The Judicial Council has published its annual report on the performance of the Judicial Council and the judiciary in 2024.
"This is the third time that the Judicial Council's performance report has been published, establishing a long-standing tradition of presenting in one place both the achievements of the Judicial Council and the results of the judicial system. The year 2024 was marked by a number of important steps in strengthening the judiciary – measures were implemented to strengthen the independence of the courts, to balance the workload of judges and to increase the efficiency of court work. One of the most important tasks of the year was the launch of the reform of the administrative management of the courts. In 2024, work on the establishment of the Academy of Justice was also completed."
In order to ensure timely examination of cases, the Judicial Council also set standards for length of court proceedings in 2024. Guidelines for the writing of judgments in criminal and administrative offence cases were adopted for courts of first instance and appellate instance to promote uniform and quality practice. A project to improve the efficiency of the judiciary and its budgeting capacity for structural reforms was launched with funding from the European Union Technical Support Instrument. The selection procedure for district (city) and regional court judges, including the nomination and appointment process for court presidents, their deputies and courthouse presidents, was also improved.
The report summarises court performance indicators for 2024, including the number of cases received and examined, the backlog of cases, average length of proceedings and case throughput.
The working groups and commissions of the Judicial Council have also contributed significantly to the improvement of the judicial system in 2024. The Working Group for Court Efficiency assessed the results of the territorial reform of the courts. The Working Group on Specialisation of Judges produced reports on the definition of basic principles of specialisation and on specialisation in land registry cases. The Working Group for Management of Time Limits for the Examination of Cases analysed the long backlog of criminal cases and identified the main reasons for delays.
For the first time, the Judicial Council's report also includes a section titled "Court News", which summarises topicalities of the work of all Latvian courts in 2024.
More information on the work of the Judicial Council and the performance results of the judicial system is available in the Annual Report of the Judicial Council 2024, published in Latvian on the Judicial Council's website.