The Working Group of the High Judicial Council met for the 4th time in Belgrade, continuing work on the Draft Rulebook on the evaluation of the work of judges, with the support of the joint EU/CoE Project "Support for the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Serbia". The Working group, composed of members of HJC, a judge from the misdemeanour court, and a judge from the Supreme Court, is accompanied by observers from the EU delegation in Serbia and Civil society representatives.

With support from local Council of Europe experts, the Working group continued to integrate comments and proposals from various courts and judges from Serbia into the draft. The work of the working group focused on translating criteria listed in the Law on judges into a measurable set of performance indicators that would assess the work of judges in a fair, transparent, and meaningful manner. This includes the composition of the evaluation commission, the appeal procedure, and mitigation measures.

The provisions of this rulebook should ensure the implementation of a new approach introduced by the judicial laws. The aim of these new rules on the appraisal of judges is to provide reliable and measurable input for the election and promotion of judges and allow promotions based on merit. The project "Support for the Implementation of Judicial Reform in Serbia" will continue to support the High Judicial Council in the development of implementation bylaws aligned with European standards.