PROGRESS REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF CONDITIONS FOR DISBURSEMENT OF THE SECOND TRANCHE FINANCING AGREEMENT N° ENPI/2012/023-600 “SUPPORT TO JUSTICE REFORM IN ARMENIA – PHASE II” PROGRAM REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA 1 LIST OF ACRONYMS ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution CCC Council of Court Chairmen CoE Council of Europe EU European Union FA Financing Agreement GoA Government of Armenia GC General Condition JA Justice Academy JD Judicial Department JC Judicial Code MoU Memorandum of Understanding MoF Ministry of Finance NA National Assembly MoU Memorandum of Understanding MoJ Ministry of Justice RA Republic of Armenia SC Specific Condition TA Technical Assistance 2 I. INTRODUCTION The Financing Agreement (FA) for the ENP AAP2012 SPSP for Support to Justice Reform in Armenia was signed by Government of Armenia (GoA) in December 2013. The FA provides for a total grant of up to € 29.0 mln (including €9.0 mln under EaPIC 2012), with €25.0 mln as budget support in three instalments or tranches of up to €7.0 mln, €8.0 mln, and €10.0 mln respectively 2014, 2015, and 2016, and € 4.0 mln for complementary actions, including Technical Assistance (TA). The overall objective of this program is to contribute to the development of a more independent, transparent, accountable, accessible and efficient judicial system, in line with the "2012-2016 Strategic Program for Legal and Judicial Reforms". Disbursement of each installment or tranche of the budget support component is subject to compliance with General and Specific Conditions. Compliance with the General Conditions (GC), considered as eligibility criteria for EU sector budget support, is a precondition for consideration of compliance with the Specific Conditions (SC), and hence for release of any funds. For the accomplishment of the GC, the GoA has to indicate that a satisfactory progress has taken place: i) in the implementation of the justice reform strategy and action plan, ii) in the maintenance of a stability-oriented macroeconomic policy, iii) in the implementation of the program to improve public finance management and iv) in transparency and oversight of the budget. With the respect to the SC, GoA has to prove that adequate measures were undertaken in order to meet the expected results on specific conditions foreseen for the 2nd tranche. For the Second Tranche the relevant SC are related to the increase of accountability and transparency of the justice sector through the publication of relevant statistical indicators, digitalisation of court archives and random assignment of cases (SC 4); The functioning of the Justice Academy and the School of Advocates properly in line with EU best practices, contributing to better trained judges, prosecutors and advocates (SC 5); The enhancement and improvement of the mechanisms and the quality of free legal aid (SC 6); The development of a model of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) (SC 9). This Progress Report on Implementation of Conditions for Disbursement of the Second Tranche (Report) presents the progress of the implementation of the General and Specific Conditions under the disbursement of the 2nd variable tranche of the Financing Agreement N° ENPI/2012/023-600 entitled “Support to Justice Reform in Armenia – Phase II” Program. 3 Progress with regard to activities pending under the 1st tranche: According to the assessment of the Review Mission of the 1st variable tranche the following activities were considered not fulfilled: I. 2nd Condition related to testing and nomination/appointment of candidate judges as well as evaluation and promotion of judges: An action plan/list of measures to promote gender balance among candidate judges approved by the designated judicial self- governance body With regard to the given activity, the Review Mission considered that the list of measures adopted by the Council of Court Chairmen (CCC) Decision was inadequate to qualify as an action plan, and insufficient to meet the objectives of the SC. Progress: It should be noted here that according to the Review Mission’s recommendation the JD has developed more comprehensive and extensive draft of gender balance action plan and CCC is currently in the process of discussion and adoption. In this respect we kindly present you the draft of gender balance action plan for your information (SEE ANNEX_ Gender Balance Action Plan). II. 8th Condition related to a more efficient civil registration: With regard to the given condition, the Review Mission considered that the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) had to submit a report on the introduction of the e-civil registry, as suggested as a source of verification for compliance with the SC. Progress: the MoJ has duly prepared a report on the introduction of the e-civil registry (SEE ANNEX 1.2.) and on 21 April 2015 it was submitted to EU Delegation to Armenia. Moreover, MoJ also presented the following documents: a. “Memorandum of Understnding on Handover of the Electronic Civil Status Register and Further Cooperation” between the Ministry of Justice and