Our members can access the results of an investigation made by the European Commisson to determine which countries have the most efficient justice system. The investigation invites countries to match their competitors, and makes very interesting reading for any law professional.
You think the justice system of your country takes a lot of time to solve cases? Well, did you know that in Malta it could take even longer? The small island takes an average of 850 days to solve civil and commercial litigations, twice as much as the second longest justice system in the EU, Cyprus. In contrast, Lithuania has the fastest procedure, and Finland has the lowest number of lawyers per inhabitants, while the highest number is in Luxembourg, Italy, and Greece ?
All this data – and much more - have been collected by the European Commission. Our Jurismus president, Olivier Vibert (EJ France), has delved into this information to write an article about it for the Jurismus newsletter. “The data was published on the EC website,” he says. “And I found it all very interesting for us; we learn a lot about ourselves. There were around 20 criteria in total.”
Olivier explains that the European Commission peformed this survey in order to help improve the access to justice for all citizens across the EU. “The idea is to show which country underperforms. We can see immediately in which places the justice system is too slow, or at least out of reach for the people who need it.”
Since the EU is a big market, such publications throw countries into competition, inciting them to improve their performance. “If your score is low, then investors will most likely shun your country in favour of one where they know they can rely on the justice system if needed. Why would someone create a company in your country if they know that any litigation will drag on for years at a big cost, when they could settle in a place where problems are solved efficiently?” Olivier has paid a lot of interest in the survey. He compares it with an initiative by the French government to publish online which gas stations are the cheapest, prompting the most expensive ones to lower their rates. “It's not all about the cost,” he says. “For a legal system it is also about how long it takes and whether everyone can benefit from it or only the most privileged people.”
The complete investigation is available freely for anyone to read on the website of the European Commission: ec.europa.eu/justice/effective-justice. It provides a way for every citizen to look at how their country performs and, in the future, whether it will improve or not. Lawyers may want to keep an eye on it...
