Slovenia sees Austria as a role model in tackling court backlogs and the speedy resolution of court cases, Justice Minister Lovro Sturm told the press on the sidelines of a visit by his Austrian counterpart Karin Gastinger in Ljubljana on Thursday.
According to Sturm, Austria tackled the problem of lengthy court proceedings by implementing IT solutions and establishing a special system of substitute judges.
Gastinger, who arrived to Slovenia on Thursday, meanwhile said that an information system allows the minister and all supervisory bodies to locate the stage of a specific case is in the judicial system.
Every citizen can additionally call the Justice Ministry and inquire how long a case has been in procedure, where it is currently located or whether a judgment has already been pronounced.
Gastinger sees this as a very important control instrument that does not encroach on the independence of the judiciary.
She explained that proceedings at courts of first instance usually take between eight and nine months, when 80% of the cases get solved. The speed of these proceedings is mainly due to good IT support, she added.
A system of substitute judges meanwhile allows courts in Austria to fill in for temporarily absent colleagues. The country also has inter-district judges, who can be transfered among courts, Gastinger explained.
She believes that control mechanisms which do not encroach on judiciary independence, substitute and inter-district judges could also help Slovenia in solving its problem of court backlogs.
Sturm was also interested in Gastinger's experience and advice on presiding over the EU. Austria concluded its half-year stint in June.
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