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.

After several meetings of this working group, the Plenary Meeting was held in Rome on 20 and 21 May 2004 and Statutes were adopted to constitute the European Network of Councils of Justice (ENCJ), one of whose founding members is the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain, which was also initially appointed as a member of the so-called Steering Committee along with the Councils of the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, France and Poland.

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 latest General Assembly was held in Warsaw, Poland, from 1 to 3 June 2016 and Nuria Díaz Abad, a Member of the General Council of the Judiciary, was elected President. Her term will last for two years (until June 2018). At the Warsaw General Assembly the Councils for the Judiciary or similar institutions in the following Member States of the European Union were elected members of the Executive Board of the ENCJ: France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Romania and Scotland. Furthermore, the General Assembly accepted the request of the two Supreme Judicial Councils of Greece to become members of the ENCJ.

As such, the current members of the ENCJ are the Councils for the Judiciary or similar institutions in the following Member States of the European Union: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece (Supreme Judicial Council of Civil and Criminal Justice and Supreme Judicial Council for Administrative Justice), Hungary, Ireland, Italy (Superior Council of the Judiciary and Council of Administrative Justice), Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom (England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland). 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, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey and the Court of Justice of the European Union.   

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.