The Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic

History

The Report of the European Commission Expert Mission and the Slovak Ministry of Home Affairs of November 1997 stated, that one of the basic problems of the Slovak judiciary was ‘nonexistence of the judicial self-governance and – opposite - its total dependence of the executive power.‘ Based on this, an amendment of the Constitution of the Slovak Republic was approved, where the principle of judicial independence and the separation of its administration from other state bodies were stipulated.
 
The amendment of the Constitution and creation of the Judicial Council resulted in a significant change concerning the position of the general courts of the Slovak Republic. Based on the constitutional change, in the extent specified by law, also the judicial self-governance bodies - the councils of judges - are involved in the management and administration of the courts; the conditions on appointment, removal, transfer of judges are defined.
 
The constitutor stated that the integration of the Judicial Council into the Chapter 7 of the Constitution highlights its independent position from the legislative and executive power and means the real fulfilment of the constitutional principal of independence and the separation of the judicial power administration from other state bodies.
 
Art. 141a of the Constitution concerning the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic was inserted by the constitutional act No. 90/2001 Coll. coming into effect on 1 June 2001.
On 11 April 2002, the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved the Act No. 185/2002 Coll. on the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic as amended.
 

Basic info

The Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter only “the Judicial  Council”) is an independent constitutional body of  judicial legitimacy that ensures the independent position and public control  of the judiciary.

The competences of the Judicial Council are defined in the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and in the Act No. 185/2002 Coll. on the Judicial Council of the Slovak Republic.