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Slovak Republic

draft legislation about the responsibility of judges (SK0113)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Not Attached

Action Plan Cycle: 2017

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice

Support Institution(s): NA

Policy Areas

E-Government, Judiciary, Justice, Legislation & Regulation

IRM Review

IRM Report: Slovakia Design Report 2017–2019

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Pending IRM Review

Relevant to OGP Values: Not Relevant

Potential Impact: Pending IRM Review

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

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.

Slovak Republic's Commitments

  1. Open Data Portal

    SK0058, 2017, Open Data

  2. Submit a draft law on data to the Government.

    SK0059, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  3. public administration employee training

    SK0060, 2017, Capacity Building

  4. data publication standards

    SK0061, 2017, Capacity Building

  5. update open data portal

    SK0062, 2017, Open Data

  6. open data publication

    SK0063, 2017, Open Data

  7. open data awareness-raising

    SK0064, 2017, Open Data

  8. survey about open data

    SK0065, 2017, E-Government

  9. publish open data

    SK0066, 2017, Open Data

  10. analysis of open data

    SK0067, 2017, Open Data

  11. open data strategy

    SK0068, 2017, Open Data

  12. 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

  13. ensure open data publication

    SK0070, 2017, Open Data

  14. survey of public demand for Application Programming Interfaces

    SK0071, 2017, E-Government

  15. publish Application Programming Interfaces

    SK0072, 2017, Open Data

  16. 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, Open Data

  17. custom-made information systems

    SK0074, 2017, Open Data

  18. publish open source software data

    SK0075, 2017, Open Data

  19. Study about open source software

    SK0076, 2017, Open Data

  20. Feasibility study on NGO satellite account

    SK0077, 2017, Civic Space

  21. Define the minimum scope and structure of the disclosed data on the use of Euro-pean 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

  22. publish financial data

    SK0079, 2017, Aid

  23. propose changes to Central Register of Contracts regulation

    SK0080, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  24. Create space for the publication of local self-government (municipality) contracts in a single central repository.

    SK0081, 2017, Open Contracting and Procurement

  25. 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, E-Government

  26. open education Resources

    SK0083, 2017, E-Government

  27. 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 or-ganizations, with a suggestion to make educational resources available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) public license.

    SK0084, 2017, E-Government

  28. enforce public licensing

    SK0085, 2017, Education

  29. make educational resources available in local langage

    SK0086, 2017, Education

  30. ensure availability of university textbooks

    SK0087, 2017, E-Government

  31. introduce specific rules for open publication and the obligation to provide free access of selected publicly funded publica-tions

    SK0088, 2017, E-Government

  32. 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 Dis-sertations.

    SK0089, 2017, E-Government

  33. awareness-raising about open education resources

    SK0090, 2017, E-Government

  34. 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, E-Government

  35. To introduce the basic principles of Open Access to scientific publications under a public license under the Operational Program Research and Innovation.

    SK0092, 2017, E-Government

  36. Ensure the implementation of public license Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

    SK0093, 2017, Open Data

  37. Establish Contact Office for Open Access.

    SK0094, 2017, Open Data

  38. Establish conditions for passportization of open research data under a public license and monitor its implementation in practice.

    SK0095, 2017, E-Government

  39. 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, Open Data

  40. 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, E-Government

  41. raise awareness about Open Access in academic community

    SK0098, 2017, Education

  42. participate in international coordination on open education reforms

    SK0099, 2017, Education

  43. participatory public policy

    SK0100, 2017, E-Government

  44. citizen-traingin on public policy making

    SK0101, 2017, Capacity Building

  45. create engaging public policies

    SK0102, 2017, Capacity Building

  46. government employee peer-exchange

    SK0103, 2017, Capacity Building

  47. 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

  48. 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

  49. Propose a recommendation of internal guidelines on the use of free on-line tools in participatory creation of public policies.

    SK0106, 2017, Capacity Building

  50. Create learning tools in the field of participation.

    SK0107, 2017, Capacity Building

  51. Use educational tools about participation in formal education using informal learn-ing methods.

    SK0108, 2017, E-Government

  52. 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

  53. Reassess the implementation of the publication of assessments of judges in terms of the clarity and making further analysis easier

    SK0110, 2017, E-Government

  54. Specify which court decisions do not need to be published.

    SK0111, 2017, E-Government

  55. Standardize submission requirements for Slov-Lex portal

    SK0112, 2017, Capacity Building

  56. draft legislation about the responsibility of judges

    SK0113, 2017, E-Government

  57. draft legislation to ensure public scrutiny of judges

    SK0114, 2017, Judiciary

  58. Prepare legislation that will ensure the publication of the seat of office of individual prosecutors

    SK0115, 2017, E-Government

  59. Create draft legislation to extend the right to recommend candidates for the post of Attorney-General.

    SK0116, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  60. participatory analysis of prosecutor's affairs

    SK0117, 2017, E-Government

  61. In a participatory manner, analyze the selection procedures

    SK0118, 2017, Justice

  62. awareness-raising about anti-social activities

    SK0119, 2017, Legislation & Regulation

  63. Analyze and evaluate preliminary information and reports on public participation in the process of drafting and commenting on draft legislation.

