History

The Hungarian Constitution created the National Council of Justice (50.§ (4) Art of the Constitution) as a constitutional organisation to reinforce of the independence of justice. It started its activities in 1997 and its basic regulation is the Act No. 66. of 1997 on the organisation and administration of the Courts.

Tasks

According to Article 34. of Act 66. of 1997. the „National Council of Justice shall fulfill the central duties of administration of courts with the observation of the constitutional principle of judicial independence and exercise supervision of the administrative activities of the presidents of the courts of appeal and the county courts.”

In order to reinforce the independence of the judiciary, the National Council of Justice is a fully independent legal entity, with its own, by the Parliament approved budget, the proposal which is submitted directly to the Parliament by its President, without the consent of the Government. The Council has been established with regard to the basic principle of independence of the judiciary, and therefore holding in the center the clear separation of the legislative, judicial and executive powers. Consequently, the National Council of Justice is not - and must not be - in any kind of subordinate position to the executive, i.e. the Government. According to the law, neither the Government, nor the Ministry of Justice has any competence or responsibility toward the judiciary.

The most important functions of the Council are:
- to appoint and relieve the presidents and vice-presidents of the reginonal court of appeals; the court of appeals (the county courts), as well as the heads of judicial colleges and the head and the deputy head of its own Office;
- to make recommendations to the President of the Republic on the nomination or relieve of judges;
- to prepare and submit to the Parliament its proposal for the next annual budget in respect of the Chapter of the Justice;
- to be responsible for the implementation of the separate chapter of the National Budget as adopted by the Parliament (includes salaries, costs of functioning and maintaining the courts and their administration, as well as investments in buildings and technologie);
- to guide and oversee the administrative activities of the presidents of courts;
- to excersise the central duties of training of judges;
- to excercise its employer’s and personal authority as stipulated in the law;
- to specify the basic principles underlying the organisational and operating rules and regulations of the courts;
- to perform and organize the central duties related to the collection and processing of judicial statistical datas;
- to arrange the legal representation of the courts;
- to manage the activities of the Office of the National Council of Justice.

The National Council of Justice excercises its activities and adopts its resolutions in meetings, convened at least once a month. The meetings are convened and chaired by the President.

Within the National Council of Justice and under its administration an Office has been established, whose task is basically to prepare the meetings of the Council, to implement its decisions, as well as to control the execution thereof. The Office, which is practically the executive organ of the Council, is an economically independent budgetary unit, falling under the scope of the Treasury.

The Office of the National Council of Justice commenced its operation on the 1st February of 1998. The Head of the Office is a professional judge, appointed for indefinitive time.

Relations between the Council, Courts and the Ministry of Justice

In order to reinforce the independence of the judiciary, the National Council of Justice is a fully independent legal entity, with its own, by the Parliament approved budget, the proposal which is submitted directly to the Parliament by its President, without the consent of the Government. The Council has been established with regard to the basic principle of independence of the judiciary, and therefore holding in the center the clear separation of the legislative, judicial and executive powers. Consequently, the National Council of Justice is not - and must not be - in any kind of subordinate position to the executive, i.e. the Government. According to the law, neither the Government, nor the Ministry of Justice has any competence or responsibility toward the judiciary.

Composition of the Council

The National Council of Justice has 15 members; the President of the Supreme Court is ex officio its president; the Council has 9 judge members, who are elected for 6 years by the judiciary through delegates; another three members, the Minister of Justice, the Chief Public Prosecutor, the President of the National Bar Association, and two additional members of the Parliament, appointed by the Constitutional and Judicial Commisson, as well as the Budget and Financial Commission respectively, are ex officio members of the Council.

Any judge with at least 5 years of judicial practice is eligible to be a member of the National Council of Justice. The elector delegates are elected at the full meeting of the Supreme Court, the plenary session of judges of the courts of appeal and the county courts, by the majority of the votes of the judges attending. The 9 judge-members of the National Council of Justice are elected secretly by the meeting of the delegates of the judges from among the delegates, by a majority of the votes. Simultaneously with the election of the 9 judge members, the meeting of the delegates shall also elect 9 alternate members.

The Council has its seat in Budapest. The persons working for the Council at the Office of the National Council of Justice are 147.

Matters of Interest

1. - To reinforce and improve the constitutionally embedded prestige and weight of the judicial branch, to be adequate with its dignity and importance, to renew the confidence in the judiciary, to restore and reinforce the reputation of the justice and judges themselves;
2. - To improve the professional standard, the timeliness and the effectiveness of the judicial work, including the promotion of the conceptual directive activities of the Supreme Court;
3. - To improve the material conditions of the courts, to assert the rightful budgetary claims of the judiciary, secured by an automatism in accordance with the actual economic situation;
4. - To increase the role of the National Council of Justice – in accordance with the Law on the Organisation and Administration of the Courts – in the central administration of the courts, to inform the General Public on the activities of the Council. (Brief of the decision of the NCJ, N° 83/2004.)

One of the most important projects of the Council is the establishment of the National Judicial Academy. The National Judicial Academy will start to work on 1st of September of 2006.

Documents

Act No. 66. of 1997 on the organisation and administration of the Courts (EN)