Speech of Mrs. Katalin Barbara Kibedi, Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice of Romania

Transcription

1 ROMANIA Ministry of Justice Speech of Mrs. Katalin Barbara Kibedi, Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice of Romania Workshop Contract Enforcement and Judicial Systems in Central and Eastern Europe Warsaw, Poland, June, 2005 Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all, allow me to salute the initiative of organizing a workshop on the relation between quality and efficiency of the judiciary and the improvement of the business environment in Central and Eastern Europe. A competitive business environment cannot be developed without a functional, independent and efficient Judiciary system, nor without well-prepared judges in specialized fields. In fact, the poorly functioning of the judicial system was one of the major obstacles to more viable foreign investments in Romania during the last decades. Nevertheless, the insufficient independence and efficiency of the judicial system and corruption were identified as obstacles towards Romania s accession to the European Union. Romania is now an acceding country to the EU, since we signed on the 25 th of April 2005 the Accession Treaty, but our Government has a lot of work to do, especially in the justice and home affairs field. Unfortunately, as an important Romanian writer said, the time runs out of patience for us. The next months are decisive. Nevertheless, I would firmly state that the approach upon some of the issues and difficulties judiciary confronts with was often unjust. In this regard, artificial barriers between the judiciary and the people have been created, some deficiencies 1

2 have been augmented and those who analyzed these issues have jumped to wrong conclusions. In order to objectively scrutinize the judiciary reform, all the issues involved have to be considered from various perspectives, due to the complexity of the judicial phenomenon. Therefore, besides the legislative approach of the judicial reform, we have to acknowledge all the aspects, on many instances having a subjective nature, related to impartiality, mentality, professional competences, moral standing, professional training, respect for the European values, the will to assimilate new and modern concepts and norms, all these conducted to reaffirming the European vocation of our country. Under these circumstances, it is obvious that the difficulties and shortcomings occurred in the judicial activity can be repaired only through complex and complementary measures for each side of the judicial system. Strengthening the ability of the judiciary to cope with its important role in a democratic society, as one of three powers in state, represents a major challenge for our Ministry of Justice, the top priority in the coming years. In this context, a strong and healthy bussiness environement is closely related to a succesful implementation of the legislative framework on reforming on the judiciary. On the 30 th of March the Government of Romania approved an updated and integrated Strategy for the Reform of the Judiciary and its Action Plan. Starting from the main priorities of the reform underlined by the European Commission, the mission of the above mentioned Strategy is to ensure an independent, impartial, reliable and efficient judiciary. The main directions on which the Strategy is developed are as follows: guaranteeing the independence of the Judiciary; improving the quality and efficiency of the act of justice; ensuring the transparency of the act of justice; increasing the accountability of the Judiciary; guaranteeing free access to justice; rendering juvenile justice efficient; strengthening the business environment; strengthening the international judicial cooperation; improving prison conditions; victims protection and social reintegration of offenders; preventing and fighting corruption within the Judiciary. 2

3 I will further stress few of the main issues underlined and contained within the principle of Enhancing the independence, efficiency and the accountability of the judiciary. Concerning the objective Guaranteeing the effective independence of the judiciary, the Strategy for the Reform of the Judiciary ensures enhanced guarantees for the independence of judges. Thus, all important decisions at courts and prosecutors offices level shall be taken by the leading boards, whose composition shall be changed in order for them to become truly representative. Also, the stability of panels and the random distribution of cases shall be ensured, so that the files can be redistributed only on objective criteria. In this respect, a new Regulation regarding the random distribution of cases within the law courts was approved by the Superior Council of Magistracy, ensuring completely random distribution, both by alphabetic (manual) and electronic means. The effective implementation of the random distribution system shall be very closely monitored. In order to increase the efficiency in the functioning of the Superior Council of Magistracy, ensuring the permanency of the SCM members activity is considered. Nevertheless, the presentation by the SCM of a report on its activity is provided, as well as regulating the accountability of SCM members. Concerning the objective Enhancing the efficiency and the accountability of the judiciary, the Strategy for the Reform of the Judiciary comprises measures for reducing the courts workload and also for reducing the duration of court proceedings. Special attention is paid to reducing as soon as possible the backlog at the High Court of Cassation and Justice. Other measures are concerning: using alternative dispute resolution methods 1, establishing a human resources policy within the Judiciary, strengthening the administrative capacity of the Courts and attached Prosecutors offices, the continuation of automation process of the Judiciary, the economic- financial management of the Courts and 1 The draft Law on mediation and and the organisation of the mediators profession was approved by the Government on the 1 st of June Promoting mediation, as an alternative dispute resolution method is aimed at increasing the efficiency of the judiciary by reducing the workload of the courts. The commercial field and the business world are, there is no doubt, privileged areas for the exercise of mediation. 3

