Montenegro set to boost efficiency of judiciary through improving information technologes

Podgorica, Montenegro (11 February 2015) – Deputy Prime Minister Duško Marković, President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica, Chief State Prosecutor Ivica Stanković and President of the Judicial Council Mladen Vukčević signed yesterday the agreement on the implementation of the project “Improving efficiency of judiciary through implementation of information technologies”, which will be funded by the Government of the Netherlands in a cooperation with the UNDP Montenegro.

The project worth EUR 920 000 is aimed at improving efficiency in Montenegro through everyday use of information technologies. The implementation of the project is scheduled for the period 1 January - December 31 2015 and its goals are harmonised with the Strategy for the reform of the judiciary in Montenegro, adopted by the Government in March 2014 and the Action Plans for Negotiating Chapters 23 and 24.

The implementation of the project will improve the efficiency of judiciary in proceedings, strengthen methodology for creating reliable and comparable statistics in the justice system, improve management of judicial authorities, develop the “court without a paper” concept and meet standards of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe.

The project is composed of three main components:

I – Strengthening of the judicial management;
II – Development of the “court without paper” concept related to work of judiciary authorities;
III – Implementation of the judicial information system (PRIS) related to courts, prosecutors’ offices, Department for Execution of Criminal Sanctions and the Ministry of Justice.

By signing the agreement, the signatory parties have agreed to establish a steering committee which will supervise the implementation of the project and it will be composed of the justice minister, presidents of the Judicial Council, Supreme Court and the Prosecutors’ Council, as well as minister for the information society and telecommunications.

Furthermore, an operational team, composed of representatives of the project’s beneficiaries in charged for the implementation of the concrete project activities, will be also set up. The team will be in charge of preparing and submitting quarterly reports to the steering committee and carrying out steering committee’s decisions.