The purpose of this Conference, organised jointly by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, was to present specific examples of the best civil procedures in Europe.

Another aim of the Conference was to allow the professionals of justice (judges, registrars, lawyers, bailiffs), as well as the public authorities from all the member States to share experience and discuss the means for having a more efficient and fair justice.

The results of this Conference were used, inter alia, as a basis for the future work of the CEPEJ, in particular for its activity: “A new objective for judicial systems: the treatment of each case within an optimum and foreseeable timeframe.”

The following themes were discussed:

• New ways to submit a case to court
• Simplified procedures
• Towards a modernized pretrial preparation of civil cases
• The enforcement of the judgement
• Future stakes for a better justice

This Conference followed the same model as the successful conference organised in October 2002 on the subject: “Towards a better access of the citizens to justice.”

This conference, in which 250 European specialists were present, presented numerous pilot projects established by the different European States with the aim of improving in a specific manner the access of citizens to justice and bringing justice closer to the citizens.