Serbia Judicial Functional Review

EXTERNAL PERFORMANCE SERBIA JUDICIAL FUNCTIONAL REVIEW INTERNAL PERFORMANCE EFFICIENCY, QUALITY & ACCESSIBILITY OF JUDICIAL SERVICES AVAILABILITY OF FINANCIAL, HUMAN, ICT & INFRASTRUCTURE RESOURCES 840 COURT SERVICES 350 HUMAN RESOURCES HAVE LOW DEMAND 39 18.9 MANAGEMENT IS NOT STRATEGIC Demand for court services in Serbia is weaker than EU averages and falling. Courts receive less incoming cases, than the EU average, has nearly double the ratio of judges-to-population. 39 judges* in Serbia, with 350 cases per judge. 18.9 judges* in EU in average, with 840 cases per judge. Judges, prosecutors and staff are added to prior staffing levels in an ad hoc manner, rather than based on objective demand or caseloads *Per 100,000 of population. EXPENDITURES LAW AWARENESS IS LIMITED Judges, prosecutors, and lawyers struggle to keep abreast of new legislation and practices. Continuous changes in legislation and scarce outreach prevent the public from understanding their rights and obligations, or how to uphold them in court. ARE ABOVE THE EU AVERAGE LEVEL The judicial system in Serbia is not under-resourced. Court expenditure was 0.66% of GDP in 2012, which is higher than any EU Member State ICT MANAGEMENT IS NOT ADEQUATELY ADDRESSED The Serbian judicial system does not yet approach ICT as a tool for transformation, which is under-financed and mainly unlinked. JUSTICE SERVICES ARE NOT AFFORDABLE Court and attorney costs represent a significant proportion of average income in Serbia. Pursuing even a simple case is unaffordable for many. GENERAL Д PUBLIC POOR CONDITIONS OF JUDICIAL SECTOR'S INFRASTRUCTURE Most facilities are between 30 to 60 years old and have received only minimal maintenance for the last 20 Majority of the general public say they would not pursue a dispute which they thought should bé settled in the court. years or more Those, who consider Serbian laws to be fair and objective. LEGISLATION NEED FOR TRAINING AND JUDGES, PROSECUTORS & LAWERS QUALITY IS LOw CAPACITY BUILDING Those, who report poor quality legislation as the main reason of poor quality of court services. Overlapping and conflicting laws cause inconsistency of practice, while gaps in the law leave judges with little guidance. There is an acute need for training and capacity building across the Serbian judiciary, in addition to more sophisticated management, and better-defined systems for human resources. PERFORMANCE TRAINING BUDGET KPI Develop a performance framework that tracks the performance of courts Develop a comprehensive continuing training program for judges, prosecutors and court staff. Develop a more realistic budget within the existing resource envelope. THE WORLD BANK IBRD - IDA | WORLD BANK GROUP http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/serbia