italian minister of justice washington d.c., world...
TRANSCRIPT
Reform of the Italian Civil Justice System Recent measures and achievements
Andrea Orlando Italian Minister of Justice
Washington D.C., World BankApril 22, 2016
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
Content of the presentation
Starting situation and progress achieved
Recent reforms
Organizational measures and projects
1
2
3
2
1) Challenges to be tackled
2) Review of the Judicial Map
3) Average length of civil cases and backlog
4) Ranking in the Doing Business Report
The starting situation and progress achieved
3
Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
1) Challenges to be tackled
Old judicial map that counted more than 2,000 officesover the national territory
Civil justice with the highest number of pending cases inEurope: almost 6M pending civil cases as of end of2009
Very high per capita litigation in internationalcomparison
Civil justice performance indicators (trial length inparticular) which placed us towards the low end ofinternational benchmarks
Lack of specialised tribunals for specific subject matters
IT infrastructures and management systems out ofkeeping with the times and uneven throughout Italy
4
Access to justice in terms of courtproximity for citizens
Optimal size of courts as to secure thepresence of different skills andfunctions
Cost saving on the assumption thatpublic sector resources cannot andmust not be wasted but ratheroptimized
Maximize quality and an adequatedelivery of the service provided
Accessibility Costs/Efficiency
Quality/Performance
2) Review of the Judicial Map
Objectives (to be balanced)
5
After reformPrior to reform
Justices of the Peace From 846 to almost
380*
«Local divisions»
From 220 to 0
First-instance
Courts and Public
Prosecutors Offices
From 166 to 136
From 1,398 offices (in the scope of the law) to almost 650, i.e. almost 750 offices have been closed down
(*) Ongoing procedure
2) Review of the Judicial Map
Progress achieved
6
I procedimenti civili pendenti sono calati dal 2009 del 15% (quasi 800.000 pratiche) con un tasso di riduzione più marcato per il contenzioso di Tribunale
3) Average length of civil cases and backlog:
CAGR = -3,9%
CAGR = -3,7%
CAGR= -4,7%
Historical data on pending civil cases shows a downward trend:from almost 6M at the end of 2009 to less than 4.5M as at 31 December2015, civil justice has shown some improvement over the past few years
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
The downward trend of pending cases has started to positively impact onthe disposal times for civil cases in first-instance Courts and in Courts ofAppeal.
2012 2014 2015
Total Court of Appeal 2 years and 10 months
2 years and 5 months
2 years and 3 months
Total civil cases in first-instance courts
1 year and 6 months
1 year and 4 months
1 year and 2 months
Trade disputes (first-instance courts)
3 years and 4 months
3 years and 3 months
3 years
Labor disputes 1 year and 9 months
1 year and 9 months
1 year and 9 months
=
3) Average length of civil cases and backlog
An exception to the above table is given by enforcement and bankruptcyactions whose average length has been on the increase in recent years,also due to the severe economic crisis of last years. Signs ofimprovements are expected in 2016.
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
Reduction of disposal times together with simplification of civil lawprocedures due to the reforms implemented over these years haveenabled Italy to move up in the “Enforcing contracts” ranking, anindicator measured by the World Bank in the Doing Business 2016Report.
4) Ranking in the Doing Business Report
160th ranking in DB2013
111th ranking in DB2016
Italy moved up 49
places in three years!
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1. Launch and implementation of the Digital Civil Trial
2. Reform of the civil trial with a view to introducing streamlining measures
3. Measures to speed up enforcement proceedings
4. Specialized Divisions on Business and Family matters
5. Reform of Insolvency proceedings
6. Introduction of legislative measures on ADR
Recent reforms
10
ResultsFeatures
The Digital Civil Trial
15,922,102 digital notices delivered over the last 12 months
Moving from paper to digital files
Access to the file with a smart card on the nation justice services portal
On line filing by lawyers and professionals
Better organisation of clerk offices
€ 55M estimated savings
Savings in terms of costs and efficiency
Information transparency and on line round the clock accessibility to digital files
Fewer queues at the office for users, clerks more focused on back office work
Adoption of more efficient work processes
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
The Digital Civil Trial
District
Average of days for issuance
November 2015
Comparison with the 12 previous
months
Catania 30 -29%Milan 28 -41%Naples 31 -38%Rome 23 -51%
The DCT has enormously speeded up the issuing of digital payment orders
12
164,507
566,411
Marzo 2014 - Febbraio 2015 Marzo 2015 - Febbraio 2016
Digital IT filing by lawyers and professionals
+ 401.904 = +244%
Monthly averages comparison
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Bill on the reform of Civil Trials
The organizational and legislative measures already undertaken require an extraordinary and systematic update of civil procedural laws. The aim of these interventions is:
Specialisation for family and personal matters
Increased competence of Business Courts
Speeding up civil proceedings
The principle of conciseness of documents
The streamlining of proceedings and appeal system
Speedier enforcement due to the enlargement of immediate enforceability of judgments
Adjusting the procedural provisions to the Digital Civil Trial
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1. Ancona2. L'Aquila3. Bari 4. Bologna 5. Bolzano6. Brescia7. Cagliari 8. Campobasso9. Catania10.Catanzaro11.Florence
12.Genoa 13.Milan14.Naples15.Palermo16.Perugia 17.Potenza18.Rome 19.Turin 20.Trento21.Trieste22. Venice
Business courts competent for international firms
Business CourtsThe Specialized Divisions on Business matters were introduced by Law no. 27/2012. These Divisions are distributed throughout the whole national territory, mainly on a regional basis.
