As part of the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Cooperation Framework 2015-2017, two study visits on efficiency and quality of justice for representatives of European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) pilot courts and justice stakeholders from Azerbaijan and Republic of Moldova were carried out on 9-12 May 2016 (Republic of Estonia) and 24-26 May (Republic of Slovenia and Republic of Croatia).

Representatives of the Moldovan and Azeri pilot courts and other justice sector stakeholders visited the ministries of justice, judicial self-governing bodies and training institutions, supreme courts, appellate and first instance courts of the host countries. The participants were familiarised with the organisation of the judicial systems, mandates and composition of authorities involved in judicial administration, peculiarities of judicial training etc. The focus of the visits was on recent legislative, institutional and organisational reforms implemented in the visited countries for the purpose of improving the efficiency and quality of justice as a public service. In particular, the participants were presented such solutions and good practices as:

• the Estonian modern court and case management information systems, integrated with the relevant national registers (Court Information System, E-File, E-Business etc.), a project which received a special mention at the 2014 Crystal Scales of Justice Awards ceremony, as well as the digital payment order procedure (for small claims);
• revision and rationalisation between 2006 and 2016 of the court network of Croatia, on the basis of objective criteria and performance indicators;
• implementation of the Judicial Data Warehouse and Performance Dashboards under the aegis of the Supreme Court of Slovenia, initiative which also received a special mention at the 2012 Crystal Scales of Justice Awards ceremony etc.

*The study visits were conducted under the Projects "Support to Increased Efficiency of Courts, Improved Training of Judges and Judicial Self-governance in Azerbaijan" and "Strengthening the efficiency of justice and support to lawyer’s profession in the Republic of Moldova", which are part of the CoE/EU Eastern Partnership Programmatic Cooperation Framework 2015-2017, financed by the European Union and implemented by the Council of Europe.