Serbia: Strengthening independence and accountability of the judiciary

Project title

The Council of Europe is implementing the Action “Strengthening Independence and Accountability of the Judiciary in Serbia” as a part of the European Union and Council of Europe programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey II” (Horizontal Facility).

Duration of project

The project will last three years (23 May 2019 to 22 May 2022).

Budget

The overall budget is 750,000 Euros.

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries of the Action are the Ministry of Justice, the High Judicial Council, the State Prosecutorial Council, and the Judicial Academy.

Project focus

The three-years Action focuses on the building capacities of judges, prosecutors, judicial and prosecutorial assistants to detect and counter risks of undue influence and to reinforce internal mechanisms, rules and procedures within the High Judicial Council (HJC) and the State Prosecutorial Council (SPC) to ensure guarantees of judicial and prosecutorial independence.

Shortcomings within the Serbian judiciary in the sphere of ethics and integrity will be addressed as well, by working with the Ministry of Justice to develop and/or to improve the relevant legislature, by supporting the HJC and the SPC ethics committees, and by designing measures to introduce a system of confidential counselling within both the judiciary and the prosecution service.

The establishment of a fair and merit-based system of performance evaluation and career advancement of judicial professionals is a further expected outcome of the Action.

Finally, the Action intends to enhance the co-operation and the information flow between the executive and the judiciary.

Expected outcomes

Activities implemented in co-operation with the beneficiaries will contribute to strengthening the independence and the accountability of the judiciary and of the prosecutorial service of the Republic of Serbia and to improving the public confidence in the judicial system.

Project News

Back New Code of Ethics for Serbian prosecutors adopted

Horizontal Facility: Serbia - Strengthening the independence and accountability of the judiciary

The Serbian State Prosecutorial Council (SPC) adopted the new Code of Ethics for Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors at the session held on Friday 23 April 2021.

The amendments to the Code of Ethics were based on the recommendations of the Analysis of Prosecutorial Ethics in Serbia prepared last year by the Council of Europe experts, within the joint European Union/Council of Europe action "Strengthening the independence and accountability of the judiciary". Following the findings from the Analysis, the Council of Europe facilitated a number of meetings of a dedicated working group.

Since the members of the working group are also members of the SPC Ethics Committee, which is authorised to issue practical guidelines on ethical issues, with the adoption of the new Code of Ethics, guidelines for the application of ethical principles were also adopted. The conduct of public prosecutors in criminal proceedings is precisely regulated by the law, thus the guidelines most often refer to conduct in private life which may lead to potential, actual or alleged violations of ethical principles.

The following steps foresee the development of a brochure intended for public prosecutors, with the aim of raising awareness of ethical rules, which contain examples of inappropriate behaviour of public prosecutors and deputy public prosecutors. The brochure, with the support of the mentioned joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe, will be published on the SPC website, printed and delivered to all holders of the public prosecutor's office in the Republic of Serbia.

The work on the Code of Conduct is part of the joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe "Strengthening the independence and accountability of the judiciary", which is part of the “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey 2019-2022” programme.

Belgrade, Serbia 23 April 2021