Call for proposals for action grants to promote judicial cooperation in civil and criminal justice

Topic description

Scope:

Priorities and activities to be co-financed

A. Priorities

1. Judicial cooperation in civil matters

The aim is to promote judicial cooperation in civil matters and to contribute to the effective and coherent application and enforcement of EU instruments.

Priority shall be given to projects aiming at better enforcement and practical application of civil justice instruments, in particular:

- better enforcement of judicial decisions through better procedures, case-handling and cooperation in cross-border civil and commercial disputes;

- improving the situation of children involved in civil cases1, e.g. through better procedures, case-handling and cooperation in family law areas such as parental responsibility, international child abduction and maintenance;

- facilitating cross-border successions through better cross-border cooperation, case-handling and awareness-raising2;

- improving cross-border circulation of public documents, including those on civil status through better information and awareness-raising3.

2. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters

The aim is to promote judicial cooperation in criminal matters and to contribute to the effective and coherent application of EU mutual recognition instruments in criminal matters.

a) Priority shall be given to the implementation and practical application of the following mutual recognition instruments:

- Directive 2014/41/EU regarding the European Investigation Order in criminal matters;

- Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States;

- Council Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments in criminal matters imposing custodial sentences or measures involving deprivation of liberty for the purpose of their enforcement in the European Union;

- Council Framework Decision 2008/947/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to judgments and probation decisions with a view to the supervision of probation measures and alternative sanctions;

- Council Framework Decision 2009/829/JHA on the application, between Member States of the European Union, of the principle of mutual recognition to decisions on supervision measures as an alternative to provisional detention;

- Council Framework Decision 2005/214/JHA on the application of the principle of mutual recognition to financial penalties;

- Regulation (EU) 2018/1805 on the mutual recognition of freezing orders and confiscation orders.

b) Priority shall also be given to:

- the efficient contribution to the European Agenda on Security as regards the judicial responses to terrorism, notably on reinforcing the prevention of radicalisation, especially in prisons;

- issues related to pre-trial detention and alternatives to detention, in particular raising awareness of case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and recommendations of the Council of Europe in this field;

- the functioning of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) Treaties or other Treaties containing provisions on MLA with third States (e.g. EU-US MLA Agreement, Budapest Cybercrime Convention), including with respect to the exchange of electronic data.

Proposals not in line with priorities 1 and 2 may still be awarded funding if applicants can justify this by the necessity to improve the implementation and application of the civil or criminal justice EU acquis on the basis of an evidence-based needs assessment, showing that more activities are required for the proper application of EU law in the field to be covered.

3. Support to the members of the European Judicial Network (EJN) in civil and commercial matters and to the national authorities, courts and professional associations they represent

The main objective is to contribute to the effective and coherent application of the EU acquis relating to judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.

Priority shall be given to supporting the setting up and strengthening of national networks under the EJN in civil and commercial matters in order to ensure better implementation and case-handling under the civil justice legislation. Strengthened national networks can promote better implementation of EU civil justice instruments through cooperation, dialogue, sharing of experience, exchange of information and training activities (where appropriate also in liaison with other national systems). Through these activities the national projects would promote full involvement of all national Network members, ensuring interaction at national level, knowledge sharing and gathering of information, thus contributing to increasing the

national substantial input to the Network's activities (in particular the Network meetings) and thereby strengthening the action and visibility of the Network as a whole. As a result, this would deepen EU-wide building bridges and mutual trust between different justice systems.

4. Support to Member States for their connection to the ECRIS-TCN system

The ECRIS-TCN (European Criminal Record Information System – Third Country Nationals) system will replace costly requests currently addressed to all Member States by a more efficient search mechanism against both alphanumeric and fingerprint data of convicted third country nationals (TCN) to identify the Member State(s) holding criminal record information. Since it will be easier to identify the Member States which are the convicting ones, this will encourage more systematic use of ECRIS for TCN significantly increasing the current use of the system.

The main objective of this priority is to support projects implementing the needed adaptations of the national criminal records systems for the linking and exchange of fingerprints with the ECRIS-TCN central system.

B. Description of the activities

Whereas several measures and initiatives are listed, it is not requested to include all of them in a single project. Projects with a strong focus are very much valued. This topic will cover the following activities:

- facilitating cooperation between competent authorities and agencies, legal practitioners and/or service providers (including multi-disciplinary networks at international, national, regional or local levels);

- mutual learning, identifying and exchange of best practices, development of working methods which may be transferable to other participating countries;

- analytical activities, including data collection, surveys, research, etc.;

- exchange and provision of information and development of information tools;

- capacity building for professionals;

- dissemination and awareness raising activities;

- training activities can also be funded under this call, as long as they are of ancillary nature and not the main purpose of the project.

For priority 4, project activities would in principle include analytical, conceptual, design and elaboration work, IT software development, quality assurance and related auxiliary measures necessary for the establishment of new IT systems, as well as the expansion and adaptation of existing national solutions towards addressing the objectives of priority 4. Activities relating to project management, communication, promotion and dissemination are also eligible for funding.

Activities under this topic, especially where they relate to IT software development (priorities 1 and 4), will take into account existing solutions such as results from the e-CODEX project, CEF building blocks, and ISA2 Core vocabularies.

Activities must take place in countries participating to the JUSTICE Programme to be eligible for funding.

C. Expected results

Whereas numerous results are listed below, it is not expected for a single project to produce all of them. Projects bringing limited, but effective results are very much valued.

- Increased capacity of national practitioners, courts and authorities to address issues related to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, and to the application of the EU instruments on civil and civil procedural law, as well as on criminal and criminal procedural law;

- Strengthened cooperation and exchange of information between competent national authorities (including courts) in relation to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, including taking into account the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU);

- Improved knowledge on the legislation and administrative practices related to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters;

- Alignment of the Member States’ administrative practices in relation to the relevant legislation;

- Improved cooperation between judicial authorities in civil, commercial and criminal matters;

- For priorities 1 and 2, the legal framework and regulations linked to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters are in line with EU acquis and relevant case-law of the CJEU;

- National authorities responsible for judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters cooperate and coordinate with other responsible agencies and institutions across the EU;

- Prosecutors and judges for the proceedings related to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters have further specialised knowledge and experience in respective fields;

- Acceleration of proceedings in relation to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters; less breaches of time-limits;

- For priority 2, improved situation of persons subject to measures in the field of judicial cooperation in criminal matters, enhancement of their social rehabilitation and re-integrations, reduced risks of violation of their fundamental rights;

- Increased awareness of policy makers about judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters.