Activities survey 2008

1. Development of the website
   

   The site provides access to:

   • reports from all 21 previous colloquiua (around 12,000 pages).
   • Reflets, a bulletin published (in French only) by the Court of Justice of the European Communities;
   • the sites of nearly all the member institutions;
   • the information network (see below).

The website is updated regularly, as are its databases (e.g. annual update of the DEC-NAT database), including reports on seminars, newsletters, changes in members' details and so forth.

2. Information network

The Information Network is supervised by a support committee, consisting of the Secretary-General and representatives of the Dutch Council of State and of the Supreme Administrative Courts of Austria, Portugal, Germany, the Czech Republic and Estonia.

• DEC-NAT databank

The documentation department at the Court of Justice of the European Communities holds files on around 19,000 national decisions. Pursuant to an agreement between the Court of Justice and the Association, these data were transmitted to the Association, which compiled them in a searchable databank. The work was completed in early 2003 and the DEC-NAT databank can be accessed free of charge via the Association's website.

The following information is given for each decision listed in DEC-NAT:

• national references: names of parties, national provisions applied and relevant articles of doctrine;
• international or European references, Community provisions applied (if any);
• an analysis of the decision: keywords, i.e. a summary of the purpose of the decision;
• in some cases, a fourth section with the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice.

The data base is updated on a regular basis.

The application interface has been translated into English by the General Secretariat.

Discussions are currently going on with a view to providing access to the database through the extensive European database EUR-Lex.

• JURIFAST rapid information system for case law

Using a login and password, the documentation and research departments of the member courts can upload recent and unpublished decisions to the JURIFAST system. JURIFAST is accessible to the public (in French and English) via the Association's website and provides the following information:

• the date of the decision and a summary;
• the full text of the decision in the original language;
• a reference to the provision(s) of Community law applied, with a link to said provision(s) in all of the EU languages;
• a summary of the decision;
• in some cases, a direct link to the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice in all the EU languages;
• in some cases, a direct link to the ruling of the national court following the preliminary ruling of the Court of Justice.

The JURIFAST system has been operational since 1 February 2004.

As at 31 December 2008, 542 decisions had been entered into the system. The system has been assessed and improved based, among other things, on the conclusions of the last research and documentation departments' seminar.

The Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union has given its agreement in principle to taking part in JURIFAST, so that also Supreme Administrative Courts that are not members of the association can enter judgments there.

• Non-public network

A forum is up and running. The aim of the forum is to allow all magistrates and members of research and documentation departments to exchange information and ask questions. The system was set up at the beginning of 2005.

As at 31 December 2008, 209 members had registered in the forum and had posted 362 messages on 128 discussion topics.

The forum has been assessed and improved based on the conclusions of the last research and documentation departments' seminar.

• Newsletter

The Newsletter is published on paper and electronically on the Association's website.

Nineteen newsletters have been published since 2002.

In 2008, two newsletters were published.

The newsletter nr 19 was devoted to the seminar held in Brussels on 28 January 2008 (see below).

The theme of newsletter nr 20 are the conclusions of the working group on preliminary rulings procedure.

We are also examining the possibility of cooperation between the ECJ's documentation service, the Publications Office and the association so as to produce French and English versions of the review Reflets offering a recent survey of national and international case law, new national legislation and a few articles of doctrine.

3. Publications

   • Newsletter

   See above.

   • Vade mecum

   This brochure, available in both French and English, provides a summary of the Association's composition, background and activities. It shows how to use the website and also contains the exact status of and contact details for each of the members.

   • General report on the Warsaw Colloquium from 15 to 16 June 2008

   The activities of the Warsaw Colloquium (see below) are the topic of a general report to be published.

4. Biannual colloquium

   The 21st colloquium of the association was held in Warsaw from 15 to 16 June 2008. It was dedicated to the influence of Community law on administrative case law. Specifically, the idea was to look at the effects of incompatibility of administrative decisions and final rulings at the national level with EU legislation. The colloquium brought together delegations from all the member institutions, the ECJ and the Commission.

5. Seminars

The Association organises meetings for a small number of participants on more specific topics.

The following activities took place in 2008:

• The seminar in Brussels on 28 January 2008 on "National administrative courts and Community environmental law".

The seminar, under the scientific leadership of the French Council of State, brought together not only representatives of all the association's member institutions, but also representatives of the EU institutions (the Commission, the Parliament and the Council), Permanent Representations to the European Union and national ministries as well as lawyers and university professors, with a view to comparing their experiences on two specific topics:

• procedures for informing the public about environmental data and encouraging citizen involvement in developing projects likely to have an impact on the environment;

• Community law on waste and polluting installations.

The goal was to enable the Community legislator to gain a better insight into the difficulties encountered by those responsible for applying its legislation and conversely to alert the latter to the problems that the Community authorities have in not only their mission of legislator, but also their role supervising the application of Community law.

• The seminar in Santander from 8 to 10 September 2008 on "The convergence of EU supreme administrative courts in the application of Community law".

