Draft Legislation About the Responsibility of Judges (SK0113)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Slovak Republic National Action Plan 2017-2019
Action Plan Cycle: 2017
Status: Inactive
Institutions
Lead Institution: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice
Support Institution(s): NA
Policy Areas
E-Government, Judiciary, Justice, Legislation & Regulation, Legislative, Open Justice, Regulatory GovernanceIRM Review
IRM Report: Slovakia Implementation Report 2017-2019, Slovak Republic Design Report 2017–2019
Starred: No
Early Results: Marginal
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Civic Participation , Public Accountability
Implementation i
Description
Disciplinary proceedings in the case of judges are lengthy and inflexible, which leads to insufficient discipli-nary responsibility. It is possible to appeal the decisions of the Disciplinary Commissions or request reopen-ing of the proceedings. Other kinds of extraordinary appeals against the final decision of the Disciplinary Commission are inadmissible40.
Based on the past experience, it would seem appropriate to introduce into the Slovak legal order the changes which will ensure better functioning of the proceedings and also ensure consistent, rapid and ef-fective application of the disciplinary responsibility of the judges. It is also necessary to establish a supervi-sory system that will carry out continuous monitoring of the activities of these bodies in order to ensure smooth operation of the Disciplinary Commission. In its Government Manifesto, the Government of the Slovak Republic pledged to adopt these measures to increase the public control of the justice system. The Government also undertook to adopt legislative measures to establish a clear supervisory authority that would ensure smooth operation of these proceedings while preserving the composition of the Disciplinary Commissions.
Commitment No. 56: In a participatory manner, prepare draft legislative changes to determine the au-thority to supervise the fluency of disciplinary proceedings and to ensure a rigorous, swift and effective application of the disciplinary responsibility of judges and submit them to the Government.
IRM Midterm Status Summary
THEME - Improve judiciary
Comm 53, 54, 55, 56, 57
Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Open Government Partnership National Action Plan of the Slovak Republic 2017 – 2019”, http://bit.ly/2QYIlHV ]:
Commitment 53: “Reassess the implementation of the publication of assessments of judges in terms of the clarity and making further analysis easier.”
Commitment 54: “Specify which court decisions do not need to be published.”
Commitment 55: “Specify the types of submissions that are appropriate to formalize, design standardized forms for selected submissions, and publish the standardized submissions electronically at the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic, the central public administration portal and the Slov-Lex legal and information portal.”
Commitment 56: “In a participatory manner, prepare draft legislative changes to determine the authority to supervise the fluency of disciplinary proceedings and to ensure a rigorous, swift and effective application of the disciplinary responsibility of judges and submit them to the Government.”
Commitment 57: “In a participatory manner, prepare draft legislative changes to ensure greater public scrutiny of the election of the heads of courts, judges and judicial staff and present them to the Government.”
Start Date: Not specified
End Date: 30 June 2018 and ongoing
Context and Objectives
The commitments in this cluster aim to improve judiciary from different perspectives. As the previous IRM report highlighted the Slovak population does not trust in the independence of judicial decisions[Note : Mária Žuffová, Open Government Partnership, “Slovakia Special Accountability Report 2014 - 2015”, http://bit.ly/2EzH4Ws]. The commitments on the judiciary to address this and other problems first occurred in the second action plan[Note : The Office of the Plenipotentiary, “Open Government Partnership National Action Plan of the Slovak Republic 2015”, http://bit.ly/2RevqCc]. Two commitments addressed an inconsistent publication of judicial decisions, with the aim to identify the key problems in publishing judicial decisions and propose a uniform system for publishing them. However, progress was limited. Therefore, commitment 54 to specify which judicial decisions need to be published and which do not, as well as commitment 55 to determine what types of submission should be formalized are carried forward from the previous action plan. Commitment 54 relates to access to information, as it contributes to a more consistent approach to the publication of judicial decisions and determines the level of information provided on court decisions. However, commitment 55 is not relevant to open government, and therefore is coded for no potential impact. As written, it is an inward-looking commitment, which might potentially improve internal procedures within courts. The Ministry of Justice has established an analytical center to tackle this and other similar data problems[Note : The Ministry of Justice, “Analytical center”, http://bit.ly/2QP6JPD (in Slovak) ]. It has also created a working group during the implementation of the second action plan, which comprised CSOs which regularly comment on the judiciary.
