European judicial systems: 2008 findings

Commission Européenne pour l’efficacité de la JusticeEuropean Commission for the Efficiency of Justice

Dr. Pim AlbersSpecial advisor

• 45 Member States are included• Report presents data year 2006• Based on replies questionnaire received

from Member States• 3rd report (previous reports 2004 and

2006)

• Financing of the judicial systems• Access to justice and legal aid• Court locations and use of ICT in the courts• Mediators• Facts concerning professional judges and prosecutors• Court performance• Facts concerning lawyers, enforcement agents and notaries

• Public budget allocated to the judicial systems (courts, public prosecution and legal aid) per inhabitant

168130

121

114106

99

9999

82

817776

72

706968

6059

5453

5041

4039

30

302828

262625

2222

18

171313

97

5432

0 € 20 € 40 € 60 € 80 € 100 € 120 € 140 € 160 € 180 €

MonacoUK-Northern Ireland

Luxembourg

SwitzerlandGermany

UK-England & Wales

UK-ScotlandNetherlands

Belgium

SwedenAndorra

Slovenia

NorwayItaly

Austria

SpainIcelandFinlandCroatiaFranceCyprusIrelandPoland

HungaryGreece

Czech RepublicSlovakia

Malta

LithuaniaEstonia

Russian FederationLatvia

Bosnia and Herzegovina Romania

MontenegroFYROMacedonia

Bulgaria

UkraineTurkey

GeorgiaArmenia

AzerbaijanMoldova

• Total court budget allocated to the judicial system (excl. legal aid and prosecution) per inhabitant as percentage per capita GDP

0,67%

0,62%

0,44%

0,43%

0,42%

0,34%

0,33%

0,31%

0,26%

0,25%

0,25%

0,24%

0,23%

0,23%

0,22%

0,21%

0,20%

0,20%

0,19%

0,18%

0,18%

0,17%

0,17%

0,14%

0,14%

0,13%

0,13%

0,11%

0,10%

0,10%

0,08%

0,08%

0,08%

0,07%

0,07%

0,05%

0,00% 0,10% 0,20% 0,30% 0,40% 0,50% 0,60% 0,70%

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia

Poland

Slovenia

FYROMacedonia

Ukraine

Portugal

Hungary

Bulgaria

Russian Federation

Monaco

Lithuania

Slovakia

UK-Northern Ireland

Andorra

Switzerland

Latvia

Czech Republic

Georgia

Estonia

Romania

Italy

Malta

Netherlands

Sweden

Finland

France

Moldova

Iceland

UK-England and Wales

Denmark

Armenia

UK-Scotland

Azerbaijan

Norway

Ireland

• Distribution of the budgetary components

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Czech Republic

Luxembourg

Andorra

FYROMacedonia

Hungary

Estonia

Azerbaijan

Romania

Malta

Finland

Moldova

Switzerland

Montenegro

Denmark

Slovenia

Sweden

Belgium

Italy

Monaco

Latvia

Portugal

Serbia

Armenia

Ukraine

Croatia

Russian Federation

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Norway

Cyprus

Netherlands

Germany

Lithuania

Bulgarie

Austria

Slovakia

Poland

France

Georgia

Ireland

UK-Scotland

UK-Northern Ireland

SALARIES

COMPUTARISATION

JUSTICE EXPENSES

COURT BUILDINGS

INVESTMENTS

TRAINING

Other declared

Other calculated

• Court infrastructure (number of geographic court locations per 100.000 inhabitants

