e-News 2019/3

Editorial

Photograph: Michael Moser

Dear colleagues,

We are already in the second year of the two-year German presidency of the ACA. As you know, we have taken up two overall themes for this period of time: We wanted to exchange views about the legal and factual framework conditions of our own role as the highest administrative court. And we also wanted to deal with the ReNEUAL project. Both projects are well on their way, and have been flourishing quite impressively.

Our last meeting was in Brno, where the Czech Republic’s highest administrative court had arranged a seminar. The seminar revolved around the topic of ‘Measures for simplifying and restricting access to the highest administrative court’. On the one hand, the three units of the seminar dealt with issues that covered the entire domains of process costs and the statutory requirement to be represented by a lawyer. On the other hand, information regarding the practical use of filter systems was deepened as well. The fact that the number of colleagues who participated was at the pleasantly high level of 39 proved once again that there is a lot of interest in obtaining first-hand knowledge of the European partner courts’ terms of service. However, the overwhelming hospitality of our Czech colleagues definitely exerted a magnetic effect as well.

After the seminars in Dublin and Berlin, the conclusion of the seminar in Brno now allows us to say that we have, to a large extent, rounded off the first overall theme. In Dublin, we were requested to support our knowledge with statistical facts; this shall be done using a transversal analysis, which is currently being prepared. The executive board of the ACA has decided to check whether we can publish a book that deals with a scientific analysis of the results of these three seminars and the transversal analysis, which in turn would enable a broader public to access the said content. Since the content in question is otherwise practically inaccessible, general interest in the same might not be restricted to the courts. The political and scientific sectors might be interested as well. There’s certainly a fair amount of work to be done, to say nothing of the cost factor. However, it may nevertheless be possible to implement the project.

The second overall theme deals with the ReNEUAL process. At the seminar in Cologne, we primarily considered the method of comparison of laws, upon which the academic sector’s ReNEUAL-related draft proposal is based. We reached the conclusion that our magisterial work should also increasingly take note of the rulings issued by our neighbouring European courts. The seminar that will be held on the occasion of the next general meeting on 11 May 2020 in Leipzig will deal with the final book of the ReNEUAL recommendation, which is dedicated to the very topical, promising and exciting topic of ‘the handling of information related to administration in the era of digitalisation’. The preparatory questionnaire has recently been created - Once again, this was done under scientific supervision. We may therefore look forward to a productive reunion!

Our best wishes are with you!

With kind regards

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Klaus Rennert
President of ACA-Europe,
President of the Federal Administrative Court of Germany

Seminar

On 9 September 2019, the ACA seminar on the limits of judicial guarantee was held in Brno, Czech Republic. ACA-Europe has received 26 national reports. All national reports, as well as the programme, the questionnaire and the general report, have been published on the ACA-Europe website. Read more....

Jurifast

These decisions have been selected for you:

France

In this case, the Court found that a circular that prescribed the use of the masculine form as a neutral form for words that could be used in the regulations to apply to both women and men and not to use the so-called inclusive writing, confines itself to instructing administrations to respect, in the drafting of administrative acts, the grammatical and syntactic rules in force. It thus does not affect equality between women and men, in breach of Article 1 of the Constitution, Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, Article 157 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equality of opportunities and equal treatment for men and women in employment and work and in Article 1 of the law of 4 August 2014 for real equality between women and men.

http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en?ID=3558

Netherlands

This is a decision of the Council of State following a response of the Court of Justice of the European Union to a preliminary question previously asked by the High Administrative Authority.

The preliminary question was how to deal with a situation in which an asylum seeker puts forward a new ground of asylum for the first time during appeal proceedings before the administrative court of first instance.

Following the answer given by the Court of Justice in the judgment in Case C-625/16 of 4 October 2018, which included the issue in particular, the Council of State withdrew its preliminary question and considered that if an alien submitted a ground for international protection for the first time in appeal proceedings before the Court, the Court must always try to determine whether this ground of asylum may be included in the current appeal proceedings. The Court then examines whether the ground of asylum has been submitted in time and is sufficiently concrete so that the Court itself and the Secretary of State can properly assess the grounds for asylum. If this is not the case and the inclusion of the new grounds of asylum "inadmissibly" delays the appeal procedure, the Court is not obliged to include the new grounds for asylum in the management of the appeal. The asylum seeker may submit a new asylum application based on this ground.

http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en?ID=3284

Poland

This case concerns the right of an alien to remain in Poland for the duration of the proceedings concerning the refusal to grant international protection before an administrative court of first instance and during which a decision as to the obligation to return is made, itself subject to compulsory performance. The Supreme Administrative Court considered that as long as a judicial decision rejecting a complaint concerning the granting of international protection has not become final, the procedure for the return decision cannot be initiated and conducted.

http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en?ID=3502

ACA-Europe reminds its members that it is very important that follow-up decisions (national decisions following a judgment of the Court of Justice in a preliminary ruling) are systematically introduced in JuriFast when the national decision asking the question is included in the database.

At the same time, the ECJ asks ACA-Europe to inform its members so that they systematically send all follow-up decisions directly to the Court at the address of the functional mailbox Follow-up-DDP@curia.europa.eu.

Remember, the Jurifast RSS feed can be obtained at the following address: http://www.aca-europe.eu/index.php/en/jurifast-en (possibility to subscribe to an RSS feed).

Forum

The forum of ACA-Europe currently has 201 members from 34 institutions.

Since the last e-news, 9 new collective questions have been asked and 14 countries have actively participated with 77 answers: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Slovenia.

