The proposed legislation is based on a report of the Commission for Legal Environment Improvement of the President of Latvia of 24 May 2016 regarding opportunities for improvement of the work of the Judicial Council. The President of Latvia has called on the Saeima to pursue the report of the Commission for Legal Environment Improvement as a basis for the legislative work for corresponding amendments to the Law “On Judiciary” to be drafted. The Commission for Legal Environment Improvement encouraged extending competence of the Judicial Council regarding the issues of judiciary and deciding on the issues of judges’ career, and it offered some tools for intensifying the work of the Judicial Council in developing judiciary policy and strategy.
President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonis expressed his confidence in the proposed legislation that “the following amendments to the law would allow provision of better preconditions for the ability of the Judicial Council to influence the development of the judicial system significantly. Increased accountability of the judiciary itself for improving work organization of the judicial system would promote certainty of the legal environment and public trust in the judiciary”.
Today, on 15 June 2016, the Legal Affairs Committee of the Saeima heard the representatives of the Commission for Legal Environment Improvement and discussed the prepared report for improvement of the work of the Judicial Council at its meeting. The Legal Affairs Committee of the Saeima will continue to work with the proposed legislation of the President during the autumn session of the Saeima.
The report is discussed at the meeting of the Judicial Council on 13 June 2016 and the Judicial Council approved the proposals contained in the report for improvement of the work of the Judicial Council conceptually.