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Interview

Man of the Law
President of the High Commercial Court of Serbia, Radomir Lazarević

In order for the Serbian economy to operate in an efficient manner, it is exceptionally important that all fictitious and illiquid companies are eliminated and that the “market game” is played in accordance with the relevant rules.

By CorD

During the last seven years, commercial courts have made a transition from the weakest link in the system to the most efficient and fastest one. When it comes to the economy, time is money.

The commercial court system in Serbia is celebrating two centuries of existence. The President of the High Commercial Court of Serbia, Radomir Lazarević is considered a great reformist of pro-Western inclination. He says that he is a man of the law and that he doesn’t like being labelled, just as he doesn’t like people telling him how to do his job.

For years, after every election in Serbia, the reformation of our justice system and the re-election of judges have been on everybody’s mind. Do you expect the new Government and Parliament to undertake serious changes in the justice system? And if so, how would these changes affect the principle of continuity for judges as outlined in the Serbian Constitution?
According to the Serbian Constitution, the position of a judge is a permanent one. The conditions for the termination of this position are regulated by law. Of course, after every election, there is a discussion about which judge is going to be re-elected and whether somebody is going to be replaced. I have been a judge for over thirty years and have been re-elected on several occasions, since the position of judge was not a permanent one. Back then, at the end of his or her eight-year term, each judge was assessed very critically on his or her performance and efficiency before being re-elected.
Today, judges can only be removed from their positions if they are proven to have broken the law. The division of power between judges and the legislative and executive branches of government ensure that each sector keeps the other in check. Lustration (the political cleansing of former officials) had to happen immediately after October 5th. The term itself still exists, but I think that it’s the wrong one. When the society undergoes core changes, like our society did when it went from socialism to capitalism, the behaviour of all aspects has to be harmonized with the new system of values, and this also applies to courts in these transitional times. Of course, some personnel changes will happen among the judiciary and I really believe that such changes are necessary. Serbia is not rich enough to pay the judges who are not doing their job properly, efficiently or to a high enough standard.

The reform of our court and judicial system has been lasting for years. The implementation of the laws on setting up new courts and changing jurisdiction has been constantly delayed since 2003. We still don’t have any cassation, appeals or administrative courts.
These are not legal problems, but the issue here is lack of political will rather than technical problems. In order to set up all these courts, we need buildings, judges and additional court staff, which are all very important for the proper functioning of any court. This section of reforms is set to be finished by the beginning of 2009.
The budget is defined by the law, and we, as the society, cannot spend more than we have. Of course we need bridges and court buildings, and the priorities are set according to how much money is coming in. So everything depends on the economy which brings funds to the budget.

The Government announced that many procedures are going to be simplified, or as Minister Dinkić put it, at least one third of all current regulation, primarily that which concerns economic law, is going to be abolished.
It goes without saying that all regulation which has been approved by the Parliament or passed by the Government and hasn’t been put into practice so far needs to be changed. I especially endorse changing those specific laws that are stalling our economic development. The law on bankruptcy is an exceptionally important law, and much better than the previous one. Application of this law leads to heightened responsibility for a economic actors and procedural bodies. The deadlines have been cut drastically short. What is important is that, according to the new law, not everybody can be involved in bankruptcy procedures, since licences are now issued for bankruptcy administrators. This is one of many positive changes for our society. There isn’t a single law that can regulate every kind of relation. Whatever proves to be defective about this law, whatever could be done better or more efficiently, will be changed. There is a proposal for changes and supplements to be made to the law on bankruptcy.

In your opinion, what is the weak spot of the Serbian judicial system?
I think that our judicial system needs to be heard when laws are passed. The Commission in the Justice Ministry is preparing a new Law on Administrative Procedures, since the current one is lacking in certain things. If it happens that, after a legally binding ruling has been made, a debtor cannot pay his liabilities to the creditor, then something is not working in this instance - the ruling is ineffective. So, what we need to do is to remove all obstacles which are preventing the ruling being applied, and the whole procedure needs to be sped up.

The public often criticizes courts for being too slow.
I am not saying this because I am the President of the High Commercial Court, but commercial courts have been the most efficient part of the country’s court system thus far. The statistics and analysis of 17 commercial courts in Serbia, and the High Court, show this. We are doing our job in a fast and efficient manner. We would have worked even better and faster if certain conditions had been met. First of all, we don’t have enough judges, or court staff, or the money for that matter. Not a single judge in a commercial court in Serbia has been elected in the last two and a half years, and even worse, not a single judge who is due to retire, has been relieved of his duty. This means that they are still performing their duties, although, according to the law, they cannot do so. Now that we have the new Parliament, I expect that this obligation of electing new and relieving old judges of their duty will be carried out this autumn.

Judges are increasingly frequently complaining of low salaries but only court administration staff have been on strike this year.
Courts and judges cannot perform their tasks without good quality court administration. The salaries of the administrative staff are not sufficient enough to cover basic living costs. After the strike, their salaries have been somewhat increased, but I am advocating further increase in line with the current situation with the budget.

There are quite a few cases in commercial courts involving foreign companies. How protected or privileged is the state or the state-owned companies in such cases? Have there been situations of a judge being called up when somebody is suing the state?
All legal parties have the same treatment in front of courts in Serbia. I claim that there is no pressure or influence exerted by executive authorities on court proceedings. Nobody is privileged because he or she represents the state, or a local community, or a public enterprise. Even during the socialist times, it was unthinkable for somebody from the Committee or a Ministry to call up the judge and order him to do something. The vast majority of judges act in accordance with the law, and their conscience. I have never had the experience of somebody calling me up ordering me to give a specific ruling. After all, 80% of the rulings by the High Commercial Court are verified by the Supreme Court, which is an exceptionally high percentage.

Commercial courts are the first courts in the country whose rulings could be viewed on the Internet.
Since 2004, thanks to a generous help from the USAID through their CCASA project, commercial courts have started to become computerized. All courts are now connected via a network and we have a special statistical programme which processes data. Thanks to this project, I, as the President of the High Court, am given the opportunity to have 24-hour insight into the workings of different courts. I can see whether a judge has had 15 summons or none at all, which would show that he hadn’t been prepared for that day. Or I can see if rulings haven’t been made within a legal deadline. That gives me a chance to ask any colleague for an explanation why the deadlines were not met.
Our clients reacted to this system really well, while certain judges were somewhat fearful. We are advocating transparency and providing objective information about the work that our courts do and this is the best possible way to go about it. The fact that we have been given an award by the Republic Commisisoner for Information of Public Importance proves that we’ve been successful. Last year, the High Court was given this recognition by Mr. Rodoljub Šabić, which was the first time ever that a court has been awarded for its transparency, providing of information and public relations.

Some were suggesting that commercial courts needed to be abolished.
This year, the Serbian commercial court system celebrates its 200th anniversary. One of the first judges back in 1808 was our great reformist, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. During this long tradition, they have justified their existence and I think that we should think along the lines of how to improve their work, and not how to abolish them. It is a great recognition of our work when foreign investors cite the jurisdiction of our first-degree commercial courts in contracts they conclude.