Another critical point of the judiciary system that was first brought up in the previous IRM report was the way judges are being evaluated[Note : Mária Žuffová, Open Government Partnership, “Slovakia Special Accountability Report 2014 - 2015”, http://bit.ly/2EzH4Ws]. Both public servants and CSOs criticized a lack of external professional but also a public element in evaluations. Thus, the quality and objectivity remain an issue. A commitment on improving the assessment of judges was formulated in the 2016-2020 Government Manifesto[Note : The Government Office, “The government manifesto”, http://bit.ly/2cceHdN (in Slovak).]. The Ministry of Justice was supposed to prepare a legislative proposal to enable publication of judges’ evaluations to fulfil it. However, the commitment was extended due to the parliamentary elections in 2016 – a time in a political cycle when chances for legislative changes drop significantly[Note : Ibid. ].
Commitment 53 to reassess the implementation of the publication of judges’ evaluations was also important. However, some CSO representatives argued that the evaluations of judges should be a managerial tool for the governance of judiciary rather than an accountability tool for the public[Note : Pavol Žilinčík (The Judicial Council and Comenius Uniersity), E-mail conversation, 30 October 2018. See Section ‘VI. Methodology and sources for details.
Interview with Samuel Spáč (Masaryk University and Comenius University, previously TI Slovakia), 23 June 2016. See Section ‘VI. Methodology and sources for details. ]. The CSO representatives interviewed for the previous IRM report also suggested that selection procedures, as well as disciplinary procedures, need to be changed[Note : Mária Žuffová, Open Government Partnership, “Slovakia Special Accountability Report 2014 - 2015”, http://bit.ly/2EzH4Ws ].
Commitments 56 and 57 reflect these suggestions and have a potential to increase public scrutiny of the selection procedures and effective application of the disciplinary responsibility of judges. As these commitments are expected to be realized in a participatory manner, they also could contribute to greater public participation. However, as indicated above, some CSO representatives expressed doubts whether internal procedures such as selection and disciplinary procedures should be a part of the OGP commitment. Commitment 57 to draft legislation to make selection procedures more transparent is particularly important and has the potential to improve the current practice substantially. Via Iuris, a renowned CSO, which has monitored the selection procedures for the heads of courts, judges, and judicial staff for years, regularly concluded that there is nepotism in the judiciary, as candidates with family ties in the judiciary are more likely to be selected[Note : Kristína Babiaková, “Výber sudcov na Slovensku” (Selecting the judges in Slovakia), Via Iuris, http://bit.ly/2EKklVH (in Slovak)].
Next steps
TI Slovakia has concluded for the mid-term self-assessment report that while some decisions were taken to determine which judicial decisions should be published and which should not, for the commitment to have an impact, the courts, in particular, its administrative staff responsible for the publication of judicial decision must be aware of these recent changes. Therefore, awareness-raising activities and training for public servants is crucial.
As for commitments 56 and 57, CSO representatives argued that it should be reconsidered whether the improvement of internal procedures within the justice system should be a part of open government.
IRM End of Term Status Summary
Commitments
-
Publish Implementation Plans for Regulations
SK0126, 2019, E-Government
-
Regularly Publish Government Datasets
SK0127, 2019, Access to Information
-
Publish Data on Use of EU Grant Funding
SK0128, 2019, Aid
-
Publish Beneficial Ownership Data
SK0129, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Educational Resources Portal
SK0130, 2019, Capacity Building
-
National Open Science Strategy
SK0131, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Continuous Education for Participatory Policymaking
SK0132, 2019, Capacity Building
-
Report on Public Participation in Lawmaking
SK0133, 2019, Public Participation
-
Civil Society - Government Partnerships
SK0134, 2019, Subnational
-
Legislation Materials Portal
SK0135, 2019, Access to Information
-
Monitor Fulfillment of the Next Action Plan
SK0136, 2019,
-
Open Data Portal
SK0058, 2017, Access to Information
-
Submit a Draft Law on Data to the Government.
