The board and the Court Assembly of the Joint Court of Justice have officially adopted the Code
of Case Allocation.
This code contains the principles and directives for the allocation of cases within the Court,
aiming to ensure transparency, legal certainty and a balanced distribution of the workload
among the judges. The adoption of this code underlines the Court’s intention to strive for a
meticulous and transparent judicial organization.
The objective of case allocation, as established in the Code of Case Allocation, is to safeguard
that cases are allocated to judges based on objective criteria. This contributes to impartiality,
expertise and timely processing of cases. The code has been drawn up to meet international
requirements, including case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
The main components of the code are:
- Objective criteria:
Allocation of cases must be based on clear, objective criteria instead of on arbitrariness or
personal preference. - Impartiality:
The allocation procedure must ensure that judges are impartial and do not have any conflict of
interest when treating a case. - Expertise:
Allocation must take into account the specific expertise of judges, so that cases are allocated to
the most appropriate judge. - Timeliness:
The allocation procedure must ensure that cases are allocated to a judge as soon as possible, in
order to promote timely processing.
The Code of Case Allocation is intended to serve as a supplement to existing legislation and
regulations that safeguard the core values of the judiciary, such as independence, impartiality
and integrity. It is an important instrument to enhance trust in the judiciary.
The Code of Case Allocation may be consulted as from today on the website of the Joint Court
of Justice, under News / Publications / Code of Case Allocation.