• Level of computerization communication facilities courts - environment

• Number of professional judges per 100.000 inhabitants

54,550,0

43,337,236,8

33,830,6

29,128,428,2

27,125,8

24,824,5

23,722,222,021,521,521,320,7

20,219,8

17,817,417,1

16,515,7

14,914,8

13,912,712,7

12,011,9

11,010,9

10,19,0

8,37,06,66,25,85,6

4,43,1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

MonacoSlovenia

CroatiaMontenegroLuxembourg

SerbiaFYROMacedonia

Czech RepublicGreece

HungaryAndorraPoland

SlovakiaGermanyBulgaria

LatviaBosnia and Herzegovina

LithuaniaRussian FederationUK-Northern Ireland

RomaniaAustria

European averageEstonia

PortugalFinland

SwitzerlandIceland

BelgiumUkraineSweden

NetherlandsCyprus

MoldovaFrance

ItalyNorway

SpainTurkey

MaltaUK-England & Wales

DenmarkGeorgia

AzerbaijanArmenia

UK-ScotlandIreland

• Number of non-judge staff per professional judge

10,49,1

8,26,9

5,44,5

4,34,34,2

4,03,93,83,83,73,73,63,6

3,43,33,23,2

3,13,03,0

2,92,82,82,82,82,72,62,62,62,5

2,32,12,02,0

1,71,4

1,3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

MaltaSpain

IrelandUK-England and Wales

UK-ScotlandCyprusEstoniaSerbia

ItalyDenmarkPortugalMoldova

MontenegroCroatia

BelgiumTurkey

LithuaniaSwitzerland

FYROMacedoniaPoland

SlovakiaAzerbaijan

Bosnia and Herzegovina Czech Republic

GermanyFinland

LatviaAustria

HungarySloveniaGeorgiaMonacoSweden

NetherlandsBulgaria

RomaniaRussian Federation

FranceNorway

LuxembourgIceland

• Number of incoming civil litigious cases and decisions per 100.000 inhabitants (no data for Bulgaria). However, there is info concerning administrative law cases

2 932

3 525

1 620

1 139

892

705

668

657

787

348

317

316

224

355

264

211

234

195

274

166

190

238

157

116

135

320

70

43

1 954

5 863

3 525

1 619

1 148

879

718

639

625

591

335

301

289

285

260

260

224

224

215

212

209

201

189

166

156

113

101

89

87

63

29

0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000

Moldova

Russian Federation

Montenegro

Sweden

Netherlands

Germany

Finland

Romania

Lithuania

Turkey

Croatia

Bulgaria

Armenia

Spain

France

Andorra

Slovenia

Slovakia

Georgia

Poland

Luxembourg

Estonia

Ukraine

Hungary

Czech Republic

Denmark

Latvia

Cyprus

Serbia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

UK-Scotland

Resolved casesIncoming cases

• Clearance rates administrative law cases

200127

126110

1061021011001001001009999989696969595

9191

7875

7370

6866

27

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200

MoldovaArmenia

PolandSlovakiaAndorra

GermanySweden

Russian FederationMontenegro

HungaryEstoniaFrance

NetherlandsCzech Republic

TurkeySlovenia

FinlandCroatia

RomaniaBulgaria

SerbiaGeorgia

LithuaniaSpain

UkraineBosnia and Herzegovina

LatviaCyprus

• Average calculated disposition time (in days)

= • the number of days

that cases are outstanding, or remain unresolved in court

Country Enforcement cases

Land registry cases Business registercases

Bosnia and Herzegovina 2313 186 33

FYROMacedonia 1291 2 1

Portugal 1275    

Monaco 1058   365

Spain 990    

Slovenia 700 118 25

Italy 465    

Poland 434 47 15

Montenegro 370   2

Andorra 360    

Serbia 242 104  

Slovakia 205   63

Norway 153    

Finland 130 13  

Turkey 101 577  

Austria 93 8  

Hungary 93 95 30

Croatia 84 92  

Denmark 55    

France 53    

Czech Republic 22   12

Romania 20    

Bulgaria     12

Ireland     141

Ukraine   153

General conclusions: trends in Europe

• Reduction geographic court locations• Stimulation of the application of e-justice• More use of ADR (especially mediation)• Increase of the budget allocated to judicial systems• More attention to the monitoring of cases with an exceptional

duration• Increase of the introduction of quality measures in the courts

• Full report can be downloaded from the cepej website (from 8 October 2008)

• http://www.coe.int/cepej