SK0059, 2017, Access to Information
-
Public Administration Employee Training
SK0060, 2017, Access to Information
-
Data Publication Standards
SK0061, 2017, Access to Information
-
Update Open Data Portal
SK0062, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Publication
SK0063, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Awareness-Raising
SK0064, 2017, Access to Information
-
Survey About Open Data
SK0065, 2017, Access to Information
-
Publish Open Data
SK0066, 2017, Access to Information
-
Analysis of Open Data
SK0067, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Data Strategy
SK0068, 2017, Access to Information
-
Develop Standards for Publicly Available Application Programming Interfaces and Submit Them to the Commission for the Standardization of Information Systems in Public Administration.
SK0069, 2017, E-Government
-
Ensure Open Data Publication
SK0070, 2017, Access to Information
-
Survey of Public Demand for Application Programming Interfaces
SK0071, 2017, E-Government
-
Publish Application Programming Interfaces
SK0072, 2017, Access to Information
-
Enable the Disclosure of Source Code and Development Using Open Methods for Newly Developed Plug-Ins and Extensions of Web Browsers and Client Applications.
SK0073, 2017, Access to Information
-
Custom-Made Information Systems
SK0074, 2017, Access to Information
-
Publish Open Source Software Data
SK0075, 2017, Access to Information
-
Study About Open Source Software
SK0076, 2017, Access to Information
-
Feasibility Study on NGO Satellite Account
SK0077, 2017, Access to Information
-
Define the Minimum Scope and Structure of the Disclosed Data on the Use of European Structural and Investment Funds, the EEA Financial Mechanism, Norwegian Financial Mechanism, the Swiss Financial Mechanism and Subsidy Schemes From the State Budget.
SK0078, 2017, Aid
-
Publish Financial Data
SK0079, 2017, Access to Information
-
Propose Changes to Central Register of Contracts Regulation
SK0080, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Create Space for the Publication of Local Self-Government (Municipality) Contracts in a Single Central Repository.
SK0081, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Establish and Operate a Repository of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic for Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Access to Educational Resources.
SK0082, 2017, Access to Information
-
Open Education Resources
SK0083, 2017, Access to Information
-
Reach Out to Partners Who Have Provided Educational Resources After 2008 to the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic Or to Its Directly Managed OrGanizations, with a Suggestion to Make Educational Resources Available Under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License.
SK0084, 2017, E-Government
-
Enforce Public Licensing
SK0085, 2017, Education
-
Make Educational Resources Available in Local Langage
SK0086, 2017, Education
-
Ensure Availability of University Textbooks
SK0087, 2017, Access to Information
-
Introduce Specific Rules for Open Publication and the Obligation to Provide Free Access of Selected Publicly Funded Publica-Tions
SK0088, 2017, Access to Information
-
Analyze the Possibility of Applying Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) Public License As Standard for Selected Works Mandatorily Published in the Central Registry of Theses and Dissertations.
SK0089, 2017, E-Government
-
Awareness-Raising About Open Education Resources
SK0090, 2017, E-Government
-
Publish the Outcomes of the Approval Process of Educational Resources on the Web-Site of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic.
SK0091, 2017, Access to Information
-
To Introduce the Basic Principles of Open Access to Scientific Publications Under a Public License Under the Operational Program Research and Innovation.
SK0092, 2017, Access to Information
-
Ensure the Implementation of Public License Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)
SK0093, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish Contact Office for Open Access.
