Description
The project is needed to provide support to the Bulgarian judiciary to strengthen its capacity and effectiveness. The main objective of the project is to improve the management of the judicial system and quality of justice in accordance with the Strategy to continue the Judicial Reform in the conditions of Bulgaria’s full EU membership. The project is expected to develop an effective e-summoning system according to the provisions of the Electronic Management Act; to increase the capacity of the members of the Bulgarian judiciary to comply with and implement the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and to create a network of judges specialised in human rights; to improve the mechanism for assessment of the workload in the judicial system at the individual and institutional levels focusing on qualitative indicators and benchmarks. The main target groups of the project are: judiciary, executive and legislative authorities; magistrates; court employees; civil society. The project is implemented in partnership with the Council of Europe, which will facilitate the planning, organization and implementation of the project activities and objectives.
Summary of project results
Project is based on the Strategy of the Government to Continue the Judicial Reform in the Conditions of Bulgaria’s Full European Union membership adopted in June 2010 and the Action Plan where are outlined measures for more effective judicial proceedings, improvement of the performance management of courts, and improvement of the capacity of the judiciary to implement the provisions of the ECtHR and its case law. Within the project have been organized 2 study visits to the CoE on best practices in the area of e-summoning and in judicial workload assessment in the CE and EEA member states, 2 round tables and 1 seminar on e-summoning and proposal for legislative amendments and 2 working groups with the participation of international experts on workload assessment focused on qualitative benchmarks and criteria. System of e- summoning was established in result of the project. The possibility to send e-summons and messages will contribute to accelerate the legal process, to reduce litigation costs and increase efficiency and access to justice. For sustanability contributed Manual with best practices which was developed. As an additional activity was created an interactive map of the judicial regions in Bulgaria. This information product will contribute to the progress in overcoming the problem, related to the uneven workload in the bodies of the judiciary and the reform of the judicial map in Bulgaria. Within the project 9 Bulgarian judges were seconded to the Registry of the ECtHR for a period between 8-12 months. Their work contributed to clearing the significant backlog of pending complaints against the country (until the start of the project Bulgaria was one of the 10 countries with the highest number of pending complaints against it). They became moderators of the online forum which contribute to expand the knowledge of the Bulgarian magistrates regarding the practice and functioning of the ECtHR. Another very successful activity has been the 3-day training for representatives of the Bulgarian judiciary (15 judges, 20 prosecutors, and 5 representatives of the Administration of the SJC) with the aim to achieve a better understanding of the provisions of the ECHR and the functioning and practice of the ECtHR. All project indicators have been successfully achieved.
Summary of bilateral results
Represenative of PdP 2 took part in an a bilateral initiative in partnership of the Norwegian Courts Administration - a two-day workshop organised by the NCA and held in Trondheim with the participation of the Project Promoters of Norway Grants projects from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland and Romania projects including the project managers from the NCA and the CoE involved. The workshop bought together representatives of the Norway Grants Project Promoters from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Romania in order to help them improve the ways in which they manage their projects and programs in the area of Judicial Capacity Building and Cooperation. In result of the multilateral initiative the capacity among project promoters and donor project partners was increased, and the networking in the Norway Grants family improved .