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1 EALCJ Newsletter No.1 The European Association January 1997 of Labour Court Judges The EALCJ in 1997 Newsletter No. 1 — January 1997 Welcome to this first edition of the Newsletter of Edited by Alan C. Neal the European Association of Labour Court Judges. The Newsletter will appear as a regular bulletin, providing information and news about the various activities of the Association. Contents Following its successful inaugural meeting at Bath, on 3-5 July 1996, the EALCJ has quickly developed a programme of activities designed to build upon the ob- jectives agreed by its newly-elected Committee. Infor- The EALCJ in 1997................1 mation about some of these activities is included in this first Newsletter, along with details of the initial projects Officers for 1996-1997...........1 established at the Bath meeting. Most significant amongst the events planned for Bath Seminar..........................2 1997 is a technical seminar, to be hosted by our Spanish colleagues in Seville, on the issue of “Fundamental EALCJ Objects......................4 Rights in European Labour Law”. This will provide a forum in which judicial officers and representatives from Seville Meeting......................5 the EU and EEA Member States can discuss and respond to the current debate over fundamental civic and social Handbook of European rights within Europe and more generally. Labour Courts and We wish all of our colleagues and associates within Tribunals................................5 the Labour Courts and Tribunals of Europe every hap- piness and success for the New Year 1997. Reference Collection of Regulations relating to Procedure and Functioning Officers for 1996-97 of European Labour Courts At the inaugural meeting of the EALCJ, held on 5 July and Labour Tribunals.............7 1996, the following officers were elected for 1996/1997: EALCJ Web Site....................7 President...........................................................Mr. Christopher Tickle President-Elect..............................Judge Alfonso Martinez Escribano Diary of Events.......................8 Secretary-General.........................................................Mr. Colin Sara Honorary Treasurer...............................................Mr. Douglas Crump Convenor..........................................................Professor Alan C. Neal 2 Bath Seminar — July 1996 Background Technical Sessions The inaugural meeting of the EALCJ took Technical Working Sessions took place on place in Bath, United Kingdom, on 5th July 1996. the first day of the two-day working period. Ses- That meeting followed a two-day technical semi- sions I and II were run under the chairmanship nar on “Labour Courts and Tribunals in Europe”, of Professor Neal, and involved presentations which was organised in conjunction with the from each of the participating Member States in European Commission by the International Cen- accordance with a “Structured Questionnaire” tre for Management, Law and Industrial Rela- prepared for the purpose. tions, University of Leicester, England. For each of the Sessions, introductory de- The programme of work for the seminar scriptive contributions were made by each par- was as follows: ticipant to the Seminar, following which a fo- cused discussion took place in relation to emerg- Wednesday 3 July 1996 ing “key” issues. During the first Session, par- ticular attention was paid to identification of P.M. RECEPTION AND INTRODUCTION common administrative and procedural problems within the various judicial systems represented, Thursday 4 July 1996 together with consideration of issues such as the A.M. TECHNICAL WORKING SESSION I selection, training, and technical updating of ju- Preparation of a Guide to Labour Courts and Tri- dicial personnel engaged in Labour Courts and bunals in the European Union Tribunals throughout the Member States. The P.M. TECHNICAL WORKING SESSION II second Session moved on to address various sub- The Role of Member State Labour Courts and Tri- stantive issues dealt with by the various Labour bunals in the Enforcement of European Commu- nity Directives Courts and Tribunals within the Member States. The second working day sought to build upon the progress achieved during the initial Friday 5 July 1996 working Sessions I and II. In particular, consid- A.M. FINAL SESSIONS eration was given to ways in which contacts be- The Organisation of a European Association of Labour Court Judges (Constitution, Objectives, tween the Labour Courts and Tribunals of the Organisational Infra-structure) Member States established through the medium of the Seminar might be turned into fruitful chan- Future Activities and Plan of Work for the Euro- pean Association of Labour Court Judges nels for exchanges