European Commission Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) in cooperation with the International Office of the Swedish State Administration, organised the Seminar on “Delegation of Tasks in Courts” on 28 October 2009 in Sarajevo.

“This Seminar is very important because it is the first of this kind of cooperation, organised with the EU technical assistance. One of the main recommendations of the project is to facilitate the resolving of the administrative issues. That is why it is important to make the first important step, which is to change the Rules of Procedures. However, there are a lot of issues and challenges related to the administration capacities and reduction of  bureaucracy in the courts. I hope that Seminar will provide a lot of answers and that you will get good ideas on how to improve your working environment” – stated Ms Maria Farrar – Hockley, Head of Operations Section for Justice and Home Affairs, Administrative Reform and Civil Society within the European Commission Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in her opening address.

In his review of the recent US and EU efforts to re-engage the state politicians in the reform dialogue on the integration of BiH into the NATO and the EU, H.E. Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden Bo William Hedberg stated that the situation was worrying as Bosnia and Herzegovina started lagging behind its neighbours. He emphasized that it was good to see a dialogue and cooperation at a high level which was provided by the Seminar on Delegation of Tasks in Courts, at the times of the current political situation, and stated:

“This is why we have to intensify our joint efforts in order to get concrete contribution in the sectors of society which are of fundamental importance for the progress of BiH. The current Swedish strategy for cooperation with BiH puts a special emphasis on the importance of strengthening the rule of law and strengthening the judicial system”, stated Ambassador Hedberg, stressing the importance of the European Commission assistance and coordination with financing instruments such as IPA and TAIEX, which are important factors of support to BiH for fulfilling the conditions on its path towards the EU.

“Swedish assistance and cooperation with BiH has a long tradition and I am pleased to see that this cooperation  continued. The focus of this Seminar is the delegation of tasks in courts which is an important component in attempt to reduce the number of cases, mostly those concerning the public utilities which are burdening the BiH courts. It is also connected to our support in replacing the manual case management system with an operational and modern case management system based on information technology” – stated Ambassador Hedberg, emphasizing that this system enables greater transparency in the work of courts which increases the trust of citizens in these institutions.

Mr Milorad Novković, President of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, stated that BiH needed an efficient mechanism for transferring the delegated non-judicial cases from judges to administrative and technical staff, and emphasized that it would give the judges more time to make judicial analysis of the cases.

“What we need is creation of an efficient judicial system so that we can join the European integration process, because currently we are inefficient as a whole and that is why we have cases over twenty years old” – stated Novković.

The Seminar “Delegating Tasks in Courts” gathered thirty officials from judicial institutions from the whole of BiH and from the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH.