European Expertise and Expert Institute (EEEI) March 2016 Newsletter

We are more than honored, as EEEI‘s partners, to publish their March newsletter. We hope you shall find it interesting and we wish you good reading!

Summary

By Robert Paillot, Vice President EEEI in charge of communication

In this Letter, our Secretary-General, Jean-Michel Romero, communicates to us the first information on our next General Assembly to which all members are invited. This meeting will be held on May 27th in the prestigious Great Chamber of the Court of Cassation in Paris. Music lovers will also enjoy a concert in the Sainte Chapelle, one of the most sumptuous buildings of high gothic, the magnificent stained glass windows have just been restored.
Our President, Jean-Raymond Lemaire, shares with us his decision to pass the baton to the future president of the EEEI, after the General Assembly of 2017. Fortunately he will continue to participate in the work of the Institute performing the tasks entrusted to him.
After EUREXPERTISE project where the EEEI made an inventory of expertise civil proceedings in the European Union, our Institute is launching a project on criminal expertise. Jean-Raymond Lemaire gives us an outline.
EEEI was already an observer member of the working group Quality of Justice within the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ), one of the committees of the Council of Europe. Our institute has also been appointed an observer member of the working group Evaluation of judicial systems. Jean-Raymond Lemaire explains how the CEPEJ works and which are its tasks.
Finally Kay Linnell, executive committee member of EEEI, reports on the work of the Accreditation Committee she chairs. It is in particular responsible for defining the rules for admission of new members.

Annual General Meeting of the IEEE, Friday, May 27, 2016 afternoon in Paris

By Jean-Michel Roméro, General Secretary of EEEI

As mentioned in the statutes, the IEEE is organizing its annual general meeting in Paris May 27, 2016 at 14:30.

Mr. Prime President of the French Court of Cassation honors the Institute and its members by receiving and welcoming them. We thank him for this particular sign of interest to the fundamentally European approach of the EEEI.

During the meeting it will be presented the state of our business and our projects, including those with the European Commission, and it is important that each State of the European Union will be present or represented by one or more judges, lawyers, experts and academics.
The meeting will be followed by a conference, whose theme will focus on the representation of experts at European level.

Then we will offer to participants who wish, after a cocktail, a cultural event in this unique place the „Sainte-Chapelle”. You can assist in the early evening at a classical concert in the „Chapelle Royale” lieu of history and prestigious architecture.

The number of places is limited, so pre-booking is recommended, right now, for yourself and if you like, for a person accompanying you. Here is a link that will give you access to a form to make this pre-booking.

The detailed program and registration documents will be sent in a few weeks.

If you have any question :
contact@experts-institute.eu
or n.sillon@experts-institute.eu.

Download the form for pre-booking

Jean-Raymond Lemaire announces his resignation in 2017, from his term as President of the EEEI

Dear friends,

Assuming that I am reelected as a member of COMEX at the next General Assembly in May 2016 and if I am reelected President of the EEEI I will resign from my position as President on the due date the 2017 General Assembly.

This decision is motivated by two reasons:
1. The sustainability of EEEI will be enhanced by a successful succession;
2. Ten years is a long time, it’s too much, wear watches, new ideas have to emerge, new directions should be explored…

Of course, if I am reelected, I will continue to participate in the EEEI to perform the tasks entrusted to me and without interfering in the decisions taken by the next EEEI management team.

I ask you to think about the transition will happen and I count on you to help this change.

We still have many things to do and I promise to give a significant part of my energy.

I take this letter to thank you with all my heart that, thanks to you, we have been able to accomplish and I congratulate you.

Sincerely,
Jean-Raymond LEMAIRE

Project on criminal expertise

By Jean-Raymond Lemaire, Président EEEI

Following the decision of the Executive Committee will be launched the project on criminal expertise, the provisional objectives are:

• 1- make an inventory of the procedures of criminal expertise and status of experts in the European Union, based on a questionnaire sent to Supreme Courts and the Ministries of Justice (as for civilian expertise, project EUREXPERTISE) ;
• 2- prepare the response to a call for proposals that the European Commission should propose in the coming months (prediction). It might be possible to look for consensus on procedures, evidence, and to propose methods to succeed.

It could be an opportunity to implement an effective quality assurance system in the European Union for the processes, for the skills of those involved in criminal expertise and to think about exchange of information between the different actors of the criminal expertise and even interconnecting national databases.

Full article

EEEI and CEPEJ

By Jean-Raymond Lemaire, président EEEI

(With extracts of website CEPEJ)

The aim of the CEPEJ is the improvement of the efficiency and functioning of justice in the member States, and the development of the implementation of the instruments adopted by the Council of Europe to this end.

Its tasks are :
 to analyze the results of the judicial systems
 to identify the difficulties they meet
 to define concrete ways to improve, on the one hand, the evaluation of their results, and, on the other hand, the functioning of these systems
 to provide assistance to member States, at their request
 to propose to the competent instances of the Council of Europe the fields where it would be desirable to elaborate a new legal instrument.

In order to carry out these different tasks, the CEPEJ prepares benchmarks, collects and analyses data, defines instruments of measure and means of evaluation, adopts documents (reports, advices, guidelines, action plans, etc.), develops contacts with qualified personalities, non-governmental organizations, research institutes and information centers, organizes hearings, promotes networks of legal professionals.

Full article

EEEI Accreditation and Admissions Committee – Update

By Kay Linnell (*), executive committee member of EEEI

The EEEI Accreditation Committee was established at the end of 2015 at the request of the EEEi Executive committee.   The role of this committee is to define the rules for the admissions, and look at producing guidelines for the accreditation and conduct of EEEi members, both individual and institutional, under Article 15 of the EEEi Statutes.  The admission of official entities and / or recognised appeal and administrative courts and tribunals, bar associations, associations of recognized experts is already well documented.

This Accreditation committee is chaired by Miss Kay Linnell who is a member of the Executive committee, a practising expert and Vice Chairman of the Expert Witness Institute, the leading UK based Expert Witness membership body.  The other members of the committee are Katharina Bluetge, a German lawyer, Etienne Claes, a Belgium expert, Maria Grazia Cassia, an Italian Judge, Lubos Dorfl, a Czech Judge, Vincent Vigneau, a French Judge and Barry Turner, a UK Academic.

The work of the committee falls under the guidance of the EEEI statutory Steering Committee which is chaired by Alain Nuee and the EEEi President Jean-Raymond Lemaire.

Roles and responsibilities of the committee

1.  Review the EEEi existing procedures for admission to the Institute including a full review of all application forms and supporting documentation;
2.  Review all current membership categories and create a proposal for membership expansion, roles and benefits;
3.  Devise a Code of conduct for EEEi members;
4.  Review and update the EEEi regulatory and disciplinary process;
5.  Present recommendations to the statutory Steering Committee for approval.

Progress

The committee’s first task is to review all existing documentation of the EEEi, including the application forms. All documentation has been circulated to the committee and this task is currently underway.  A paper will then be drafted with recommendations for improvements to the admission process to submit to the Steering Committee.

The committee will be meeting via conference call in March to progress the project and to prepare feedback for the next EEEi convention in May 2016.

(*) Forensic Accountant
Governor and fellow of the Expert Witness Institute