    SK0120, 2017, E-Government

  64. Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the Electronic Collective Petition.

    SK0121, 2017, E-Government

  65. Identify the person responsible for implementing the tasks of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019 in the organization.

    SK0122, 2017, E-Government

  66. Coordinate the Working Group on the implementation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.

    SK0123, 2017, OGP

  67. Develop the final evaluation of the OGP National Action Plan 2017-2019.

    SK0124, 2017, E-Government

  68. Prepare and submit for the Government of the Slovak Republic the OGP National Action Plan for the following period.

    SK0125, 2017, E-Government

  69. List of open data datasets

    SK0023, 2015, E-Government

  70. Publish open data

    SK0024, 2015, E-Government

  71. Survey of open data

    SK0025, 2015, Open Data

  72. Publish relevant open datasets

    SK0026, 2015, E-Government

  73. Starred commitment open data publication strategy

    SK0027, 2015, Open Data

  74. Grant scheme open data portal

    SK0028, 2015, E-Government

  75. web portal promotion campaign

    SK0029, 2015, E-Government

  76. Evaluate grant funding open data application

    SK0030, 2015, E-Government

  77. Digital education resources

    SK0031, 2015, Education

  78. Map existing repositories

    SK0032, 2015, Education

  79. Analyze procurement process for education resources

    SK0033, 2015, E-Government

  80. Textbook procurement process

    SK0034, 2015, E-Government

  81. Pilot procurement process

    SK0035, 2015, E-Government

  82. Raise awareness of education resources

    SK0036, 2015, Education

  83. Join multilateral activities in Europe and beyond that support the creation, improvement, sharing and re-use of open educational resources.

    SK0037, 2015, Education

  84. Map existing scientific repositories

    SK0038, 2015, Open Data

  85. Identify barriers to open data access

    SK0039, 2015, Open Data

  86. Submit analysis of open data publication

    SK0040, 2015, Open Data

  87. data publication mechanism

    SK0041, 2015, E-Government

  88. Raise awareness about Open Access in academic community

    SK0042, 2015, Capacity Building

  89. Assist other countries with open access strategy

    SK0043, 2015, E-Government

  90. participatory policy-making

    SK0044, 2015, Public Participation

  91. Workshops on public involvement in policymaking

    SK0045, 2015, Capacity Building

  92. Starred commitment Develop public policy with civil society

    SK0047, 2015, Civic Space

  93. Starred commitment develop criteria for evaluating participation in policymaking

    SK0048, 2015, Public Participation

  94. Evaluate policy creation

    SK0049, 2015, Public Participation

  95. map legislative environments

    SK0050, 2015, Legislature

  96. Carry out a public campaign to promote the Collective Electronic Petitions.

    SK0051, 2015, Capacity Building

  97. publish evaluation of justices

    SK0052, 2015, Judiciary

  98. Analyze publication of judicial decisions

    SK0053, 2015, Judiciary

  99. Uniform reporting of judicial decisions

    SK0054, 2015, Judiciary

  100. publish list of names of prosecutors

    SK0055, 2015, Judiciary

  101. Final evaluation of OGP action plan

    SK0056, 2015, OGP

  102. Develop next action plan

    SK0057, 2015, OGP

  103. Starred commitment Open Data Portal Launch

    SK0001, 2012, Open Data

  104. Publishing Datasets

    SK0002, 2012, Open Data

  105. Datasets Mapping

    SK0003, 2012, Open Data

  106. Data Standards

    SK0004, 2012, Open Data

  107. Improved Register of Contracts

    SK0005, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  108. Starred commitment Continuous Dataset Publising

    SK0006, 2012, Open Data

  109. Starred commitment ITMS Dataset

    SK0007, 2012, Open Data

  110. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring

    SK0008, 2012, Fiscal Transparency

  111. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Prepare Tender for Web Application

    SK0009, 2012, Open Contracting and Procurement

  112. EU Funds and Subsidies Monitoring – Portal Launch

    SK0010, 2012, E-Government

  113. Participatory Policy Making

    SK0011, 2012, Capacity Building

  114. Starred commitment Apply Participatory Policy Making

    SK0012, 2012, Public Participation

  115. Lawmaking Public Participation Rules

    SK0013, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  116. Participatory Policy Making

    SK0014, 2012, Public Participation

  117. Collective e-Petitions

    SK0015, 2012,

  118. Collective e-Petitions – Draft Amendment

    SK0016, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  119. OGP Steering Committee

    SK0017, 2012, OGP

  120. Transparency Council and Openess Barometer

    SK0018, 2012, Capacity Building

  121. Develop criteria for Transparency Council and Openess Barometer

    SK0019, 2012, Capacity Building

  122. Conduct First Evaluation Using Openess Barometer

    SK0020, 2012, Capacity Building

  123. Whistleblowers Protection Act

    SK0021, 2012, Legislation & Regulation

  124. 2014-2015 Action Plan Development

    SK0022, 2012, OGP