Estonian E-Governance Academy Foundation on Civil Status Register (SEE ANNEX 1.1); b. The Protocol on discussion with respect to the supplements and amendments to RA Law on Civil Status Acts and to other relevant legal acts (SEE ANNEX 1): In addition, a public discussion with the members of the Public Council adjunct to the RA Minister of Justice was held on April 25, 2014. The participants of the public discussion had the opportunity to discuss the Draft Law on Making Amendments to the RA Law on Civil Status Acts, as well as issues relating to the introduction of e-civil registry system. The list of participants and agenda of the session are provided. (SEE ANNEX 2) 4 Hereby, we kindly request you to assess the 8th condition and consider the disbursement of the respective installment. The MoJ presents its assurance that it continues efforts towards full performance of conditions under the 1st variable tranche assessed not satisfactory and wishes to present those for assessment during the 3rd variable tranche review. II. COMPLIANCE WITH THE GENERAL CONDITIONS General conditions for the disbursement of the 2nd tranche. 1. Satisfactory progress in the implementation of the justice reform strategy and action plan. On June 06, 2015 the semi-annual report on Measures Deriving From the 2012-2016 Strategic Program for Legal and Judicial Reforms in the Republic of Armenia was published on the official website of the MoJ 1. The implementation is considered to be satisfactory (SEE ANNEX 3). 2. Satisfactory progress in the implementation of a stability-oriented macroeconomic policy. Regarding the fulfillment of the mentioned condition please find attached the latest published «IMF Country Report No. 15/65» (SEE ANNEX 4, “Executive Board Assessment” part, p. 105). At the same time, it is worth mentioning that in the framework of conditions assessment for the 2nd variable tranche under EU Budget Support Financing Agreement ENPI/2011 a satisfactory progress was recorded in the sphere of stability-oriented macroeconomic policy and the relevant report will be published soon. 3. Satisfactory progress in the implementation of the public finance management reform. In accordance with evaluation report of public expenditures and financial accountability in the RA (made in 2013 and published in 2014 and granted with PEFA CHECK quality assurance certification) process has been recorded in relation to 11 1 http://moj.am/legal/view/article/816/ 5 indicators of 31 being evaluated in the public financial management system. In addition, the main reforms have been reported in the fields of realistic budget, transparency, and budget performance. For more details we submit also a reference on implemented activities during 2010- 2014 in the framework of Public Finance Management System Reform Strategy per separate elements (SEE ANNEX 5). 4. Satisfactory progress with regard to the public availability of accessible, timely, comprehensive and sound budgetary information. a. The representatives of the majority political parties (coalitions) represented in the RA National Assembly are engaged in the discussions of the draft medium-term expenditure (MTEF) framework, which serves as the basis for drafting the Law on State Budget of the coming year. The MTEF adopted by the RA Government is consequently published in the “The RA Official Newsletter”, periodical on the website of Armenia legal information system: www.arlis.am, the official website of the RA Ministry of Finance: www.minfin.am, as well as submitted to the National Assembly of RA (NA). In accordance with the requirements of the Article 26 of the RA Law “On the Budgetary System of the RA” upon submitting the Draft Law on State Budget of the next year to the NA of RA, the GoA within three days publishes it in the press, as well as posts it on the official website for public notices of the RA, with the exception of the articles containing confidential state secret. The discussion in the NA of RA of the Draft Law on State Budget of the coming year is covered in the media with the exception of the articles considered containing state secret. The Draft Law on State Budget of the coming year (draft law and government's budget message), as well as the Draft Law on State Budget of the coming year adopted by the NA of RA are then published in the “The RA Official Newsletter” periodical, on the website of Armenia legal information system: www.arlis.am, the official website of the RA Ministry of Finance (MoF): www.minfin.am, as well as the official website of the NA of RA: www.parliament.am. b. For the purposes of enhancing the public access to the projects funded by the State Budget and making their implementation more effective and controlled, activities aimed at gradual introduction of program budgeting are being currently carried out. The gradual introduction of program budgeting will enable to introduce qualitative changes in the process of state budget performance results verification by laying 6 special emphasis on the implementation of the outlined policy objectives from the processes of state budget treasury performance and on assuring the principle “Value for money”.