SK0094, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish Conditions for Passportization of Open Research Data Under a Public License and Monitor Its Implementation in Practice.
SK0095, 2017, Access to Information
-
Establish and Operate a Repository to Provide Storage, Long-Term Archiving and Ac-Cess to Slovak Scientific and Academic Publications, Research Data and Gray Literature.
SK0096, 2017, Access to Information
-
Design Systematic Benchmarking Monitoring Mechanisms for the Measurement and Comparison and Propose Further Analyses Related to Acquiring, Processing and Re-Use of Research Data and Open Access Scientific Publications.
SK0097, 2017, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community
SK0098, 2017, Access to Information
-
Participate in International Coordination on Open Education Reforms
SK0099, 2017, Access to Information
-
Participatory Public Policy
SK0100, 2017, E-Government
-
Citizen-Traingin on Public Policy Making
SK0101, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Create Engaging Public Policies
SK0102, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Government Employee Peer-Exchange
SK0103, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Evaluate Identified Participatory Processes of Creation and Implementation of Pub-Lic Policies and Disseminate Examples of Good Practice Based on This Evaluation.
SK0104, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Promote Partnership and Dialogue Between Public Authorities, Citizens and NGOs at National, Regional and Local Level in the Area of Participatory Public Policy-Making.
SK0105, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Propose a Recommendation of Internal Guidelines on the Use of Free On-Line Tools in Participatory Creation of Public Policies.
SK0106, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Create Learning Tools in the Field of Participation.
SK0107, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Use Educational Tools About Participation in Formal Education Using Informal Learn-Ing Methods.
SK0108, 2017, E-Government
-
Develop Recommendations for Embedding Participatory Processes Into Organiza-Tional Processes, Internal Guidelines and Other Documents for the Needs of Central Government Bodies.
SK0109, 2017, Capacity Building
-
Reassess the Implementation of the Publication of Assessments of Judges in Terms of the Clarity and Making Further Analysis Easier
SK0110, 2017, E-Government
-
Specify Which Court Decisions Do Not Need to Be Published.
SK0111, 2017, E-Government
-
Standardize Submission Requirements for Slov-Lex Portal
SK0112, 2017, Access to Information
-
Draft Legislation About the Responsibility of Judges
SK0113, 2017, E-Government
-
Draft Legislation to Ensure Public Scrutiny of Judges
SK0114, 2017, Judiciary
-
Prepare Legislation That Will Ensure the Publication of the Seat of Office of Individual Prosecutors
SK0115, 2017, E-Government
-
Create Draft Legislation to Extend the Right to Recommend Candidates for the Post of Attorney-General.
SK0116, 2017, Legislation & Regulation
-
Participatory Analysis of Prosecutor's Affairs
SK0117, 2017, E-Government
-
In a Participatory Manner, Analyze the Selection Procedures
SK0118, 2017, Justice
-
Awareness-Raising About Anti-Social Activities
SK0119, 2017, Anti-Corruption
-
Analyze and Evaluate Preliminary Information and Reports on Public Participation in the Process of Drafting and Commenting on Draft Legislation.
SK0120, 2017, E-Government
-
Analyze and Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Electronic Collective Petition.
SK0121, 2017, E-Government
-
Identify the Person Responsible for Implementing the Tasks of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019 in the Organization.
SK0122, 2017, E-Government
-
Coordinate the Working Group on the Implementation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.
SK0123, 2017,
-
Develop the Final Evaluation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.
SK0124, 2017, E-Government
-
Prepare and Submit for the Government of the Slovak Republic the OGP National Action Plan for the Following Period.
