On Monday, 10 February, the Judicial Council unanimously supported the invitation to the Supreme Court to assess the factors delaying the duration of court proceedings and to prepare recommendations for elimination thereof.
Jānis Bordāns, the Minister of Justice, approves the decision to establish a working group, being under the supreme command of the Supreme Court, and attracting also other experts of the field: “The best way to analyse the factors affecting the duration of court proceedings is by judges and judicial power themselves, the Ministry of Justice will provide all necessary support and will help to introduce the prepared recommendations.”
That would be a systematic approach - to look for the issues of the prolonged court proceeding from the perspective of judicature as well as in the improvement of the procedural regulation,” the Minister of Justice emphasizes.
Immediately after approval received from the government one year ago, the MoJ commenced the assessment of the efficiency of the judicial system - starting with in-depth research of the assessments already made by the State Audit Office and international organizations and ending with the involvement of the State Audit Office in the implementation of a new comprehensive audit on the factors delaying the effective criminal proceedings. At the same time, the necessary preparatory works are performed in order the dedicated Court of Economic Cases could commence the work and it would be possible to introduce the e-case project in the beginning of 2021. Within a year the working group of the Ministry of Justice has submitted for review to the Parliament approximately 40 important proposals for procedural laws with the purpose to facilitate the speed and quality of court proceedings.
However, the results of such initiatives do not depend only from the executive power and legislator, but requires also active involvement of the judicial power. The Ministry of Justice is ready to support the judicial power in reaching its goals. Effective judicial power is a common target of all of us on the achievement of which all branches of the state power should work together, underlines J.Bordāns.