Respect Time Limit Required for Issuing Legal Acts (BF0002)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Burkina Faso Action Plan 2017-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2017
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Justice, Human rights and Civic Promotion (MJDHPC)
Support Institution(s): The judicial staff (judges, clerks) of high courts
Policy Areas
Access to Justice, Capacity Building, Citizenship & Immigration, Justice, Open Justice, Public Service Delivery, Sustainable Development GoalsIRM Review
IRM Report: Burkina Faso Design Report 2017-2019
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
What is the public issue for which the commitment is made to address?: Slow issuance of legal acts (certificates of citizenship, police record….) • Lack of materials • Non computerized data and procedures • Unreasonable delays in legal proceedings, especially in the courts of Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso; What is the commitment?: Issue: Satisfy the users of the public service of justice. Overall objective : Issue legal acts to users within reasonable time limit Expected outcome : 50 % of legal acts are issued within the time limit, in accordance with the order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of June 25, 2014; How will this commitment contribute towardsaddressing the public issue?: This commitment will enable to reduce significantly the unreasonable time limit observed when issuing legal acts. Steps : • Publish procedures • Sensitize the stakeholders on the importance of the order • Follow the enforcement of the order, through ITS; Why is this commitment relevant in terms of OGP values: This commitment is relevant as it enables: • The transparency in the issuance of legal acts (police record, certificates of citizenship); • The public accountability in the sense that in case of failure to observe time limit, the citizen has enough elements to question the judicial administration.; Additional information: • In line with Item 1 of PNDES; • In line with the national policy on Justice; • In line with the National Pact for the revival of justice • In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16)
IRM Midterm Status Summary
2. Respect time limit required for issuing legal acts, in accordance with order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of June 25, 2014
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:
“Respect time limit required for issuing legal acts, in accordance with order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of June 25, 2014”
Issue: Satisfy the users of the public service of justice.
Overall objective: Issue legal acts to users within reasonable time limit.
Expected outcome: 50 % of legal acts are issued within the time limit, in accordance with the order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of June 25, 2014.
Milestones/Deliverables/Activities:
Monitor and supervision missions to be conducted by the Inspectorate General of Services (IGS)
Publish the most used procedures
Make a statistical report on legal acts issued
Start Date: November 2017 End Date: June 2019
Action Plan is available here
Editorial Note: “Legal acts” refer to legal documents such as judicial sentences, certificates of citizenship, and criminal records.
Context and Objectives
This commitment seeks to reduce the excessive delays in issuing legal acts. The government and CSOs agree that the lack of human and financial resources is one cause behind the delays. [11] Both the government and private users lack a full understanding of order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of 25 June 2014, governing deadlines for issuing legal acts. [12] There is no data available on government officials’ compliance with deadlines. Also, there are low levels of cooperation and coordination among relevant government divisions within the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Civic Promotion (MJDHPC), such as the General Division of Legal and Justice Affairs (DGAJJ), the General Inspection for Services (IGS), and the General Division for Sector Research and Statistics (DDII). [13]
The baseline for assessing this commitment is characterized as follows: insufficient equipment and supplies; procedures and statistics are not available in digital format; and delays in issuing legal acts in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso jurisdictions. [14]
The commitment’s objective is to ensure that legal acts are issued within reasonable deadlines and benefit users, with a target of 50% of legal acts complying with deadlines in accordance with order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of 25 June 2014. Additionally, this commitment seeks to implement monitoring and evaluation missions and digitalize the procedures that users demand the most in an effort to solve the problem of excessive delays in issuing legal acts by setting up a target of legal acts that are to be issued within the deadlines mandated by law.
This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of technology and innovation for openness and accountability, as it seeks to publish government data and procedures online. [15] By doing so, the case workload is expected to decrease within jurisdictions. [16] Also, this commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information in that decisions will be communicated via email, thus reducing time previously taken for physical document delivery. [17]
While the overall objective of the commitment is not verifiable, the actions are clear and specific enough to be objectively assessed. Completion of the commitment’s activities can be evaluated as follows: a) the number of oversight missions carried out; b) the number of digitalized procedures, which are used the most; and c) the development of a statistical report on legal acts and delivery times.
If fully implemented as written, officials may find difficulties in monitoring a reduction of delays. The government encourages oversight of timely legal act issuance, as well as the digitalization of data and procedures (which will reduce processing times). However, there is insufficient data on the current number and length of delays, which hinders the establishment of a baseline. Furthermore, the commitment does not include any actions based on the findings from the oversight missions.
Based on the status quo, the impact of the commitment’s objective and activities as written in the action plan is coded as minor: an incremental but positive step in the relevant policy area to improve the problem identified.
Next steps
- Include specific actions to address any bottlenecks found from oversight missions.
- Include quantifiable terms (i.e., a specific number of missions to be conducted, as well as the number of procedures digitalized).
- There is a no data on the numbers and length of current delays in the issuing of legal acts, including those prior to the enactment of order No. 2014-022/MJ/CAB of 25 June 2014, which makes it difficult to track progress. Therefore, the IRM suggests developing a statistical monitoring and evaluation system to ensure continuous reporting. Furthermore, this will help establish the current baseline of compliant issuances and provide other data like geographic or topical disparities. This will contribute to setting up a specific target against which to track progress.