22 March 2016

Issues reviewed and decisions adopted at the sitting of the Council for the Judiciary on 21 March

The Council for the Judiciary points out necessity to make procedure of appeal in disciplinary cases more efficient

The Council for the Judiciary does not support a proposal regarding reorganisation of the Disciplinary Court as a single appellate instance to review disciplinary cases of all persons belonging to the court system, but it considers as possible to improve existing procedure of appeal in disciplinary cases and to make it more efficient.

Currently, decisions adopted in disciplinary cases against judges and prosecutors may be appealed in the Disciplinary Court and disciplinary cases of sworn advocates, notaries and bailiffs, in their turn, may be appealed in the administrative court, in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law.

The draft project of the reform envisages reorganization of the Disciplinary Court into single appellate instance to review disciplinary cases of all persons belonging to the court system, mentioning long terms of adjudication of cases in administrative procedure. At the sitting of the Council for the Judiciary, representatives of the Councils of Sworn Advocates, Sworn Notaries and Sworn Bailiffs stressed long terms of adjudication of cases in administrative courts and the fact that persons of free legal professions, who belong to the court system, are also included in the court system.

Having assessed usefulness of the promoted reform, Aigars Strupiss, the Chair of the Disciplinary Court,expressed an opinion that long terms of adjudication of administrative cases may be reduced by decrease of number of instances to appeal and by granting priority status to these cases. Unified case-law in disciplinary cases of public officials, which has been pointed out as the argument of necessity of changes, has already been ensured by the Department of Administrative Cases. Janis Neimanis, the Chair of the Association of Administrative Judges, urged to trust judges of the first instance as well, and asked regional courts to use right to reject initiation of appellate proceedings, which currently has already been stipulated in the law, more actively, as it would make the process of litigation more efficient.

Ilze Freimane reminded of the purpose of establishment of the Disciplinary Court, namely, the opportunity to appeal in disciplinary cases of judges, which had not been ensured previously.

Both the Chair of the Disciplinary Court and judges of the Supreme Court stressed the fact that the reform envisages that the Supreme Court will be the court of cassation only; however, in this concept, the Disciplinary Court is envisaged to be the appellate instance.

Moreover, when implementing changes, the system of disciplinary liability must be reviewed in complex manner, and single procedure should be created since the very beginning of initiation of a disciplinary case. It means fundamental reform of the system there is no necessity for and no possible capacity of the Supreme Court to involve in implementation of the reform.

The Council for the Judiciary considered that the opinion of the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court must be respected and current procedure of appeal in disciplinary cases must be made more efficient.

Guidelines for management of terms of adjudication of cases in courts will be updated

In accordance with recommendations given by the Council’s of Europe Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) and amendments to the law “On Judicial Power”, the condition of implementation of standard of terms of adjudication of cases in courts has been implemented since 2014. Chairs of courts must plan and annually determine work goals regarding the average terms of adjudication of cases in the court and observe actual execution of these terms. The Council for the Judiciary, in its turn, in accordance with the law, has approved Guidelines for determination of standard of terms of adjudication of cases in courts.

To ascertain implementation of standards in praxis, the Council for the Judiciary surveyed Chairs of courts on benefits, improvements and efficiency brought to courts by the standards.

The conclusions of the survey point out that implementation of standards do not prove right, if they have been implemented apart from joint system, only on the basis of recommendations of international organizations. In general, Latvian Chairs of courts assess previous implementation of standards reservedly, not seeing contribution thereof to the improvement of the system. 64 per cent of Chairs of courts recognise that standards do not affect terms of adjudication of cases; however, in 36 percent of courts control over observation of standards is carried out on the basis of different criteria. Planning of terms of adjudication of cases has become particularly unpredictable after introduction of mechanism of transfer of cases to the Civil Procedure Law, when cases may be transferred from one court to another for faster examination. As members of the Council for the judiciary point out – those may be even approximately 20-25 per cent of cases, which have been transferred in accordance with the law.

Having recognised that standard of adjudication of cases still may be useful work tool in work of both Chairs of courts, when following terms of adjudication of cases, and policy-makers in process of taking decisions, the Council for the Judiciary considered it necessary to improve Guidelines for determination of standard of terms of adjudication of cases in courts, observing the previous experience and urgencies of Latvian court system.

Issues related to judicial career: deputy Chair of the regional court is appointed; four judges have been transferred

The Council for the Judiciary appointed Alla Silova, the judge of Latgale regional court, to the office of the Chair of Judicial Panel of Civil Cases and, at the same time, the deputy Chair of this court, for the term of five years.

Alla Silovai has held an office of a judge for 21 years, and for 19 years from among them she has worked in Latgale regional court. Since October 2015, when the former Chair of the Judicial Panel of Civil Cases retired, Alla Silova has discharged duties of the Chair of the panel.

The Council for the Judiciary has also adopted decisions on transfer of four judges to another court of the same instance. Liga Baltmane-Zepa, the judge of Aizkraukle district court, is transferred to Jekabpils district court; Maira Grike, the judge of Riga city Ziemelu district court – to Jelgava court; Inga Pujate, the judge of Riga city Kurzeme district court – to Riga city Vidzeme suburb court, and Ineta Skutane, the judge of Riga city Zemgale suburb court – to the Land Registry Office of Riga city Vidzeme suburb court.

Judges expressed wish to be transferred to vacant offices of judges in other courts, so that place of work would be closer to place of residence.

The plan of elections of the Judicial Ethics’ Committee and managers of Judges’ Conference are confirmed

The Judges’ Conference of this year, to be held on 13 May, will be dedicated to issues related to judicial ethics, because the composition of the Judicial Ethics’ Committee, which has worked since the establishment of the Committee in 2008, must be re-elected. In accordance with the law “On Judicial Power”, a member of the Judicial Ethics’ Committee is elected for the term of four years and not more than for two consecutive terms.

Not to overload the Judges’ Conference with time-consuming election procedure, it was decided to organise nomination and election of new members to the Judicial Ethics’ Committee by electronic means. Therefore, the Council for the Judiciary decided to divide the Judges’ Conference into two parts: one part to be held in presence on 13 May, and extramural part – electronic elections – to be held on 20 May.

Candidates will be nominated by electronic means in advance, but in the part of conference to be held on 13 May their visions on urgencies of judicial ethics will be heard, and opportunity to ask questions to colleagues will be provided. The final stage – voting for the candidates – will continue in electronic way on 20 May, when members to the Judicial Ethics’ Committee – two from among candidates nominated by the judges of the Supreme Court, three from among candidates nominated by the judges of regional courts, two from among candidates nominated by the judges of district (city) courts, and two from among candidates nominated by the judges of Land Registry Offices.

The Council for the Judiciary assigned Juris Stukans, the judge of Riga regional court, to be the manager, and Sanita Strakse, the judge of Riga city Ziemelu district court – the secretary of the Judges’ Conference to held in presence. Moreover, Maris Vigants, the Chair of Administrative regional court, was assigned as the manager, and Jolanta Livena, the judge of the Land Registry Office of Riga district court – as the secretary of extramural part of the Conference.

The Council for the Judiciary also set up the counting committee in following composition: Aija Ava, the Chair of Riga city Ziemelu district court; Marika Bebrisa, the judge of Riga regional court, and Ieva Zabarovska, the deputy Head of the Land Registry Office of Riga city Vidzeme suburb court.

The Council for the Judiciary approved the Plan of organisation and course of the Judges’ Conference for electronic elections of the Judicial Ethics’ Committee. In accordance with the plan, candidates to the Judicial Ethics’ Committee must be nominated until 25 April.

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: , telephone: 67020396, 28652211