DIRECTORATE GENERAL FOR INTERNAL POLICIES POLICY DEPARTMENT C: CITIZENS’ RIGHTS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS EFFECTIVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE STUDY Abstract This study, commissioned by the European Parliament Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs upon request by PETI Committee, aims to identify and understand the issues affecting effective access to justice raised by the EU citizens and residents in some Member States with the main aim to frame the analysis and obtain a fair representation of recurring issues pertaining to access to justice across the EU. It seeks to understand why citizens have turned to the EU institutions to seek access to justice, and looks at a large range of factors, including legal and procedural issues as well as practical, social, historical and political factors that underpin the issues raised in these petitions. More broadly, the study intends to assess the relevance of the petitions system to address access to justice issues experienced by citizens at national level. PE 596.818 EN This study was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Petitions and was commissioned, overseen and published by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs. Policy departments provide independent expertise, both in-house and externally, to support European Parliament committees and other parliamentary bodies in shaping legislation and exercising democratic scrutiny over EU external and internal policies. To contact the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, or to subscribe to its newsletter, please write to: [email protected] AUTHORS Ms Nathy Rass-Masson (Milieu) Ms Virginie Rouas (Milieu) RESPONSIBLE ADMINISTRATOR Martina Schonard Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs European Parliament B-1047 Brussels E-mail: [email protected] LINGUISTIC VERSIONS Original: EN ABOUT THE EDITOR Manuscript completed in November 2017 © European Union, 2017 This document is available on the internet at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/supporting-analyses DISCLAIMER The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and sent a copy. Effective access to justice ____________________________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS CONTENTS 3 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5 LIST OF TABLES 7 LIST OF FIGURES 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 1. INTRODUCTION 15 1.1. Context and objective of the study 15 1.2. Content of the paper 16 2. METHODOLOGY AND CHALLENGES 17 2.1. Phase 1: Defining the scope of research 17 2.2. Phase 2: Conducting national and EU research 19 2.3. Phase 3: Analysing data and reporting conclusions 20 3. SCOPE OF ANALYSIS 21 3.1. Definition of the concept of effective access to justice 21 3.2. Categories of issues affecting effective access to justice 23 3.2.1. Category 1: Effective access to court 24 3.2.2. Category 2: Costs of justice and legal assistance 25 3.2.3. Category 3: Access to fair trial and enforcement of judgments 25 3.2.4. Outcome of the categorisation of petitions 26 4. ANALYSIS OF ACCESS TO JUSTICE IN THE MEMBER STATES STUDIED 28 4.1. Background: country-specific factors affecting access to justice 28 4.2. Effective access to court 47 4.2.1. Organisation of the national judicial system 48 4.2.2. Legal and procedural obstacles impeding access to court 53 4.2.3. Practical obstacles impeding access to court 57 4.3. Costs of justice and legal assistance 61 4.3.1. Costs of justice 61 4.3.2. Legal aid 68 4.3.3. Other issues preventing access to proper legal assistance 72 4.4. Access to a fair trial and enforcement of judgments 78 3 Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 4.4.1. Procedural guarantees 78 4.4.2. Length of proceedings 93 4.4.3. Enforcement of judgments 102 5. ANALYSIS OF EU TOOLS AVAILABLE TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO JUSTICE AT NATIONAL LEVEL 109 5.1. Petitions 109 5.1.1. Use of petitions as a mean to enforce the right to access justice 110 5.1.2. Impact of petitions on effectiveness of access to justice 115 5.2. References for a preliminary ruling 121 5.2.1. Use of reference for a preliminary ruling by national judges 122 5.2.2. Impact of references for a preliminary ruling on effectiveness of access to justice 124 5.3. Other instruments available to the EU institutions on the basis of the TFEU 126 5.3.1. EU competence in the area of justice defined by the TFEU 127 5.3.2. Legal instruments adopted on the basis of the TFEU 128 5.3.3. Institutional tools and mechanisms enabled by the TFEU 129 6. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 133 6.1. Effective access to court 133 6.2. Costs of justice and legal assistance 135 6.3. Access to a fair trial and enforcement of judgments 137 6.4. EU action to improve access to justice 138 REFERENCES 141 ANNEX I: LIST OF PETITIONS 153 ANNEX II: LIST OF STAKEHOLDERS INTERVIEWED FOR THE STUDY 164 4 Effective access to justice ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ACA- Association of the Councils of State and Supreme Administrative Europe Jurisdictions of the EU ADR Alternative Dispute Resolution CCBE Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe CEPEJ Commission Européenne pour l'Efficacité de la Justice/ European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice CGAE Consejo General de la Abogacía Española CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CVM Cooperation and Verification Mechanism ECHR European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EFTA European Free Trade Association EJTN European Judicial Training Network ENCJ European Network of Councils for the Judiciary EP European Parliament ESIF European Structural and Investment Funds EU European Union EUR Euro FRA Fundamental Rights Agency ICT Information and Communication Technologies NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NPSJC Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the EU ODR Online Dispute Resolution 5 Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ PETI European Parliament Committee on Petitions SRSP Structural Reform Support Programme TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union US United States VAT Value Added Tax 6 Effective access to justice ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Categories of issues affecting effective access to court................................... 24 Table 2: Category of issues related to costs of justice and legal assistance ................... 25 Table 3: Category of issues affecting access to a fair trial and enforcement of judgments 26 Table 4: Overview of issues affecting access to justice in selected petitions .................. 27 Table 5: Selected petitions raising issues linked to the organisation of the national judicial system .................................................................................................................. 48 Table 6: Selected petitions raising legal and procedural obstacles impeding access to court ............................................................................................................................ 54 Table 7: Selected petitions raising practical obstacles impeding access to court ............. 57 Table 8: Selected petitions concerned with the costs of justice .................................... 62 Table 9: Selected petitions concerned with legal aid ................................................... 69 Table 10: Selected petitions raising other issues to access proper legal assistance ........ 72 Table 11: Selected petitions concerned with procedural guarantees ............................. 79 Table 12: Selected petitions concerned with the length of proceedings ......................... 93 Table 13: Selected petitions concerned with the enforcement of judgments ................ 103 Table 14: Relevant EU Regulations and Directives cited in petitions ........................... 112 Table 15: Distribution of petitions per year ............................................................. 117 Table 16: Distribution of selected petitions in Member States .................................... 118 Table 17: Outcomes of admissible petitions dealing with access to justice .................. 120 Table 18 : Number of references for preliminary ruling lodged by national courts in selected Member States ..................................................................................................... 122 Table 19: Average duration of proceedings for references for a preliminary ruling ....... 125 7 Policy Department C: Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs ____________________________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Number of petitions analysed as relevant in the context of access to justice in the countries studied .................................................................................................. 110 Figure 2: Ratio of number of courts to references for a preliminary ruling in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 ....................................................................................................