the project of the Mons Court of Appeal (Belgium) regarding the establishment of a “Civil and criminal chamber specialized in environmental and urbanism matters”, awarded with a special mention by the Crystal Scales in 2023.

Finally, CEPEJ plenary assembly examined the state of implementation of the CEPEJ cooperation programs, adopting its activity report for 2023, which outlines the important tools adopted last year: a backlog reduction methodology for courts, a self-assessment tool enabling states to verify whether their AI tools in the field of justice comply with the fundamental principles of the CEPEJ’s Ethical Charter, a guide to online auctions, as well as guidelines on alternative methods of online dispute resolution.