Judiciary independence still not guaranteed, says Transparency Intl

Budapest, March 23 (MTI) - The amendment to the law on the justice system recently submitted to parliament fails to completely guarantee the independence of Hungary s judiciary, Transparency International (TI) said in a statement on Friday.

"Whereas the proposed provisions represent a modest step forward in comparison with the current rules, the proposal still leaves problems unresolved which affect the whole of the judicial system," the global civil society organisation s Hungarian chapter said in a statement.

The strengthening of the scope of authority of the National Council of Judges (OBT), which supervises the central administration of the courts, with the intention of restricting the judicial duties of the head of the National Courts Office (OBH), who currently enjoys "unprecedented powers", will nevertheless be unable to block the OBH s head from naming judges or from stopping "voluntary reassignments", the TI statement said.

The selection of the head of the OBH was still not insulated from political influence, TI said, adding that whereas the office s head must take into consideration the recommendation of the OBT when it comes to reassigning judges to cases, the final decision nonetheless remains the gift of the OBH head.

The amendment which sought to address concerns about the independence of the country s courts raised by the Council of Europe and its expert advisory body, the Venice Commission, also fell short in terms of providing anti-graft assurances, TI said.

The transparency of the justice system is endangered by the fact that neither the OBH head s decrees nor the job applications of judges are in the public domain. Rules of appropriate complaints procedures and the investigations of reports which are in the public interest are also missing, TI said. At present it is unclear what can be done if an attempt is made to sway a ruling or if suspicions of corruption are raised, the statement added.