More than 100 court decisions were analysed from March to September 2020 in order to determine the quality of court decisions rendered in civil litigation proceedings in courts from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the aim of raising the quality of court decisions to a higher level and establishing clear standards for court decision drafting.

The findings of the analysis of the quality of court decisions were the topic of a video conference attended by members of the expert and project team for improving the quality of court decisions from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway and the Netherlands.

That was also the first systematic approach to assessing the quality of court decisions in the judicial system of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and it was performed by an expert team composed of experienced judges from higher instances such as the FBiH Supreme Court, the RS Supreme Court, the Appellate Division of the Court of BiH, the Appellate Court of the Brcko District BiH and cantonal courts, and judges from the Netherlands and Norway.

The purpose of the analysis of court decisions was to create an adequate training programme for all judges in BiH, which would be conducted within the entity judicial and prosecutorial training centres and based on manuals and guidelines for decision drafting in civil litigation process. The training programmes would contribute to establishing the quality standards, which would facilitate and harmonise the decision drafting in this field in all courts, as well as to enhancing the legal certainty.

The quality of drafting court decisions is of crucial importance in creating a positive public perception and building trust, which is why the HJPC BiH has been seeking to establish mechanisms that will help judges improve the quality of their work.

The activity was implemented under the Improving Judicial Quality Project, with the support of the Government of Norway and in cooperation with the Norwegian National Courts Administration and the Council for the Judiciary of the Netherlands.