As part of the project “Supporting the establishment of unified court practice in the Macedonian legal system” implemented by the CLRA and supported by the British Embassy Skopje, a Working group for amending the current Law on Courts was established
The working group was established with cooperation with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia, after the conclusion of a previous Project activity – 2 day workshop “Model and Method of development of unified court practice”. The Working group had a meeting on 18 April 2016 at the Supreme Court. Part of the Working group were: Judge Lidija Nedelkova, President of the Supreme Court, Judge Lidija Taseva and Judge Kiro Zdravev from the Supreme Court, Judge Nadica Andreeva and Judge Zoran Dimitrievski from the Appeal Court – Skopje, Judge Sande Zikov from Basic Civil Court in Skopje and professor Gordana Buzarovska from the Faculty of Law “Justinianus Primus” in Skopje
The Working group worked on proposing amandments to the current Law on Courts with the purposes of creating an enabling legal environment for incorporating court practice.
The Draft Law amending the Law on Courts that is the output of the Working group is in accordance with the various laws that the Parliament has adopted in recent years which provide for monitoring and straightforward application of the practice, views and opinions of the European Court of Human Rights.
The proposed amendments to the Law on Courts regulate the consistency in the work and decision making by the courts, the uniform application of the law by the courts the simplified application of the European Convention on human rights and freedoms by the courts in the country, as well as citizens by protecting the rights guaranteed in the courts of the Republic of Macedonia. Also, the amendments increase the legal predictability and legal certainty for citizens of Macedonia arising from decisions of courts. The amendments aim to the full application of the Article 101 of the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, which provides that the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as the highest court is to ensure uniformity in the implementation of laws by the courts.
The purpose of the Draft amendments of the Law on Courts is to provide greater transparency and legal certainty in the work of judges and legal predictability and legal certainty for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. The amendments also have a purpose of ensuring the full respect and implementation of the constitutional jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in terms of ensuring a uniform application of laws and providing consistent jurisprudence of the courts in the Republic of Macedonia and to allow greater respect and application of the European Convention on human rights and freedoms by citizens and the courts in their daily work.