Expertise and documentation software for the Supreme Court Documentation Office

Study trip from 23–25 November 2022 to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig for employees of the documentation centre of the Albanian Supreme Court.
Study trip from 23–25 November 2022 to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig for employees of the documentation centre of the Albanian Supreme Court.
Albania

IRZ also supported the Albanian Supreme Court Documentation Office in 2022, which started work in June 2021. This cooperation is also within the framework of a project on “court organisation” funded by the Federal Foreign Office.

Study trip for employees of the Albanian Supreme Court Documentation Centre to the Federal Administrative Court

From 23–25 November 2022, the eight employees of the Albanian Supreme Court Documentation Centre were able to learn about the methods and processes of legal documentation at the Federal Administrative Court and to gain a practical insight into its diverse tasks.

Prof Dr Andreas Korbmacher, President of the Federal Administrative Court, opened the study trip. Mr. Benjamin Weber, Head of Legal Documentation at the Federal Administrative Court and his team presented the tasks and organisation of their department. The participants were then introduced to the first two in-house services, the journal content service and the article service as part of a tour of the courthouse.

On the second day of the event, the Albanian documentarians gained a comprehensive overview of the process of a decision document at the Federal Administrative Court and the documentation of a decision in juris – the legal information system for the Federal Republic of Germany. The delegation also gained an insight into the documentation and research options in juris.

The last day of the event was dedicated to the presentation of the “Documentation Office for Environmental and Planning Law” and European cooperation in the area of legal documentation. Here, the organisers presented the JuriFast database and the Judicial Network of the European Union (JNEU).

The participants enjoyed some lively and engaged exchanges with their colleagues from the Federal Administrative Court. They gained specialist knowledge, experience and ideas for the further development of the Supreme Court in the Albanian Documentation Office.

New documentation software for the Supreme Court

The start-up “jurmatix”, in collaboration with IRZ, developed software for a case law database at the Supreme Court of the Republic of Albania in 2022. The decisions of the Albanian Supreme Court will be documented here by the documentation department in the future. The judges can also access a research interface.

IRZ provided significant support for the judicial activities at the Albanian Supreme Court and made a contribution to more efficient and transparent court administration. IRZ will also support the documentation department of the Albanian Supreme Court and organise joint seminars on the subject of legal documentation in 2023.

Conference on “Judicial ethics and disciplinary proceedings against judges”

Attendees at the conference on the specifics of disciplinary proceedings against judges and issues of judicial ethics held in Albania on 14-15 November 2022.
Albania

IRZ organised a conference on 14-15 November 2022 on the specifics of disciplinary proceedings against judges which explored issues of judicial ethics with the Special Appeals Chamber of the Republic of Albania. The IRZ invited Dr Frank Czaja, Presiding Judge at the Cologne Higher Regional Court and Dr Ingo Werner, Judge at the Cologne Higher Regional Court provided insights into German practice.

The first day of the event was attended by six judges and ten scientific employees of the Special Appeals Chamber to discuss questions of substantive disciplinary law. The conference started with a welcome from Ms. Anja Finke, Deputy Head of the IRZ section Southeast Europe II and South Caucasus and Ms. Albana Shtylla, President of the Special Appointments Chamber of the Republic of Albania. She gave a detailed explanation of the role, tasks and current challenges of the Special Appeals Chamber. The subsequent presentations by the two German experts focused in particular on the course of official disciplinary proceedings and the proceedings before the judicial service courts.

The second day of the event focused on the formal aspects of disciplinary proceedings against judges and was aimed at around 20 employees of the administrative apparatus of the Special Appeals Chamber The participants discussed questions around the anonymisation and publication of decisions in the context of disciplinary proceedings along with formal points regarding responsibilities, procedures and deadlines.

The event was supported by the Federal Foreign Office as part of a project funding on “court organisation”, and was held in a climate of trust and honest discussion and a particularly active and fascinating exchange between the German team of speakers and the representatives of the Special Appeals Chamber.

 


 

Seminar on constitutional complaints for the Albanian legal profession

Participants of the advanced seminar for Albanian lawyers on the topic of “Constitutional complaints” on 25 October 2022.
Participants of the advanced seminar for Albanian lawyers on the topic of “Constitutional complaints” on 25 October 2022.
Albania

On 12 October 2022 IRZ, in cooperation with the Albanian Bar Association, organised an advanced seminar for Albanian lawyers on the subject of “constitutional complaints”.

The event followed a series of seminars on constitutional complaints that were launched in 2018. After the events were held online between 2020 and early 2022 due to the pandemic, the 14th seminar in the series in Vlora (Albania) was again held as a face-to-face event and therefore attracted great interest among the Albanian legal profession.

Prof Dr Maksim Haxhia, President of the Albanian Bar Association, and Frank Hupfeld, Head of the IRZ's South East Europe II and South Caucasus section, opened the seminar in front of 32 Albanian and 3 Kosovan lawyers. The IRZ invited Prof Dr Jan Bergmann, Presiding Judge at the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg and Prof Dr Arta Vorpsi, Professor of constitutional law, on the European dogmatics of human rights, to give presentations on the test schemes in the violation of fundamental freedom and equality rights and the admissibility requirements of the Albanian constitutional complaints system. The theoretical basics were explored using concrete case studies and practical exercises.

In particular, the event offered the opportunity for a practice-oriented and comparative exchange of experience and expertise between German and Albanian legal practitioners to familiarise themselves with the specific features, prerequisites and practical significance of constitutional complaints.

The series of seminars was held to examine the change in the Albanian constitution in 2016, through which Albanian citizens may address individual constitutional complaints directly to the Albanian constitutional court.