Cologne
WP2-WG3 report on 12 October 2022 in Cologne
A meeting of WP2 Working Group 3, co-leaded by Sascha Dalen Gilhuijs and Benoit de Clerck, was held on 12 October in Cologne at Euroexpert‘s premises and simultaneously in remote mode via Teams. The aim was to draw up proposals for the future organization of the register.
Progress report of WP2-WG3 by mid-October 2022
By Benoit de Clerck
The overall theme of WP2 is the development of a recommended process for the maintenance of a future European register of legal experts, in the form of a set of convergent practices between the existing systems in the different EU-member states.
Phase 1 of the project aimed at collecting available information on the models applied in different countries (sources: e-justice portal, procedural codes, other documentary sources) and to publish it in a standardized document (questionnaire) in a homogeneous way, with a view to a research and comparative evaluation work to be carried out in phase 2.
In Phase 1 of the project, WG3 worked on the development of these questionnaires for the following countries: Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, Nederland.
For the conduct of phase 2, the following organization was chosen:
- Selection of criteria to be assessed, and thresholds to be met to allow first inscription – as well as renewal – on the register, will be specified by Working Group 1.
- Identifying the appropriate bodies to conduct these assessments is the responsibility of WG2.
- The mission entrusted to WG3 is to propose mechanisms to conduct evaluation of applications, considering the criteria selected.
The actors of WG3, all highly motivated, have chosen to divide their study on the principles for conducting assessments into 3 subfamilies:
- (1) that of the technical skills and professionalism of the candidates,
- (2) that of their knowledge of the principles of fair trial and of the codes of procedure applicable to judicial expertise,
- (3) that of other aspects expected of judicial experts, such as probity, independence, impartiality, compliance with requirements in terms of swearing in and insurance against civil liability, etc.
As the consensus conference takes place in June 2023, the ambition is to achieve this phase by the end of December. The main challenge of this phase is to respect the schedule announced by the project, which implies a need for the WGs to work in parallel despite the obvious interdependence of their respective subjects.
This is all the more true since the work of WG3 is largely conditioned by that of the other two groups. The establishment of the registration procedures depends both on the qualification criteria of the expert proposed by WG1 (the proposed procedures are intended to verify that the criteria suggested by WG1 are fulfilled) and on the role of the body proposed by WG2.