This Seminar was organised in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Spain and the University of Santander. The subject was “Convergence of the supreme administrative courts of the European Union in the application of Community law”.

The Association collaborated by providing six speakers. A member from each member court was invited to take part in the seminar. The seminar covered seven topics:

1. Interpreting Member States’ legislation consistently with Community law: requirements and limitations of a new interpretative criterion

2. The role of the EU Member States’ supreme administrative courts in the current and future architecture of the European court system

3. The contribution of the EU’s supreme administrative courts to improving the preliminary reference procedure: conclusions of the Hague Working Group

4. The contribution of the EU’s supreme administrative courts to the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice

5. Convergence in the application of Community law on regulated business sectors: level and types of monitoring of regulatory bodies by the EU’s supreme administrative courts

6. Convergence in the application of Community law on regulated business sectors (part 2): the approach of the European Court of Justice

7. Convergence in the application of Community law on regulated business sectors (part 3): similarities between decisions taken by the EU’s supreme administrative courts in application of energy and telecommunications directives

• Colloquium of Paris on 9 and 10 October 2008

This Colloquium was organised in collaboration with the Council of State of France, the European Commission and various European associations of judges and lawyers. The subject was “Administrative courts in Europe and community environmental law”.

The European Commission (DG Environment) wishes to develop a cooperation programme for national judges starting in 2008. To mark the start of the programme, a conference was organised in Paris in connection with the French Presidency of the European Union. The event was announced on 28 January by Directorate-General Environment and the Vice President of the Council of State of France at the Association seminar held in Brussels on 28 January 2008.

The Colloquium brought together around 300 people from the 27 member states, including a hundred national judges, a hundred lawyers and a hundred participants of other origins.

The Association was taking part in this Colloquium, specifically by providing a speaker for each round table. A judge from each member court was invited to attend the Colloquium. Travel and accommodation costs were covered by the European Commission.

Four round tables were planned on the following topics:

• Access to justice on environmental issues;

• The new system for prevention and remedying by the court of environmental damage

• Extent of courts’ review powers in the Member States;

• A court’s review powers in action – project being carried out on a Natura 2000 site (comparative study);

• Conclusion on cooperation between courts in Europe and training requirement.

• The workgroup on reform of the preliminary procedure at the Court of Justice of the European Communities

At the request of the Dutch Council of State, a workgroup has been set up to consider a reform of the preliminary procedure at the Court of Justice of the European Communities. The first meeting was held in The Hague on 3 December 2007.

The workgroup is headed by the Dutch Council of State and comprises representatives of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the Councils of State of Belgium, France and the Netherlands, the Spanish Supreme Court, the Luxembourg Administrative Court, the Supreme Administrative Courts of Finland and Poland, the Belgian Court of Cassation and the Finnish Supreme Court.

The conclusions of the workgroup were adopted by the general assembly, held in Warsaw on 18 June 2008.

6. Working visits by judges in 2008

   Since its establishment, the association has promoted reciprocal visits between judges of the member courts. In this spirit a number of judges from the courts of the new Member States have been received by the courts of existing Member States.

Starting in 2008, there is a more systematic exchange of magistrates, as the association is participating in the European Union's Exchange Programme for Judicial Authorities, administered by the European Judicial Training Network (EJTN). A partnership with this network provides the opportunity to fund the exchange of some thirty judges between member institutions (Councils of State or Supreme Administrative Courts).

These will be two-week working visits with a strong practical focus, with foreign judges being invited to follow their counterparts' activities in person, taking part in the hearing and deliberation on the verdict.

7. Admission of new members and new observers

The Association wishes in accordance to its statutes, to welcome as observers the corresponding institutions of countries which have started membership negotiations with the European Union.

The Association considers it a priority to offer these institutions the best assistance possible in getting to know the European legal system.

The new members and observers were invited to participate actively in all the Association's activities in 2008 and the Association has tried to promote and coordinate bilateral contacts.

8. Contact with European authorities and other European networks

The Association maintains regular contact with the Court of Justice (a founding member of the Association), the Parliament (and in particular the Committee on Citizens' Rights, Justice and Home Affairs) and the Commission (above all with the Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs and with the Legal Service). These contacts were continued in 2008.

A meeting with Vice-President Barrot has been held on 22nd September 2008.

The Association is taking part in the Justice Forum that was launched on 30 May 2008 in Brussels. During this meeting, Mr Sauvé, Vice-President of the Council of State of France represented the Association and in his speech, he stressed the part that she wants to play in that field.

Mrs Martine Baguet, Deputy Secretary general of the Association, has presented, during the seminar organized by the European Judicial Training Network in Riga on the 30 of September 2008, a communication about the contribution that the association can make to the administrative judge ‘s training program.

Lastly, the Association collaborated with other European networks, such as the European Judicial Training Network, the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union and the European Federation of administrative Judges.

9. Statutory meetings

   • the first board meeting and the general assembly were held on 15 and 18 June 2008 in Warsaw;
   • the second board meeting was held on 17 November 2008 in Brussels.