Findex II
This 2-years project was proposed to the European Commission (DG Justice) and was accepted in October 2021. It will be carried out from March 2022 to February 2024. The project is Co-funded by the European Union.
The project is based on the following statement: Although judicial experts play an indispensable role in civil and criminal justice, there is no common definition of «Judicial expert» (also called «expert witness» or «forensic expert») across Europe. As courts rely on the results of the expert opinions when rendering their decision, it is of crucial importance for a fair and effective justice in Europe that experts giving evidence in courts meet basic professional principles such as independence, impartiality and integrity as well as high level of professional standards and competence.
Another essential aspect is the possibility for courts and parties to select the “right” expert, i.e. the one that will be able to answer the raised questions in a given case quickly and efficiently.
In order to enhance and converge these aspects throughout Europe, EEEI and EuroExpert, both major European actors in the field of expertise propose to work on:
– A common understanding of expertise and the use of experts in the judicial field,
– Convergence of nomenclatures, i.e. the lists of expertise fields or disciplines,
– Requirements of a future IT-search tool for expert.
The pilot Member States are: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland and Romania
The project is divided into 6 major Work Packages. One of the highlights will be the consensus conference which will take place in a European city in spring 2023, where the essential aspects that will have been developed will be discussed in order to find a consensus.
The project’s major outputs will be:
1. A definition of the minimum criteria for a person to qualify as a “judicial expert”, in terms of competence, specific knowledge on procedural rules and ethics;
2. A list of standards to be met by bodies in charge of keeping experts’ directories in each Member State;
3. Convergence ways between the nomenclatures of experts’ specialities of the Member States, up to the definition of a process allowing the existence and maintenance of a common nomenclature for the fields of expertise at EU level;
4. A demo IT-tool based on 6 pilot Member States in order to interconnect national lists and to implement a European search engine for judicial experts, including a business plan proposal to ensure the sustainability of the tool and the project.
Follow-up Findex II
Kick-off meeting in Brussels 2022
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.