The Supreme Court has an important role in the development of national judicial system. It should set an example - both by adopting fair, high quality and valuable legal rulings, as well as ensuring effective, development oriented judicial organization – on July 12, during the opening the European Commission funded project “Supreme Courts as guarantee for effectiveness of judicial systems in European Union” said Sandra Liepina, Head of the Administration of the Supreme Court of Latvia.

The first meeting of the working party of the project initiated by the Supreme Court of Latvia was attended by the project partners from the Supreme Courts of Lithuania, Spain and Hungary, as well as the University of Ljubljana. It was confirmed that the project that will summarize administration experiences from the Supreme Courts in Europe will be a valuable asset not only for the highest judicial instances in the project participating countries, but also for others. During the meeting a questionnaire for the Supreme Courts was developed, as well as the main themes of the study visits and other project activities were planned.

During the project, the performance of the Supreme Courts of the European Union will be analyzed in four areas: performance of Scientific and Research divisions of the Supreme Courts, general organization of judicial work, communication with the public, and the work of the Council for Judiciary. By sharing experiences, the participants of the project will seek new challenges how to improve the work organization in court, to enhance the transparency of judicial work and to increase the people's confidence in the work of court. "Our experience shows that direct discussion, and exchange of ideas is the best way to achieve common objectives and outcome," the initiative of the Supreme Court of Latvia to manage the project justified the Head of the Administration of the Supreme Court.

The project will summarize the best practice from the Supreme Courts of the European Union and at the end of the project the Best practice guide will be issued. During the project several study visits will also take place at the Supreme Courts and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. The project will conclude with an international conference in Riga in April 2017.

The project is led by the Latvian Supreme Court, the participation of Lithuania, Spain and Hungary, the Supreme Court, as well as in Antwerp (Belgium) and Ljubljana (Slovenia) University.

Information prepared by

Communication Division of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, phone: 67020396, 28652211

 

The project is funded by the European Commission

This document does not represent an opinion of the European Commission. All the views and interpretations presented during the project reflect only the authors’ views. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.