SUMMARY:

1. Introduction: Creation of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary

2. The European Network of Councils for the Judiciary

3. ENCJ working groups

1. INTRODUCTION CREATION OF THE EUROPEAN NETWORK OF COUNCILS FOR THE JUDICIARY (ENCJ)

In November 2002 the governing bodies of the judiciary in three Member States of the European Union: The Netherlands Council for the Judiciary, together with the Belgian Supreme Council of Justice and the Irish Courts Service approached their European counterparts with the proposal to hold a Conference of Councils of the Judiciary from the EU Member States. The stated aim of the initial proposal by the promoters of the conference was to begin to create spaces for communication and exchange of experiences among the various organs of government and administration of the Judiciary which until then had not been created within the European Union, initiatives in order to set up permanent spaces for meeting and reflection among European judicial councils

This proposal to the GCJ was accepted and the first meeting took place in The Hague from 13th to 15th November 2003. An informal constituent working group was set up - the germ of the current Steering Committee - which was in charge of finalising a draft charter for submission to a plenary constituent session to be held in Rome on 20th and 21st May 2004.

The Network's organs have been working regularly since their activity began. Following the most recent reform of the Statutes, the governing organs of the ENCJ are the General Assembly (which meets annually); the Executive Board, which meets four or five times a year; and the President. The 2005 General Assembly was held at the Judicial School of the General Council of the Judiciary in Barcelona on 2 and 3 June.

The General Council of the Judiciary in Spain has always been very actively involved in the Network, with two members of the General Council of the Judiciary having held the post of president, Miguel Carmona Ruano (2011-2012) and Nuria Díaz Abad (2016-2018), in the latter case after being elected at the General Assembly held in the city of Warsaw (Poland) from 1 to 3 June 2016.

The Councils for the Judiciary or similar institutions in the following European Union Member States are full members of the ENCJ: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece (Supreme Judicial Council of Civil and Criminal Justice and Supreme Judicial Council of Administrative Justice), Hungary, Ireland, Italy (High Council of the Judiciary and Tax Justice Council), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.

The Ministries of Justice or the Councils for the Judiciary of the following EU states or candidates for membership of the EU are ENCJ observers: Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Montenegro, Norway, Republic of North Macedonia, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom (England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland) and the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Turkey's observer status was suspended at the General Assembly on 8 December 2016 and Poland was expelled at the General Assembly on 28 and 29 October 2021.   

2. THE EUROPEAN NETWORK OF COUNCILS FOR THE JUDICIARY

The setting up of the European Network of Councils of Justice (ENCJ) forms part of the objective of creating a European area of freedom, security and justice.

Its objectives include cooperation among its members in the following areas:

• Analysis of the structures and competences of its members, as well as exchange of information on said structures and competences.
• Exchange of experiences regarding the organisation and functioning of the judiciary.
• Issues relating to the independence of the judiciary and other matters of common interest.
• Contribution of technical knowledge and experiences and presentation of proposals to institutions of the European Union and other national and international organisations.

3. ENCJ WORKING GROUPS

The functional mechanism of the Network is to create a series of working groups reesponsible for preparing documents to analyse the most important issues relating to the judiciaries of the various member states of the European Union, documents that can serve as a reference in institutional work and which are the result of the joint reflection of its members. These results are endorsed by the General Assemblies and the reports are made available to the public on the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary website. (https://www.encj.eu). In addition, each General Assembly usually adopts an institutional declaration relating to one of the questions discussed at the corresponding Assembly or a topical question of relevance to the judiciaries of the States of Europe.