Scope of authority of the President of NOJ and
the central administrative supervision of the National Judicial Council (NJC)

The beginnings of the operation of a self-governing system of the courts

The justice system created by the reform of 1997, which entrusted the National Council of Justice (NCJ) as a self-governing body with the administration of courts, is a novel and unique formationin Europe. Given its unprecedented functionning in the ’90s its formation and method of functioning needed several revisions on the way of improvement.

From 1997 to 2011

Over the years of operation it turned out that as a natural consequence of the formational setting of (management performed by a body) the decisions of the NCJ have more likely been influenced by particular interests and only low operability could be achieved: problems that had to be addressed swiftly could remain unsolved for moths. This is why the new regulations introduced on 1 January 2011 and on 1 March 2011 deprived NCJ as a body of many of its rights and delegated them into the competence of the president of NCJ. By this delegation of competences 16-20 new rights were added to the original 7-10 rights of the president of NCJ.

New self-government formations in 2012

The newrules coming into effect on January 1st, 2012 introduced a new self-government system anddivided the powers formarly belonging to NCJ and between two newly established judicial organs. From then onthe tasksof central administration of courts are performed by the President of the National Office for the Judiciary (NOJ) supported by deputies and the Office. The administrative work of the NOJ’s President is supervised by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The President of NOJ shall keep the competences of the president of the National Judicial Council, and further rights are also vested on the president in order to secure operability. To mention some of the latter, the right to issue regulations, resolutions and recommendations is a right usually exercised by the heads of the institutions with a national scope of competence. The president of NOJ shall bear a serious personal responsibility for the central administration and for its effective operation, i.e. to perform the president's duties – as enshrined in the Act of Parliament – with due regard to the constitutional principle of judicial independence. The president of NOJ shall perform the work under serious control:

• The president shall provide for the publicity of the administration of the courts and the related decision-making. 
• The president is under an obligation of publication and notification in respect of decisions of the president of NOJ, regulations, recommendations and reports.
• Between the rules of termination of the mandate also prevails the corporative control. The deprival of office of the president of NOJ may be initiated at the Parliament by NJC with its resolution adopted by two-third majority vote. 
• The  customary  control  over  the  person  responsible  for  a  budgetary  heading.
• The president shall ensure the rights of the advocacy organisations.

• only  with  respect  to  new  cases received  by  the  court,  

• only  upon  a  motion  taken  within  15  days  upon  receipt, 

• only upon the motion of the court (or upon the motion of the General Prosecutor in criminal cases), 

• on  the  basis  of  specific  data  on  the  number  of  cases,  staff  number  etc., 

• upon requesting the opinion of the concerned court (the General Prosecutor). 

The decision of the president of the NOJ may be appealed by the concerned parties, what is adjudged by the Curia.

• Obligation of providing information 

• The  president  shall  inform  the  NJC  on  her  activities  on  a  half  year  basis 

• The  president  shall  inform  annually  the  presidents  of  the  Curia,  of  the  high courts and of the tribunals 

• The president shall report to the Parliament annually on the general situation of 

• The courts and on the administrative activities of the courts and once in between annual reports to the Parliamentary Committee of the Judiciary.

• Appointment of court executives

In the appointment of court executives, the right of the judicial bodies to form an opinion on the appointment remains unchanged. Some of the court executives shall be appointed by the president of NOJ, while a much larger part of executives shall be appointed by the presidents of high courts and of tribunals.  

The  powers  of  the  bodies  forming  an  opinion  remain  intact  with  regard  to  all  executive appointments. Indeed, the rights of the president of NOJ are more limited than the powers of the presidents of high courts and of tribunals. The president of NOJ has to obtain the advance opinion of NJC, if she would like to appoint an executive who had not received the majority of  the  votes  of  the  body  forming  an  opinion  on  the  appointment. The  president  of  the  NOJ shall – at  the  same  time  as  the  appointment – provide  a  written  notification  to  the  NJC  and present  the  reasons  of  the  decision  on  the  next  session  of  NJC,  in  the  case  of  appointing another person than the one proposed by the body providing an opinion. 

The system of applications court executive posts will remain unchanged: The applicants shall refer to his/her long-distance plans and the way of realization concerning the operation of the division in question. 

The president of the NOJ may propose to initiate legislation in the interest of legislation affecting the courts.

The central administrative supervisory rights of National Judicial Council

The NJC has the central administrative supervisory rights regarding to the president of the NOJ as follows: 

• Supervising the central administrative activity of the president of NOJ, and making a notification as necessary
• Making a proposal to the president of NOJ on initiating legislation affecting the courts
• Forming an opinion on the regulations and recommendations issued by the president of NOJ
• Approves the rules of procedure of the service court and publish it on the central website.
• Forming an opinion on the proposal on the budget of the heading and on the report on the implementation of the budget
• Forming an opinion on the detailed conditions and the amount of other benefits
• Expresses a preliminary opinion on persons nominated as President of the NJO and President of the Curia on the basis of a personal interview,
• Determines the principles to be applied by the President of the NJO and the President of the Curia when adjudicating the applications in the context of using their power to award a position to the applicant in the second or third position in the rankings,
• Have the right of consent in the adjudication of applications where the President of the NJO or the President of the Curia wishes to award a position to the applicant in the second or third position in the rankings,
• Exercises the right of consent regarding the appointment of court leaders who did not receive the approval of the reviewing board 
• Publishing annually its opinion on the relevant practice of the president of NOJ and of the Curia regarding the assessment of the applications for judiciary posts, and court executive positions, may awarding honorary titles etc., on the initiative of the president of NOJ 
• Performing checks related to the property declarations of judges
• Deciding  on  the  repeated  appointment  of  certain  executives,  if  the  office  has already been filled by the applicant two times
• Forming an advance opinion on the application for an executive post, if the president of NOJ or the Curia would like to defer from the majority opinion of the body that has formed an opinion on the appointment
• Forming an opinion on the rules pertaining to the training system of judges and to the performance of the training obligation.
• The member of NJC may observe the documents related to the operation of NOJ and the president of NOJ, and may request data and information from the president of NOJ 
• The deprival of office of the president of NOJ may be initiated by NJC