This annual meeting brought together representatives from the Arab judicial inspection services, Egyptian, Moroccans, Tunisians, Lebanese, Palestinians and European, Italian, Spanish, Belgians, Portuguese and French to exchange best practices and inspection techniques.

The Conference was opened by Mr Abdallah Hammoud, President of ARNJIS and Inspector General of Judicial Affairs of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Mr Stéphane Noel, President of the European Network of Judicial Inspection Services (RESIJ) and Inspector General of Justice in France.

This event focused on practical case studies that provided an opportunity to discuss issues common to judicial inspection services. Participants thus discussed investigative techniques, the various sanctions available, but also, the different approaches to tackling certain complex issues: negligence or delays justified by the complexity of a case, performance assessment with or without quantitative and qualitative indicators of their work, compliance with procedures and the necessary judicial time whilst taking into account the expectations of justice users, and the limits of judicial independence with regard to professional conduct. Based on these examples, the various inspectors present shared or confronted their methods for resolving these issues.

Following several years of cooperation, ARNJIS and RESIJ signed a joint declaration with a view to ‘(…) establishing long-lasting relationships, contributing to the continuous improvement of their practices and the consolidation of an expanded network of professionals from the judicial inspectorates in their respective regions’.

The activity is organised with the support of the joint European Union-Council of Europe programme “Strengthening the Euro-Mediterranean legal space for shared prosperity and human security” (South Programme VI), co-financed by the two organisations and implemented by the Council of Europe.