of information on technical matters (both procedural and substantive), and P.M. END OF SEMINAR for the establishment of permanent points of contact to enable judges to call upon their col- Simultaneous translation facilities were leagues within other Member States for infor- provided throughout the Seminar, which pro- mation and assistance. ceeded upon the basis of two primary working languages — English and French. Organisational and Future Planning After follow-up discussions on the techni- Civic Reception cal sessions of the first working day, the remain- On the evening of Thursday 4 July, the City der of the second working day was given over of Bath and the Chair of Bath & North East Som- to a number of organisational and “future fol- erset Council hosted a civic reception for the low-up” matters. In particular, agreement was participants of the Seminar at the Pump Room reached that the results of the first day’s delib- and Roman Baths. The guest speaker at a dinner erations should be used as the basis for a fol- following that reception was Sir John Mummery, low-up project designed to make available some President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal of the basic descriptive information about the of England and Wales. various Labour Courts and Tribunals represented 3 in Bath. It was therefore agreed that the material Participants in the Bath Seminar presented should be further developed and pub- lished, in the form of a “Handbook of European Labour Courts and Tribunals”, under the editorship of Professor Neal. Austria Hofrat J. Mayr In the aftermath of the Bath Seminar, con- Supreme Court, Vienna tact has been made with those delegates who had Belgium Mr. Mark Windey been unable to attend the July meeting in per- Arbeidsrechter, Brugge son. As a consequence of this follow-up action, Denmark Judge Per Sørensen a fuller European-wide network is now in place Supreme Court, Copenhagen for future meetings to be organised through the Finland Judge Pekka Orasmaa newly-established European Association of La- Labour Court, Helsinki bour Court Judges. Germany Dr. Franz Lorenz Furthermore, it has proved possible to Bundesministerium für Arbeit u. build links between members of the judiciary Sozialordunung, Bonn specialising in employment and labour law and Iceland Mrs. Audur Thorbergsdottir other groups of judicial officers in a number of Labour Court, Reykjavik Member States. It is anticipated that the devel- Ireland Ms. Mary Faherty oping of this networking will constitute a valu- Employment Appeals Tribunal, able enhancement of the arrangements already Dublin achieved through the medium of the Bath Semi- Netherlands Mr. Jeff de Laat nar. Labour Tribunal, Utrecht The Bath Seminar has proved a catalyst for Northern Ireland Mrs. Mayo Pervical Price the establishment of durable links between the Industrial Tribunal, Belfast various Labour Courts and Tribunals of the Norway Judge Stein Evju Member States of the EU and the EEA. It has Labour Court, Oslo also enabled contacts to be formalised with a Portugal Mr. Vitor Ribeiro view to aiding the exchange of information and Proc. Distrital de Lisboa, Lisbon assistance between those various national Labour Scotland Mr. Robin Webster Courts and Tribunals. Industrial Tribunal, Glasgow Given recent initiatives at the level of the Spain Judge Alfonso Martinez Escribano European Union to encourage these kinds of co- Tribunal Superior de Justicia, operative actions between various judicial organs Seville and institutions within the Member States, it is Sweden Ms. Nina Pripp envisaged that the model established by the Bath Labour Court, Stockholm Seminar of Labour Court Judges will prove a United Kingdom Mr. Douglas Crump valuable forerunner to future initiatives designed Industrial Tribunal, Birmingham to ensure harmonious and integrated judicial Mr. Christopher Goodchild approaches to the operation of European Law Industrial Tribunal, Birmingham throughout the Member States of the Union and within the legal systems of the countries mak- Sir John Mummery Employment Appeal Tribunal, ing up the European Economic Area. London Professor Alan Neal Industrial Tribunal, London Mr. Colin Sara Industrial Tribunal, Bristol Mr. Christopher Tickle * The material in this account of the Bath Seminar has been Industrial Tribunal, Birmingham drawn from a Report (No. 950969, of 12 December 1995) on the event, prepared on behalf of the EALCJ for the Social EU Commission Mr. Fernando Vasquez Affairs Directorate of the European Commission. DG/V, Social Affairs Directorate 4 European Association of Labour Court Judges OBJECTS (a) To act as an association of judicial officers and those acting as judicial officers in matters concerning employment and labour law within the States which are members of the European Union and