EU Justice Ministers will try to reach a general approach on Monday 7 June, on the regulation that aims to transfer the management of the e-CODEX IT system to the EU Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), as of July 2023 (see EUROPE 12614/12).
Currently, the e-CODEX system (‘e-Justice Communication via Online Data Exchange’) is in fact run by a consortium of Member States and other organisations and is funded by an EU grant. The regulation aims to ensure a sustainable legal framework for the system by entrusting its management to eu-LISA.
The compromise text of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, which will be submitted to the ministers and of which EUROPE has received a copy, validates this transfer of management, but specifies that “the Regulation does not contain rules on the mandatory use of the e-CODEX system”.
It nevertheless recognises that “the e-CODEX system should be viewed as the preferred solution for an interoperable, secure and decentralised communication network between national IT systems in cross-border judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters”.
eu-LISA’s governance structure allows for the involvement of Member States in the management of the system through participation in the Agency’s Management Board, Advisory Groups and Programme Management Boards.
However, the Presidency text has introduced additional safeguards for the independence of the judiciary as regards the functioning of the e-CODEX system, by expressly providing for oversight of the system by the Programme Management Board, to be established by 1 January 2023.
According to the text, this body should ensure that all measures taken by eu-LISA concerning the e-CODEX system guarantee, in particular, the independence of the judiciary. This provision should notably prevent eu-Lisa from defunding or taking resources away from the e-CODEX system for the benefit of other projects.
The term of office of the members of the Programme Management Board is renewable, but the text also stresses that due consideration should be given to the representation of different Member States on the Programme Management Board in order to ensure the participation of all Member States over time.
The text further specifies that stakeholders and experts, including members of the judiciary, legal practitioners and professional organisations that are affected by the e-CODEX system, should be involved in eu-LISA’s work.
The Portuguese Presidency has made this issue one of its priorities. An ad hoc working group on the e-CODEX Regulation was set up in the EU Council in February to make rapid progress (see EUROPE 12650/32).
The rapid adoption of this text is all the more important as implementing acts will have to be drafted and adopted before the actual transfer of the management of the system and eu-LISA will have to ensure that it has the necessary resources and staff for this new task, Lisbon stresses.
See the compromise text: https://bit.ly/3g1Q7iu (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)