GOVT ADOPTS FINAL BILL ON CHANGES TO STATE JUDICIAL COUNCIL ACT

( Editorial: --> 6766 ) ZAGREB, Aug 29 (Hina) - The Croatian Government has sent the National Parliament a final Bill on Changes to the State Judicial Council (DSV) Act, to be discussed in the second reading. The bill contains changes proposed by the Lower House Committees for Legislation and Judiciary and the House of Counties' Committee for Legislation and the Committee for Judiciary, Election and Appointment. The Government has proposed the adoption of the bill on the basis of a report on the state of the nation, submitted by President Franjo Tudjman on 27 January 1998. The State Judicial Council Act regulates the appointment and replacement of the DSV president and members as well as the appointment and replacement of judges and state attorneys and the procedure of establishing responsibility and other issues concerning the work of the DSV. Due to a lack of certain norms in the existing law but also because of other problems encountered in its application, the Government decided to draw up a final bill on changes. One of the regulations of the existing law envisages the possibility of replacement of the DSV president or a member before the expiry of his mandate, but it fails to provide for the possibility of replacement in case the DSV president or members commit grave violations of the Constitution or state laws. An amendment to this regulation provides for the replacement of the president or a member of the DSV in case it is established that he has committed grave violations against the Constitution or state laws. According to the final bill, all those involved in determining candidates for the office of the DSV president or member have the right to submit replacement proposals. The Government also believes that it is necessary to regulate in detail the form and content of DSV decisions on appointment and replacement of court presidents, judges, state attorneys and their deputies. The Government also believes that it is necessary to determine the tasks of the DSV president and proposes that a separate expert service be established as the DVS administrative and accounting tasks were performed by the Justice Ministry, which occasionally caused difficulties and misunderstandings. For the sake of speeding up the appointment procedure, it was proposed that vacancies for judges be announced in line with official duties or following a proposal by an authorised person. The proposal can be submitted by the president of the court the judge is appointed to, the president of the court which is next on the hierarchy ladder and the Supreme Court president. The Government also proposed the establishment of councils of judges which would give their opinion on candidates. It was also established that proposals on appointing the Supreme Court President be made by the President of the Republic instead of the Government. In case of appointment of judges to higher courts, court presidents have to submit their opinion on candidates as well as the assessment of their work so that the DSV could have a better insight into the work of individual judges. In case the requested assessment is not submitted within the set deadline, Justice Minister will submit the list of candidates which meet all appointment requirements to the DSV without the opinion of the court president. The Government has not accepted the DSV proposal that Article 3 of the Bill be struck out since the Constitutional Court has established that DSV members had on several occasions violated the freedoms and rights provided by the Constitution in the procedure of appointment and replacement of judges. The Government has also rejected a proposal by the House of Counties' Committee for Judiciary, Election and Appointment for the DSV to also notify candidates who have not been appointed and explain its decision. Rejected was also a DSV proposal for both replacement and appointment decisions to be accompanied with an explanation. According to the current law, only replacement decisions are accompanied with an explanation. (hina) rml 291334 MET aug 98