From 15 to 17 February within the framework of the project “Supreme Courts as guarantee for effectiveness of judicial systems” managed by the Supreme Court, Head of the Division of Case-law and Research Anita Zikmane, Head of the Division of Communication Rasma Zvejniece, Head of the Division of Document Administration Janis Supe and Acting Head of the Secretariat of the Council for the Judiciary Solvita Harbacevica visited the Supreme Court of Spain for experience exchange. Representatives of the Supreme Courts of Lithuania and Hungary also participated.

Purpose of the visit was to exchange experience in two areas – in work of divisions of research and divisions of communication of courts. Employees of the Supreme Court of Spain presented court’s database of rulings – it has both a publicly accessible part and a part non-available to public, accessible only to judges and court employees; the non-accessible part makes it easy to keep track of the different categories of cases and results of proceedings in all instances. Experience was shared also by colleagues from Supreme Courts of Hungary and Lithuania; there were extensive discussions about the anonymisation of rulings, which currently is topical issue in all countries. For example, Spain has introduced a computer program that partially automates the anonymisation of rulings process.

Participants of experience exchange were truly interested at visiting the Supreme Court of Spain, which has set up a separate working space for journalists - journalists have access to computers, printers, copiers, as well as the opportunity to provide live broadcasts from court premises. Representatives of the Supreme Court of Spain also shared their experience on how press releases are prepared and ways of using social media in court communication. Representatives of the Supreme Court of Hungary presented their experience in use of video material as a communication tool. In its turn, the colleagues from the Supreme Court of Lithuania told about the way judges engage in court communication, as well as about the work of crisis communication management group.

During the visit also the cooperation between Supreme Courts and Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Human Rights and the National Constitutional Courts was discussed

Project participants were addressed by the President of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary Ms Nuria Diaz Abad, presenting the objectives and this year’s projects of the Network. Representatives of all Member States participate in working groups of the Network. Acting Head of the Secretariat of the Council for the Judiciary of Latvia Solvita Harbacevica in a separate conversation with the President of the Network discussed the issues of mutual cooperation.

Project “Supreme Courts as guarantee for effectiveness of judicial systems in the European Union” is financed by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Justice, headed by the Supreme Court of Latvia, with participation of the Supreme Courts of Lithuania, Spain and Hungary, as well as Universities of Antwerp (Belgium) and Ljubljana (Slovenia). The closing conference of the project will take place at the University of Latvia on 21 April.

 

Information prepared by

Janis Supe, Project manager

 

This document does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission. Opinion and interpretations expressed in it reflect only the viewpoints of its authors. European Commission does not bear any responsibility about further use of this information.