The Supreme Court of Cassation presented today an annual report on the work of all courts in the Republic of Serbia for 2018. On that occasion Justice Minister Nela Kuburović pointed out that by comparing annual reports of the Supreme Court of Cassation with those compiled by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) it could be concluded that Serbia’s courts were achieving ever better results year after year.

As an example of improvement, Kuburović mentioned the average length of first-instance court proceedings, which was 253 days according to the last CEPEJ report, compared to 580 days in 2014.

“If we contrast the results of the work of Serbia’s courts with those in EU countries, as presented in the CEPEJ maps and database, we can observe that our courts perform much better than EU countries courts with regard to certain parameters”, the Minister emphasised adding that Serbia’s courts consistently applied new legal solutions.

Kuburović commended a big response and readiness of judges to undergo training in how to enforce new regulations. She also announced amendments to the Constitution in 2019 in the part relating to judicial power and the composition, status and competencies of the High Judicial Council, adding that a series of strategic documents was to be adopted by the judiciary in the first half of the year.

“The development of a new National Strategy for Advancing the Work of the Judiciary 2019-2024 is ahead of us, which aims to anticipate future activities and measures in order to have more efficient judiciary,” Kuburović said.

The Minister pointed out that the concept of mediation would be further promoted, the ultimate goal being to adopt a national strategic document so that alternative dispute resolution methods could be applied more in practice.

Kuburović also reflected on e-Justice projects directly contributing to increasing court efficiency and underlined that more than a million e-queries had been exchanged through the Judicial Information System to date, replacing at least two million letters of correspondence and saving more than 220 million dinars per year.

“This year will see significant IT investments in commercial courts and courts of general jurisdiction in the amount of more than 200 million dinars. We will purchase a large number of computers and computer equipment. The plan is to equip all courts with brand new computers and peripherals in the next three years”, Kuburović noted.

She also pointed out that one of the Ministry’s top priorities in the future would be to strengthen judicial infrastructure by constructing new court buildings and reconstructing the existing ones, adding that the Belgrade Palace of Justice would be completely reconstructed by the end of September 2019.

The Minister recalled that a completely new building of the Kragujevac Palace of Justice was being built, and that the works were about to commence on the building of judiciary bodies in Novi Sad.

Kuburović also said that the number of temporary court staff had increased by more than 200 people in 2017 and 2018 relative to 2016.

Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Sam Fabrizi emphasised that the rule of law is a true backbone of a democratic society and democracy itself. He explained that it was a priority and the reason why independence, efficiency and quality of judgments should be part of a complex package to be set up in line with the EU acquis.

President of the Supreme Court of Cassation Dragomir Milojević stressed that the transparency of the work of courts was of immense importance for the rule of law and citizens’ trust in the judiciary, which had been recognised by the SCC resulting in a clear and comprehensible annual report on the work of Serbia’s courts for 2018.

Milojević said that the format of the report ensured court transparency and allowed an easy access by the general public and the media to information about the work of courts in Serbia.