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Calendar Updated: July 22, 2016
MDTF Activities > BACKLOG REDUCTION WORKING GROUP ADOPTS AMENDED NATIONAL BACKLOG REDUCTION PLAN

BACKLOG REDUCTION WORKING GROUP ADOPTS AMENDED NATIONAL BACKLOG REDUCTION PLAN

On July 19, 2016 the Working Group on Implementation of the Unified Backlog Reduction Plan (hereinafter: BLR WG), led by the President of the Supreme Court of Cassation, Chief Justice Dragomir Milojevic, met to discuss and adopt the Draft of the Amended Unified Backlog Reduction Plan.

During the weekend preceded to this meeting, a designated number of WG members, supported by the MDTF-JSS Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, retreated  to finalize the draft amendments to the Unified BLR Plan, in accordance with April recommendations and conclusions (see: http://www.vk.sud.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/Zakljuci%20od%2004-04-16.pdf). 

This draft was presented to the entire Working Group on the meeting of July 19 by Justice Snezana Andrejevic, Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Cassation. The Amended Unified BLR Plan introduces novelties related to the analysis of the statistical data on the work of courts: the backlog and overall caseload trends were analyzed chronologically from 2012 onwards in major categories – inflow, total pending, resolved, pending at the end of the year. These categories were observed from the courts’ perspective (averages per court of certain type and instance) and judges’ perspective (averages per judge in a court of certain type and  instance).

In addition, caseloads and trends were analyzed by certain case types: civil (with and without enforcement cases), criminal, commercial, misdemeanor, administrative, from 2012 onward.

The Working Group took 2012 as the baseline, since it concluded that it took two years for the whole judicial system to stabilize from the reforms introduced in 2010.

The WG also amended  its approach towards the measures to be taken to reduce and prevent backlog: apart from systemic measures (to be taken by all stakeholders in the sector: High Judicial Council, Ministry of Justice and Supreme Court of Cassation) and general measures (to be undertaken by all courts), the amended Unified BLR Plan identifies measures related to certain types of cases and types of proceedings, but also measures related to strengthening public trust and confidence, fostering cooperation with institutions outside the sector, etc.

On the meeting held on July 19, the Working Group adopted the Amended Unified Backlog Reduction Program, and concluded the following:
  • The effective management of resources in court system is crucial for successful implementation of the measures prescribed. Therefore it is absolutely necessary to exclude court staff from public administration and civil servants’ system, so that their governance and management is freed from decisions of the executive branch of government.
  • The impact of measures prescribed should also be measured by court users’ satisfaction surveys, first of which should be conducted in 2018.
The full text of July 19 meeting’s conclusions can be found on the Supreme Court of Cassation webpage:
http://www.vk.sud.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/Zakljuci%20od%2019-07-16.pdf.
 
After the Amended Unified BLR Program is signed by the Chief Justice, it will be distributed to all courts, High Judicial Council and Ministry of Justice, and made publicly available through SCC’s website. This is expected by September 1, 2016.