#JusticeScoreboard: EU Justice Scoreboard 2016 released

The EU Justice Scoreboard 2016 was published today (11 April 2016), and for the first time included the results of the Eurobarometer surveys.

The European Commission hoped that the Eurobarometer surveys would help them examine the perception of judicial independence in the EU among both citizens and businesses. Several of the member states scored low on the surveys, including Slovakia, the next in line for the European Union presidency.

Some key findings from the Justice Scoreboard are:

• Shorter duration of litigious civil and commercial cases:While there is overall stability on pending cases, improvement can be observed in several member states that faced particular challenges with a high number of pending cases.
• Better accessibility of justice systems,in particular in matters like electronic submission of small claims or promotion of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods. However, there is still room for improvement in online availability of judgements or electronic communication between courts and parties.
• Further efforts are still needed to improve the training in judicial skillsand the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for case management systems.
• Most member states have standards covering similar aspects of their justice systems, but there are significant differences as regards their content. For example, less than half of member states have standards on measures to reduce existing backlogs and even fewer define the maximum age that pending cases should have.
• The Scoreboard incorporates the results of different surveys on the perception of judicial independence. For member states where perceived independence is very low, the most notable reasons given included interference or pressure from government and politicians, and from economic or other specific interests.

Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Vĕra Jourová said that the results are encouraging and are important in improving member states’ justice systems.

"The fourth EU Justice Scoreboard shows that Member States' efforts to improve justice systems continue to bear fruit. The key role of national justice systems in upholding the rule of law, enforcing EU law and establishing an investment-friendly environment deserve these efforts," Jourová said. "The Scoreboard serves as a tool to learn from each other to render European justice systems more effective."

#JusticeScoreboard shows key role of justice systems in establishing an investment-friendly environment @VeraJourova pic.twitter.com/G9CXt9vnxc

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— Daniel Braun (@danbraun79) April 11, 2016

The goal of the Justice Scoreboard is to focus on:

• Efficiency of justice systems: length of proceedings, clearance rate and pending cases
• Quality indicators: training, monitoring and evaluation of court activities, use of satisfaction surveys, budget and human resources
• Independence: data from different surveys on the perceived judicial independence by companies and the general public.

These findings will be used to help ongoing country specific assessments for the rest of the 2016 European Semester process. The Commission will continue to encourage the judicial networks to deepen their assessment of the effectiveness of legal safeguards aimed at protecting judicial independence. 

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