Government Adopts Legislation to Speed up Court Proceedings
The government adopted a bill aimed at safeguarding the right to trial in a reasonable time. The bill is a response to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, which has ruled in dozens of cases that Slovenia has failed to provide an effective remedy in respect of the excessive length of proceedings.
The bill, which is to be fast-tracked in parliament and enter into force on 1 January 2007, provides legal remedies aimed at speeding up proceedings, as well as fair damages for the violation of the right to a hearing within a reasonable time.
One of the measures aimed at speeding up proceedings is "supervisory appeal", which determines that a party to the proceedings can lodge an appeal at the president of the relevant court, who can set the deadline for individual tasks that the subordinated judge must carry out, or decide that the case be treated as a priority.
A related measure is a "proposal for deadlines", an appeal that the party can lodge against the decision of the court president at the court of higher instance. The court of higher instance may then decide to speed up proceedings.
The bill moreover determines non-pecuniary damages for parties whose right to hearing in a reasonable time has been violated. The damages are limited to between 300 and 5,000 euros.
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