“With the draft Amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act (ESA), currently in a public hearing, the Ministry of Justice has opted to continue advancing and using IT solutions“, State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilić stated at today’s conference “Efficient and Just Enforcement: Harmonising the Practice in light of the Upcoming Amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act” which was organised under the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Rule of Law Project. He mentioned two key novelties: an electronic sale of real-estate and moveable property, and an electronic notice board. “The key novelties concern the socio-economic components: restricting the sale of real-estate to claims of up to 5,000 EUR in the so-called utility cases, and lowering the salary and pension benefits which may be subject to enforcement“, the State Secretary explained.
The State Secretary added that in the previous two years, in line with the general trend and the strategic goal of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, a large part of USAID’s support to the Ministry of Justice fit into the ICT strategy of the judiciary, noting that USAID had been a longstanding partner of the Ministry, promoting the rule of law in Serbia. As he explained, the relationship between the Ministry of Justice and USAID had been characterised by the successful implementation of planned activities with concrete, measurable and long-lasting effects in terms of legal security, predictability and equality.
Assistant Administrator for the USAID’s Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Brock Bierman highlighted that the enforcement of judgments remained key to the exercise of fundamental human rights and to laying the foundation of an efficient economic growth. “Judicial reform will have no meaning if a judicial proceeding ends in a non-enforceable decision. Investors and entrepreneurs in Serbia and abroad when deciding where to invest, they look for timely, effective and predictable contracts which may be enforced as well as dispute resolution. USAID has, thus, been supporting all actors in the public enforcement sector with the key role in making the enforcement system effective and efficient.
Acting President of the Supreme Court of Cassation Dragomir Milojević stressed that backlog, particularly in enforcement civil law cases, had been one of the most pressing issues in Serbia’s judiciary for quite some time. He said that it was clear that the overdue enforcement proceedings – a serious systemic problem – went beyond the justice system, and that it was necessary for all government bodies to review it in its entirety.