18 The EU Justice Scoreboard
| (34822)
8201/13
COM(13) 160
| Commission Communication: The EU Justice Scoreboard — A tool to promote effective justice and growth
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| Legal base | —
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| Document originated | 27 March 2013
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| Deposited in Parliament | 10 April 2013
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| Department | Ministry of Justice
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 23 April 2013
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| Discussion in Council | None foreseen
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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The document
18.1 The EU Justice Scoreboard is a Communication from the
Commission setting out comparative data on the performance of
the Member States' civil and administrative justice systems against
various indicators. The Commission's motivation for producing
the document is that national justice systems play a key role
in restoring confidence and a return to growth, and that an efficient
and independent justice system contributes to trust, stability.
The Commission highlighted the importance of improving the "quality,
independence and efficiency" of national justice systems
in the Annual Growth Survey 2013.
18.2 The majority of the data included in the
Scoreboard originated in material collected by the Council of
Europe's European Commission on Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ).
These data are largely numerical and were originally intended
to form part of the CEPEJ's evaluation report published in September
2012. Other data, concerning the independence of the justice
system originates from the World Economic Forum and the World
Justice Project.
18.3 The data presented by the Scoreboard cover:
time needed to resolve particular types of cases and the rate
of resolution; availability of monitoring of courts' activities;
use of information technologies to reduce the length of proceedings
and facilitate access to justice; alternative dispute resolution
to help the workload of courts; training of judges; resources;
and perception of independence, both of judges and of the civil
justice system.
18.4 The Commission states that the findings
of the Scoreboard will be taken into account in preparing country-specific
analysis in the context of the 2013 European Semester. The European
Semester is an EU-level framework for the reporting and surveillance
of Member States' economic and employment reforms, under Articles
121 and 148 TFEU. As part of the European Semester, the Commission
may propose draft country-specific recommendations to Member States.
These recommendations are subject to endorsement by the European
Council and are strictly non-binding.
18.5 The Commission's principal conclusions are
that:
i) there are important disparities in the length
of proceedings: at least one third of Member States have a length
of proceedings at least two times higher than the majority of
Member States;
ii) some Member States have difficulties in resolving
non-criminal cases, litigious civil and commercial cases, and
administrative cases;
iii) some Member States have a high number of
pending cases (combining lengthy first instance proceedings together
with low clearance rates);
iv) a large majority of Member States have a
well-developed system for the registration and management of cases;
v) there are large disparities between Member
States in the development of ICT systems for information exchange
between courts and parties;
vi) policies on compulsory training of judges
are very diverse; and
vii) there is a low level of perception of judicial
independence by business-end users of the justice system in certain
Member States.
18.6 The Commission observes that there is significant
variation in the availability of data and that some Member States
do not collect data in a way that allows for objective comparison
and evaluation; it therefore proposes to examine ways to improve
data collection and encourages Member States to co-operate with
the CEPEJ. Looking further ahead, the Commission proposes an
"open dialogue" with the Member States, the European
Parliament and other stakeholders on the objectives of this Scoreboard,
and it also proposes to organise a high-level conference, "Assises
de la Justice," in November this year, to promote a "true
European area of justice" that would meet citizens' expectations
and contribute to sustainable growth.
The Government's view
18.7 In an Explanatory Memorandum dated 23 April
2013, the Secretary of State for Justice (Chris Grayling) says
the Government does not believe that the Commission has any role
in the detailed monitoring or assessment of the justice systems
of Member States to secure the stated objective. Whilst the
rule of law and independent and effective justice systems are
important for growth, the Government is clear that this initiative
by the Commission is neither an appropriate nor a proportionate
way of securing this. It is unclear what the Commission intends
to achieve through this initiative beyond making country-specific
recommendations regarding justice systems in relation to matters
for which there is no power under the Treaty to legislate.
18.8 The principal source of the data presented
in the communication is the CEPEJ, which has been established
for over a decade and provides a platform for peer evaluation
of the operation of justice systems through regular evaluation
reports, which are much more comprehensive in nature than the
Scoreboard. It also offers practical assistance to States that
request it. The Government will continue to provide data for the
CEPEJ evaluations, but will not be participating actively in,
or engaging with, the Commission's Justice Scoreboard initiative.
Conclusion
18.9 We report the Minister's views about
whether the Commission has competence to establish an EU Justice
Scoreboard (we think a contrary argument could equally be made)
and the usefulness of the endeavour to the wider House.
18.10 In doing so we have no questions to
ask and clear the document from scrutiny.
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