Greetings to Europe! Magistrates and Employees of the Administrative Court – Yambol

Our participation in the “Crystal Scales of Justice” competition is our appeal to all the judges and court officials throughout Europe: Let’s speak in understandable and accessible language with people, because all European citizens are equal before the Law, but not all of them are equal before the Language!

Welcome in the offices of the Administrative Court - Yambol and on our website!

We do believe, that anyone who visits our offices or our website will stay assured that our appeal for understandable and accessible language of the judicial system is genuine!

The participation of the Administrative Court - Yambol in the “Crystal Scales of Justice” competition organised by the European Commission and the Council of Europe is an appeal to all the judges and court officials throughout Europe to start speaking the same language with all the citizens.

Therefore the title of our Project: “ Everyone is Equal Before the Law, but Not Everyone is Equal before the Language! Understandable and Accessible Court Information for the Citizens!

The Administrative Court – Yambol initiatives in this project call for magistrates and court officials to start speaking to the citizens in understandable and accessible language. The complicated judicial language issue is common not only for the administrative courts in Bulgaria, but also for the whole judicial system throughout Europe.

Once we identified the target, we determined the target groups. The main mediators between the court and the citizens being the media, they were put in the first target group. Parallel to this, as implementation of the “Yambol Administrative Court Human Resources Management Strategy” and with the consent of the Supreme Judicial Council our Court employed a full-time PR Specialist.

We drafted “Work with the Media Procedures”, “The Media Information Strategy of the Yambol Administrative Court”, and “The Plan of Work with the Media”

The second large primary target group, at which we aimed our efforts, was the one of the citizens. Within this group we paid special attention to the disabled people and the young people interested in law studies. The second large primary target group, at which we aimed our efforts, was the one of the citizens. Within this group we paid special attention to the disabled people and the young people interested in law studies.

We set clear rules for the establishment of transparent management of the court and presentation of understandable information, and thereupon we continued with the outline of an overall PR Programme of the Administrative Court - Yambol. The PR Programme was put together after the existing and the forecast problems were defined, as well as the relevant practices until that moment which had ranked the Administrative Court - Yambol at the position of “The Only Administrative Model – Court in Bulgaria” ( bg.org/uploads/a4.jpg).. bg.org/uploads/a4.jpghttp://yambolas.court- bg.org/uploads/a4.jpg

The court Management drew up also a Clients Chart containing the standards of administrative services. This is a document where we put in writing our will and determination to co-operate with all the citizens by presenting the administrative services in understandable, accessible and precise language.

We outlined a few initiatives for the disabled people concerning the communication with them. These are detailed in the Plan for the Improvement of the Work in the Administrative Court - Yambol, 2010 – We outlined a few initiatives for the disabled people concerning the communication with them. These are detailed in the Plan for the Improvement of the Work in the Administrative Court - Yambol, 2010 – 2013.

Effects of the scheme: Not a single negative feed-back has been received until the end of September, 2010, neither regarding the information quality, nor regarding the overall activity of the Administrative Court - Yambol. The two surveys carried out among the citizens assured us that the public opinion of our work was improving. This assures us that we are on the right path and all the courts, not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe, may possibly make use of our experience. Effects of the scheme: Not a single negative feed-back has been received until the end of September, 2010, neither regarding the information quality, nor regarding the overall activity of the Administrative Court - Yambol. The two surveys carried out among the citizens assured us that the public opinion of our work was improving. This assures us that we are on the right path and all the courts, not only in Bulgaria, but also in Europe, may possibly make use of our experience.

We believe that the plans, programmes and strategies listed above could be developed and implemented in the courts of all the European countries. We are ready to lend a hand to anyone who wishes to apply our experience as a good practice!

The Administrative Court - Yambol thanks a lot to the organizers – the European Commission and the Council of Europe! We thank to the Jury for their appreciation of our concern for the good communication between the judicial system and the citizens.