15
The overall disposal rate of the business Court remains high showing high percentages inthe class within 12 months of filing. In the period 2012 to 2014, 80% of filed cases weredisposed of within 1 year.
2012 2013 2014 I sem 2015
Disposed cases
Length in Days
Disposed cases
Length in Days
Disposedcases
Length in Days
Disposedcases
Length in Days
Disposed by judgments 53 1.155 126 952 482 776 452 836
Disposed otherwise 351 206 2.825 163 3.590 224 2.142 263
TOTAL 404 331 2,951 196 4,072 290 2,594 363Dati estratti dal DWGC - Ultimo aggiornamento del sistema avvenuto il 3/8/2015
1,155952
776836
206 163 224263
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
Durata in GG Durata in GG Durata in GG Durata in GG
2012 2013 2014 I sem 2015
National length of disposed cases in Business courts
Disposed by judgment Disposed otherwise
Business Courts
80%
20%
2012-2014
< 1 year > 1 year
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New elements introduced in this field (Decree-Law 83/2015)
Insolvency proceedings
Remedy for the excessive recourse to the composition with creditorsrecorded in the previous years;
Financial restructuring agreements and standstill agreements may beconcluded with banks and financial intermediaries representing atleast 75% of the company's financial exposure (on the basis of theFrench sauvegarde financière accélérée).
Possibility of benefiting from the priority payment [pre-deduzione] inrelation to loans to companies in distress applying for thecomposition with creditors procedure.
Improving the competitiveness of the company in distress for thegreatest realization for creditors through the new institutions ofcompeting proposals of composition with creditors and competingoffers (also in this case drawing on the French experience).
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Innovations proposed by the Rordorf Commission
Insolvency proceedings
Comprehensive reform of insolvency procedures enabling the overall reshaping of the present law (dating back to 1942)
Deep change in culture and terminology, promoting the fresh-start Introduction of a warning procedure in order to avoid starting proceedings when it is
too late (on the basis of the French model) Providing for a discharge three years after the filing for insolvency Creation of a national electronic marketplace to promote the sale of stranded assets
to a larger population of potential buyers Revision of the composition with creditors’ procedure, basically limited to cases of
corporate restructuring Introduction of non-possessory securities to renew and update the security
instruments following the international model Measures for the transposition of international innovations in cross-border insolvency,
also in relation to the 2015 EU Regulation. Review of the map of the competent courts to hear insolvency cases according to
concentration and efficiency criteria. Review and coordination of the extraordinary administration procedure of large
companies in distress.
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Enhancement of ADR
Scope of Action of the Reform Leg. Decree 132/2014on dejudicialization
With the aim of tackling pending civil cases, the recent legislative chanes affected demand introducing and investing in some forms of out-of-court dispute settlement:
1) Referral to arbitration: arbitration possible also forpending cases, arbitration award is an enforceabletitle.
2) Negotiation assisted by legal counsel: out-of-courtsettlement procedure, the agreement reached is anenforceable title. Mandatory in some cases (notably,payment of sums under 50,000 euros), alwaysoptional
3) Mediation: the Government keeps focussing on thismeasure together with the newly introduced ones:always possible, the judge may delegate it. In somecases it is mandatory (notably condominiumlitigation, leases, rights in rem and neighbourdisputes). 19
The data show a great use of the new instruments, in particular in relation to separation anddivorce agreements which are possible without going to court or in the presence of theparties’ lawyers, or even without lawyers, at the City Hall, before the registrar.
0100200300400500600700800900
Janu
ray
Febr
uary
Mar
ch
April
May
June July
Augu
st
Sept
embe
r
Oct
ober
Nov
embe
r
Dece
mbe
r
2015
Separation and Divorce Agreements
TOTAL assisted negotiations (under Art.6)
TOTAL registrations before the registrar(under Art. 12)
Estimate of the national total = 10.000 agreements
2%
13%
7%
42%
34%
2%
Assisted negotiations Circulation of vehicles and boats
Sums up to € 50,000
Other cases
Termination of the effects of marriage
Change in the conditions of separation
Separation and Divorce agreements
Enhancement of ADR
20
The over 200.000 mediation procedures started in 2015 place us at the European leading positions by amounts of processed requests
154.879
41.604
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Requests for Mediation
60.810 Period of non mandatory mediation
179.587
204.894
Enhancement of ADR
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Actuals show that the numberof civil incoming cases inItalian courts decreased bysome 200,000 compared to2015 (a 10% decrease).
