State Secretary Ivan Crnčec elected President of CoE Working Group on Effectiveness of Judicial Proceedings (CEPEJ-GT-EFF)

State Secretary Ivan Crnčec was elected President of the newly established Working Group on the Effectiveness of Judicial Proceedings within the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe (CEPEJ), at its first meeting held on 30 March and 1 April 2026 in Maastricht

The Working Group (CEPEJ-GT-EFF) was given a mandate to develop tools to ensure the effectiveness of judicial activities. Its work will initially focus on four areas: court management, organisation and training, measurement of workload in courts, reduction of judicial backlog, and enforcement of court decisions.

Discussions during the meeting focused on preparing guidelines for the implementation of workload measurement systems in courts, as well as on a study concerning ways to reduce the duration of the various phases of civil proceedings. 

In addition, on 31 March, the 19th meeting of the CEPEJ Network of Pilot Courts was held. During the meeting, participants addressed a range of topics relevant to judicial work. The discussions were organised around six thematic workshops focusing on: process automation in courts, indicators for measuring the quality of justice, effective court management including competencies, skills and training needs, environmental sustainability in the judiciary, and digitalisation, including the use of artificial intelligence.

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