SK0125, 2017, E-Government
-
List of Open Data Datasets
SK0023, 2015, Access to Information
-
Publish Open Data
SK0024, 2015, Access to Information
-
Survey of Open Data
SK0025, 2015, Access to Information
-
Publish Relevant Open Datasets
SK0026, 2015, Access to Information
-
Open Data Publication Strategy
SK0027, 2015, Access to Information
-
Grant Scheme Open Data Portal
SK0028, 2015, Access to Information
-
Web Portal Promotion Campaign
SK0029, 2015, Access to Information
-
Evaluate Grant Funding Open Data Application
SK0030, 2015, Access to Information
-
Digital Education Resources
SK0031, 2015, Access to Information
-
Map Existing Repositories
SK0032, 2015, Access to Information
-
Analyze Procurement Process for Education Resources
SK0033, 2015, Access to Information
-
Textbook Procurement Process
SK0034, 2015, Access to Information
-
Pilot Procurement Process
SK0035, 2015, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness of Education Resources
SK0036, 2015, Access to Information
-
Join Multilateral Activities in Europe and Beyond That Support the Creation, Improvement, Sharing and Re-Use of Open Educational Resources.
SK0037, 2015, Access to Information
-
Map Existing Scientific Repositories
SK0038, 2015, Access to Information
-
Identify Barriers to Open Data Access
SK0039, 2015, Access to Information
-
Submit Analysis of Open Data Publication
SK0040, 2015, Access to Information
-
Data Publication Mechanism
SK0041, 2015, Access to Information
-
Raise Awareness About Open Access in Academic Community
SK0042, 2015, Access to Information
-
Assist Other Countries with Open Access Strategy
SK0043, 2015, Access to Information
-
Participatory Policy-Making
SK0044, 2015, Public Participation
-
Workshops on Public Involvement in Policymaking
SK0045, 2015, Capacity Building
-
Develop Public Policy with Civil Society
SK0047, 2015, Civic Space
-
Develop Criteria for Evaluating Participation in Policymaking
SK0048, 2015, Public Participation
-
Evaluate Policy Creation
SK0049, 2015, Public Participation
-
Map Legislative Environments
SK0050, 2015, Legislative
-
Carry Out a Public Campaign to Promote the Collective Electronic Petitions.
SK0051, 2015, Capacity Building
-
Publish Evaluation of Justices
SK0052, 2015, Judiciary
-
Analyze Publication of Judicial Decisions
SK0053, 2015, Judiciary
-
Uniform Reporting of Judicial Decisions
SK0054, 2015, Judiciary
-
Publish List of Names of Prosecutors
SK0055, 2015, Judiciary
-
Final Evaluation of OGP Action Plan
SK0056, 2015,
-
Develop Next Action Plan
SK0057, 2015,
-
Open Data Portal Launch
SK0001, 2012, Access to Information
-
Publishing Datasets
SK0002, 2012, Access to Information
-
Datasets Mapping
SK0003, 2012, Access to Information
-
Data Standards
SK0004, 2012, Access to Information
-
Improved Register of Contracts
SK0005, 2012, Fiscal Openness
-
Continuous Dataset Publising
SK0006, 2012, Access to Information
-
ITMS Dataset
SK0007, 2012, Access to Information
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring
SK0008, 2012, Fiscal Openness
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Prepare Tender for Web Application
SK0009, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Portal Launch
SK0010, 2012, E-Government
-
Participatory Policy Making
SK0011, 2012, Capacity Building
-
Apply Participatory Policy Making
SK0012, 2012, Public Participation
-
Lawmaking Public Participation Rules
SK0013, 2012, Legislation & Regulation
-
Participatory Policy Making
SK0014, 2012, Public Participation
-
Collective e-Petitions
SK0015, 2012, E-petitions
-
Collective e-Petitions – Draft Amendment
SK0016, 2012, E-petitions
-
OGP Steering Committee
SK0017, 2012,
-
Transparency Council and Openess Barometer
SK0018, 2012, Access to Information
-
Develop Criteria for Transparency Council and Openess Barometer
SK0019, 2012, Access to Information
-
Conduct First Evaluation Using Openess Barometer
SK0020, 2012, Access to Information
-
Whistleblowers Protection Act
SK0021, 2012, Anti-Corruption
-
2014-2015 Action Plan Development
SK0022, 2012,