Measuring quantitative indicators Courts performance CSM Measuring quantitative indicators Courts performance LISBON, May 2018

CSM Framework The rule of law in a democracy requires not only judicial independence but also the establishment of competent courts rendering judicial decisions of the highest possible quality within a reasonable time Opinion n.º 17 (2014) of Consultative Council of European Judges This is the framework of judicial (judge and courts) performance system The rule of law in a democracy requires not only judicial independence but also the establishment of competent courts rendering judicial decisions of the highest possible quality within a reasonable time

Framework Portugal has a very ancient experience on judges’ assessment CSM Framework Portugal has a very ancient experience on judges’ assessment Nevertheless, the judicial reforms of the XXI century challenged us to go deep on reflexion and practice about the system: the new Inspectorate rules of 2017 are an example of this maintaining the traditional principles: Independence Legality Fairness Timeliness Equality Impartiality Although, Portugal has a very ancient experience in this domain, judicial reforms of the XXI century challenged us to go deep on reflexion and practice about the system of tracking judicial performance: the new rules of 2017 are an example of this. The main principles, however, remained unchanged: independence, legality, equality, impartiality and fairness. A new aspect was added: the continual assessment of courts’ process tracking as the adequate context to individual evaluation based on the above said principles. And stressing a new one: Continuous assessment of the whole courts’ process tracking focused on citizens and on results  

CSM Framework Firmly determined to accomplish is task of ensuring the independence of courts, the High Council stresses is attributions related to the performance of courts and not only of judges Article 2 of Portuguese Rule Aiming to contribute to improve the quality of the system of justice, mostly efficiency, effectiveness and streamlining procedures’ practices, administration and management

CSM Framework Accountability is both a continual and an essential goal, entirely respectful of judges’ independence. For that, The Inspectorate ought by no means to interfere with the independence of the Judges, concerning the substantive merits of their judgments and decisions

CSM CITIUS The IT system of Portuguese Courts is in fact an ongoing system built by court clercks to facilitate their work In 2008 it was adapted to judges’ intervention in civil cases Since 2017, that system was extended to all cases, although with some restrictions in criminal and children cases That system enables the citizens, when represented by lawyers, to apply their petitions to court as you can see by the video below:

CSM CITIUS When a file is lodged with the court it is classified according to its matter and complexity Afterwards, cases are randomly assigned to each Judge by means of an eletronic tool to prevent interference and enhances transparency

CSM CITIUS This is an example of what is seen in clerks application:

CSM CITIUS After assignment the files became available to the unit of proceedings, responsible for them:

CSM CITIUS The clerk presents the proceedings to the judge

CITIUS Judges application reports: the number of files CSM CITIUS Judges application reports: the number of files the type of decision possibly required the day of presentation for decision

CITIUS After decision the case returns to the clerck CSM CITIUS After decision the case returns to the clerck The clerks application provides data on timeliness as well

CSM CITIUS The decision can be sent electronically to lawyers

CSM Justice Statistics Fazer um texto para isto

Justice Statistics Justice Statistics CSM Justice Statistics http://www.siej.dgpj.mj.pt/webeis/index.jsp?username=Publico&pgmWindowName=pgmWindow_636622556206747500 Justice Statistics

CSM Justice Statistics http://www.siej.dgpj.mj.pt/webeis/index.jsp?username=Publico&pgmWindowName=pgmWindow_636622556206747500

CSM Justice Statistics http://www.siej.dgpj.mj.pt/webeis/index.jsp?username=Publico&pgmWindowName=pgmWindow_636622556206747500

CSM Council’s monitoring It is relevant to stress the organizational dimension of performance and therefore to improve the general accountability of courts and of judges within the Courts The recent changing of our Rules and Proceedings of Assessment, in order to build a more appropriate system that involves court presidents and inspectors, has that major objective For this purpose, the High Council continually monitories the activity of Courts, receives statistical data each four months and promotes reunions between court presidents, inspectors and judges, to analyse the problems and to draft the solutions Although the individual evaluation of judges is one of the most important tasks of inspectors, the wide view of the whole system is the context in which evaluation’s occurs. Evaluation of independent judges does not confound with judicial services, but services are essential for the result of judges’ work. Even if the performance of courts is important, the focus of individual evaluation of judges must be on their specific tasks in the democratic system of rule of law and emphasis must be done in the interest of all citizens. Accordingly cf. Opinion n.º 17 of CCJE: Judges perform indispensable duties in each democratic society that respects the rule of law. Judges must protect the rights and freedoms of all persons equally. Judges must take steps to provide efficient and affordable dispute resolution and decide cases in a timely manner and independently and must be bound only by the law. They must give cogent reasons for their decisions and must write in a clear and comprehensible manner. Moreover, all binding decisions of judges must also be enforced effectively. Judicial independence does not mean that judges are not accountable for their work. The CCJE has laid emphasis on maintaining and improving the quality and efficiency of judicial systems in the interest of all citizens. Where it exists, the individual evaluation of judges should aim at improving the judiciary while ensuring the highest quality possible. That exercise must be done in the interest of the public as a whole. In a system in which the Council or Judges do not provide resources but are able to manage them, I think this is a main issue. .

CSM Council’s monitoring Monitoring courts workload for management purposes implies the collection of court’s workload data Nowadays the Council uses an application developed by its own IT department Although data are provided for CITIUS, it is not yet possible to receive them directly For that a huge work of the court’s presidencies is needeed to introduce data in Council’s application

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring

CSM Council’s monitoring However, we have already fixed the qualitative criteria allowing the gathering of data with previous consultation of all judges. The following criteria were established: The core cases in each jurisdiction The percentage adequate to the remaining caseload The different categories of courts

Performance standards CSM Performance standards The definition of expected workload is a legal obligation of Judicial High Council Those standards must take in account the effective workload of Courts during, at least, three years Therefore, due to the 2014 judicial reform, the Council had now finished to gather the statistics results The data were collected from CITIUS and collected following the criteria above

Performance standards CSM Performance standards Resulting in a proposal that is yet to be adopted by the Council Categorização Inspecções Estudo 2010 2015 2016 2017 IC1   105 - 127 74 - 91 85 - 104 IC1 - Execuções 32 - 53 21 - 35 19 - 32 TOTAIS 95 - 126 104- 136 IC1A 86 - 105 52 - 57 IC2 200 - 250 65 42 - 52 43 - 52 38 - 46 IC3 350 - 500 224 118 - 144 IC4 165 - 201 126 - 149 131 - 160 IC4 - Execuções 9 - 15 7 -11 5-9 129 - 160 136 - 169 IC5 800 - 1000 850 423- 517 727 - 889 643 - 786 IC6 600 - 800 750 583 - 971 654- 1089 523 - 872 IC7 1100 - 1600 1450 96 - 160 117 - 142 112 - 137 IC8 700 575 - 703 572 - 699 580 - 709 IC9 2500 - 3000 6500 283 - 473 327 - 545 305 - 509

Thank you so much for your attention CSM Thank you so much for your attention