4 Prosecutors Offices and improving the activity of Court decisions enforcement. On the issue of improving the activity of Court decisions enforcement, the Strategy envisaged elaboration of a draft laws to eliminate the request for advance payments from persons with incomes under a certain threshold, removing the provisions impeding upon the enforcement of citizens and private legal persons money claims against the State and public institutions, as well as reducing the length of procedures, simplifying and increasing the transparency of enforcement procedures. Concerning the objective concerning strengthening the business environment, the Strategy takes into account the specialization of the judges and prosecutors in certain relevant fields. (e.g. commercial law, competition etc), as well as the unification of jurisprudence in commercial matters, within the larger context of the unification of the Judiciary practice. Also, all the measures which were taken into consideration for reducing the procedures duration will also have a direct impact on the business environment. Special attention will be paid to accelerating and simplificating of insolvency procedures, in order to making it more efficient and to increasing the knowledge of the practitioners in this field. The legislative and institutional framework in this area will also be strengthened, thus eliminating the barriers to the market exit. We all know that a real a real reform of the judiciary system, with implications in the business environment matters does not have any chance to succeed without a serious results in the fight against corruption. The judiciary system represents the key element in the fight against corruption. In this respect, a new National Anticorruption Strategy and its Implementation Plan were also approved by the Government on the 30 th of March. Preventing corruption in the business environment by legislative measures regarding bankruptcy, tax evasion, rescheduling and exempting from the payment of debts to the state budget, money laundering is one of the priority areas. 4

5 Dear friends, Ladies and Gentlemen, The principles that guided the above mentioned strategies determined an important rethinking of the dispositions from the legislative package regarding the justice reform adopted in The Government of Romania asked the Parliament to grant a confidence vote on a package of laws including important modifications of the laws on the judiciary. The amendments, proposed by the Ministry of Justice, aim at increasing the independence, efficiency, and responsibility of the judiciary system, all these representing a essential premise for a competitive business environment. Regarding the statute of magistrates, the adopted legislative package creates the framework necessary to consolidate the magistrates independence and authority so that they can act in the spirit of the free and impartial judiciary. We must underline at least some essential ideas in this field, especially regarding the carrier development of the judges and prosecutors, with implication concerning the accountability of the judicial system. With regard to, the person appointed in management position enjoy more powers in selecting their teams and in carrying out their duties, but, as a counterpart, can be held accountable for the inefficient conduct in their respective functions. It is important to underline that the promotion of judges and prosecutors will be made only on the basis of a contest or examination. With respect to the leading positions, the contest will center upon the verification of the aptitudes of good manager of the candidate. Regarding few key-aspects of the amendments to Law no. 304/2004 on the organization of the judiciary, proposed amendments are aiming at ensuring genuine independence of prosecutors in their investigative activity, in the adoption of solutions and during the pleadings before courts. To give substance to this principle, the prosecutors may object to the Superior Council of Magistracy against the actions of the hierarchically superior public prosecutors when they intervene in any manner during the investigation or in the process of adopting decisions. 5

6 The amendments introduce clear rules for the random distribution of cases to judges and for the continuity of panels, thus eliminating all suspicion of potential interference. In addition, distribution of cases to prosecutors is base on objective criteria. The draft law underlines the principle of specialization of judges, by establishing the obligation of creating specialized sections or panels within the courts of first instance, tribunals and courts of appeal. As far as the objective related the role of the Superior Council of Magistracy as a guarantor of the independence of justice according to the new legislative framework, the amendments proposed to the three law will strengthen this role of the Council concerning the career of the magistrates and also the court s and prosecutor s offices management. Once all the amendments mentioned are approved, we are facing the problem of the implementation of the regulations. The implementation would have as final scope the transposition in practice of the rules regarding the independence, efficiency and accountability of justice. Our top priority in the coming years is to transform the judiciary into a free, credible and efficient one, and, therefore, meeting the needs and expectations of the people and the requirements of the business and civil environment. In order to implement the reforms measures, the support of international institutions as the World Bank, as well as of the European Union, member states and other important donors is very important for us. I take this opportunity to thank the World Bank, the National Bank of Poland and the Government of Poland for choosing such a challenging topic. I am convinced that the open debates will help to identify the best practice in order to solve a common problem of the judicial systems in Central and Eastern Europe. 6