On 16 March 2016, the 15th Tool Correspondents meeting of the European Judicial Network took place in The Hague.
During this meeting, participants from several Member States gathered under the Presidency of the Netherlands to discuss the current and future projects foreseen for the update and improvement of the EJN website.
One of the main focuses of the meeting was the state of play of the Compendium update Project. This tool allows practitioners to write a request for Mutual Legal Assistance or fill in a Mutual Recognition Instrument Form in a simple way. During this point, the EJN Secretariat presented the complete workflow on how the Compendium would be used to complete a Confiscation Order and other forms of mutual recognition instruments. It was also demonstrated how the template for Mutual Legal Assistance requests can be used. A first working version of the new generation of the Compendium is currently being tested and practitioners can expect a fully functional version to be available on the EJN website in early August 2016.
Following up, the EJN Secretariat also had the opportunity to discuss updates regarding the EJN website. Since the tools are increasingly more interconnected, it is of greater importance to have a systematic update of the tools in place. Hence, the EJN Secretariat proposed the idea of introducing a monitoring mechanism to ensure updates to the tools on the website are made regularly by all EJN Tool Correspondents to guarantee accuracy of information.
Another important upcoming project for the website will be the reorganization of the Judicial Library. The aim is to improve the navigation and access to the information. This tool has extended the initial request foreseen in the Council Conclusionsi and it currently offers to practitioners more than 6.000 documents on judicial cooperation in criminal matters, including the status of implementation of 32 legal instruments. The EJN Tool Correspondents were also informed about word forms for a variety of mutual recognition legal instruments which are newly available in almost all official languages of the Member States on the Judicial Library Section of the EJN website. Afterwards, all EJN Tool Correspondents had the opportunity to provide feedback to the recent changes to the EJN homepage.
Further, the state of play of the Fiches Belges update was discussed during an extensive tour de table. The Fiches Belges provide legal and practical information on the different measures for judicial cooperation in criminal matters and allow for comparison between the different Member States. All EJN Tool Correspondents provided the EJN Secretariat and each other with information about their progress with updating their Fiches Belges. The project is expected to be finalized between April and May 2016.
Part of this year’s meeting was also an open discussion about the section Information on National Systems. Following the introduction of a template in 2011, the EJN Secretariat presented an updated version to provide consistent information on national systems which will be further discussed in written consultations.
The meeting concluded with Mr. Löfgren, Secretary to the EJN, providing an update on the cooperation with e-Justice and the migration of the EJN website into the e-Justice portal. Mr. Löfgren explained that the EJN Secretariat had been in close consultations with the Commission to discuss the exact details of the migration to ensure that the requirements from the EJN will be reflected in an agreement between both parties. The final written agreement will be presented for adoption during a Plenary Meeting once it has been finalized.
Background
The European Judicial Network is a network of national contact points. The role of the network is to improve, facilitate and speed up international judicial cooperation and ensure the proper execution of mutual legal assistance and mutual recognition requests, as well as to assist in establishing direct contacts between competent judicial authorities.
The role of the EJN Tool Correspondents is to ensure that all information in the EJN website related to his or her Member State is provided and updated in accordance with the EJN Decision (Council Decision 2008/976/JHA, Article 4.5). Moreover, Article 6.2 of the EJN Decision stipulates that the Tool correspondents shall meet on an ad hoc basis, at least once a year.
iConclusions of the Council of the EU on the follow-up of the Mutual recognition instruments, 3034th Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, Luxembourg, 7 and 8 October 2010.