The following subjects were discussed:

Assessment of the effects of certain projects on the environment (6 answers)
Publication of information on beneficiaries of agricultural aid on internet (8 answers)
Unequal opportunities for judges in different jurisdictions (10 answers)
Directive 2003/86/EC right to family reunification
Age limits (11 answers)
Unauthorized disclosure of information protected by law (8 answers)
Retirement age (10 answers)
Permission of wind turbines (10 answers)
Spouse of foreigner (7 answers)
Sound and / or video recordings during Court hearings (7 answers)

Access to the forum is reserved for the members of ACA-Europe, who can register for it at the following address: http://www.aca-europe.eu/forum/

Tour of Europe

The Tour of Europe provides an analysis, in 76 points, on how the administrative justice system is organised in the different Member States of the European Union and Turkey.

In order to obtain the objectives, defined in the specific agreement between ACA-Europe and the European Commission, within the scope of the subvention granted by the European Union, members which have not updated the available information since 2009 are warmly invited to do so by contacting the ACA-Europe team at the following email address: katty.lauvau@aca-europe.eu.

Subsequent changes to the updated versions are also welcome.

Judge Exchange

This year, the ACA-Europe Judge Exchange Programme was a resounding success with 30 applications submitted to the General Secretariat. Since the programme budget can only fund 18 exchanges, the Board and the General Assembly in Berlin have decided to refine the Paris criteria for a more predictable, transparent and fair selection process between candidates and jurisdictions.

In addition, the General Assembly suggests, on the basis of the results of the survey conducted by the General Secretariat for interns in the year 2018, to the host jurisdictions to submit documentation concerning its functioning before the beginning of the internship.

For more information: katty.lauvau@aca-europe.eu

Members' News

Romania – High Court of Cassation and Justice – September 2019

From 15 September 2019, the new President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice of Romania is Mrs. Corina Alina Corbu. She succeeds Mrs Iulia Cristina Tarcea. In this way, we want to wish Mrs Corbu a satisfactory presidency and a fruitful cooperation with ACA-Europe.

Do you have an announcement that you would like to share with your colleagues from ACA Europe - e.g. a new chairman has been appointed or elected, an important change has taken place in the functioning of your institution or your institution is organizing an (international) seminar - do not hesitate to contact us!

ACA News

Grant 2020

The programme and budget for 2020, as approved by the Board, have been submitted by the General Secretariat. We are now waiting for approval by the European Commission.

Presidency 2020-2022

Mr. Patroni Griffi, President of the Italian Council of State, elaborated the programme for the Italian presidency of ACA Europe during the period 2020 – 2022 in a letter adressed to Mr. Rennert, President of ACA-Europe. This programme is entitled “The role of judges in the process of European integration: horizontal dialogue among the supreme administrative national courts”. The focus of the Italian presidency will be on “horizontal dialogue”, a level of dialogue consistent with the ACA-Europe DNA of promoting mutual knowledge and a productive debate among Administrative Supreme Courts of Europe, in order to create a common judicial culture. The purpose of the presidency will be to enhance and foster the value and the experience of horizontal dialogue within the national Supreme Administrative Courts.

In general, the agenda of the Italian presidency is known. Check out our website!

Dissemination of the ACA-E-news

In order to obtain the objectives, defined in the specific agreement between ACA-Europe and the European Commission, within the scope of the subvention granted by the European Union, ACA-Europe was asked to develop a strategy for broader dissemination of the ACA-Europe newsletter.

In this regard, many of you have provided us with the contact details of the national administrative courts to which we can send the e-bulletin.

To those who have not (yet) done so, we would like to ask to forward this e-news to all administrative courts in their country, or to contact us and still provide us with the necessary contact details.

We greatly appreciate your help in expanding our network!

Working group "Better regulaton"

On May 2, the Working Group sent a letter to the European Commission informing it on the outcomes of the pilot on better regulation.

Over the summer, the Commission responded to this letter with a general letter signed by Commissioner Timmermans and more detailed feedback from the Commission services on the issues raised in the Annex to the letter of 2 May 2019.

The Commission’s reply to the letter and the more detailed annex were on the agenda of the board meeting on 10 September in Brussels and will also be discussed at the Working Group meeting in Rome at the end of October.

Content management

ACA-Europe will have to say goodbye to Benny De Sutter, content manager of ACA-Europe, by the end of this year. Please take into account that the contact address benny.desutter@aca-europe.eu will no longer be available as from 1 January 2020. A vacancy will be issued for finding a replacement. As soon as a suitable candidate has been found, we will provide you with the contact details of our new content manager.

In this issue

Agenda

23-24 April 2020

Seminar in Leipzig, Germany – Legal documentation

10-12 May 2020

General Assembly and Colloquium in Leipzig, Germany – ReNEAUL II

19 October 2020

Seminar in Fiesole, Italy – Law, Courts and guidelines for the public administration

For a complete overview of the calendar, see our website.

Analysis 2018-2019

At the time of ACA-Europe’s application for a four-year grant addressed to the European Commission, the Association proposed to conduct an annual survey on the collection, analysis, exchange and dissemination of information, good practices and recommendations on various topics of EU law.

For 2019, the Board opted to conduct a “Qualitative and Quantitative Review of the 2019 seminars”. The results of the study will also be used to contribute to the 2019 EU Justice Scoreboard.

A second meeting of the working group took place on 7 October 2019. During this meeting, the final questionnaire was drafted. It will be sent to the members in the first half of November.

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Funded by the Justice programme of the European Union