33rd  Plenary Meeting of European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), established in 2002 within the Council of Europe and which envisages a regular process in order to analyse justice systems of member countries of the Council, was held in Strasbourg/France. Priorly, on 4th December 2019, within the framework of 10th anniversary of CEPEJ Guidelines on Enforcement, UIHJ (The International Union of Judicial Officers) that is one of the international organizations participating in CEPEJ and its activities as a permanent observer, organised a “Forum” the main theme of which is “Digital Assets, Enforcement and its Future”. The officials from the Ministry of Justice Directorate General for Strategy Development and on behalf of our Council Mr Zeki Uysal, Rapporteur Judge at the Bureau of Foreign Relations and Project took part in the mentioned activities.

Opening speeches of the Forum on 4th December were given by Mr Christophe Poirel, Council of Europe Human Rights Director; Mr Ramin Gurbanov, President of CEPEJ and Mr Marc Schmitz, President of UIHJ. Within the framework of the Forum, various presentations were made on raising awareness about “CEPEJ Guidelines on Enforcement” adopted by CEPEJ in 2009 and that is not a binding document for member States of the Council; enforcement of court decisions and algorithms, artificial intelligence-basic rights-ethics and challenges of artificial intelligence in the enforcement of court decisions.

Representatives from international organisations as the Association of European Administrative Judges (AEAJ), the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), European Associations of Judges (EAJ), the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Consultative Council of European Judges (CCJE), Consultative Council of European Prosecutors (CCPE) participated in the 33rd Plenary Meeting of Council of Europe held on 5-6th December as observers together with the representatives from member countries of the Council.

Within the framework of official agenda of the Plenary Meeting, “2020-2021 Activity Programme” was adopted and the decision to send it for approval to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe was taken. “Terminology Dictionary” prepared by CEPEJ was adopted. Furthermore, Working Group on the Quality of Justice (CEPEJ-GT-QUAL), Working Group on the Evaluation of Judicial Systems (CEPEJ-GT-EVAL), Working Group on the Judicial Time Management (SATURN Centre), Working Group on Mediation (CEPEJ-GT-MED) informed the participants about their work through the presentations they made.

The decision to organise the next meeting, which is 34th Plenary Meeting, in Paris/France on 11-12th June 2020 was taken.

After discussion of all articles on the agenda, 33rd CEPEJ Plenary Meeting was finalised following the closing speech of Mr. Ramin Gurbanov, the President of CEPEJ.