Also appeals decreased by10% in the same period.
1,947,538
1,851,029
1,748,384
1,600,000
1,650,000
1,700,000
1,750,000
1,800,000
1,850,000
1,900,000
1,950,000
2,000,000
2013 2014 2015
Incoming civil cases in courts(excluding tutelary, insolvency
and enforcement actions)
123,580
111,890111,967
106,000
108,000
110,000
112,000
114,000
116,000
118,000
120,000
122,000
124,000
126,000
2013 2014 2015
Incoming civil cases in Courts of Appeal
Effectiveness of the Reform process
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The Italian per capita litigation rate (first-instance civil litigation) is now in linewith the European average and, in particular, together with the French one, it isthe lowest rate among Latin countries.
2,6132,575
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
Cepej (data 2012) Incoming cases/100.000 inhabitants
Effectiveness of the Reform process
Average in surveyed countries2.602
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
Easy switch from ordinary to summaryproceedings (simpler instrument for noncomplex cases)
Streamlining and speeding up enforcementproceedings (mandatory IT entry in the registerof cases thus speeding up the procedure, digitalsearch of assets, monitoring enforcement andinsolvency procedures)
Changing the setting-off system of costs:(the losing party shall pay back the trial costs)
Penalizing overdue payments (considerableincrease in the interest rate for those who do notpay their debts)
Digital search of assets to be attached
Use of the digital payment order for fasterrecovery of claims
Other measures of the «Orlando» reform
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1. The datawarehouse of civil justice and the Strasbourg Program
2. Office for Trials
3. Common and Marketplace Project
Organizational measures and projects
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
The datawarehouse of civil justice and the Strasbourg Program
• The Ministry of Justice - DGStatistics – has implemented adatawarehouse system that cancollect a huge number of dataand events pertaining to millionsof civil cases heard every year inItalian courts and tribunals.
• The new DWGC system shallsupport legislative reforms andother decision-making processes.
Univocal criteria for extraction of data and univocal calculation measures
Integrated vision of data
Data traceability
Data history
Automatic generation of statistical reports
Creation of a dynamic and controlled environment for the generation of new reports
The datawarehouse system of civil justice (DWGC)
26
In-depth and detailed analysis ofpending civil case.
List of all Italian first-instance andappellate Courts analyzed through20 structure and performanceindicators.
Selective statistical reports (byyear and matters) of all the judicialOffices, mentioning the age ofpending civil cases.
www.giustizia.it
The datawarehouse of civil justice and the Strasbourg Program
The Strasbourg Program
27
Office for Trials
Skilled staff to support the work of judges and prosecutors to:
Assist them in the drafting of measures Support the technology innovation processes
Expected results:
Increased productivity of the judiciary Greater efficiency in the management of
hearings Improvement of the overall quality of hearings
In the offices where testing is under way, pending cases have decreased by almost 15%
The Minister assured scholarships for skilled staff.
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Comprehensive reform of Civil Trials
The organizational and legislative measures already undertaken require an extraordinary and systematic update of civil procedural laws. The aim of these interventions is:
Greater specialisation for family and personal matters
Increased competence of Business Courts
Streamlining of proceedings and appeal system
Introducing approaches to simplify the drafting of measures by judges and prosecutors and of documents by lawyers
Speedier enforcement due to the enlargement of immediate enforceability of judgments
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The problem
Demand crisis: lack of liquidity and difficulties in accessing credit (credit crunch)
Difficulties in the sale of movable and immovable property especially within bankruptcy procedure
Lengthening procedures and progressive decrease realizations (actual and expected)
A series of insolvencies
3) Common & Marketplace Project
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Meeting between Andrea Orlando & Jyrki Katainen
COMMON&
MARKETPLACE
• The project was developed by a commission of study called “Com.mon”, transformation ofdoubtful loans into purchasing power immediately spendable in insolvency sales,established at the Cabinet Office in August 2014.
• The Common Project intends to optimise supply conditions and support demand inbankruptcy sales.
• On the supply side, a single national digital market of all the assets sold in insolvencyprocedures is to be set up (Marketplace).
• The Marketplace will also function as a platform for the pricing of assets that can be paid intwo ways: in Euros and in Commons, the latter being a targeted currency that is convertibleunder the rules laid down by the project.
3) Common & Marketplace Project
The identified solution
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Thanks!