On 16.-18. April 2018 the delegation from the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic led by its President Daniela Švecová attended the 13th Meeting of the Permanent Conference of the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of the Visegrad countries, Croatia and Slovenia. This year’s meeting held in Visegrad was organized by the Curia of Hungary as a part of its Presidency of the Visegrad group.
The participating delegations consisting mainly of the Presidents of the invited Supreme Courts and the Presidents of their Departments discussed on two topics: the filtering systems for review petitions in civil cases and the transposition and implementation of EU Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“Directive”). The discussion on the first topic concerned the filtration in appeals procedure in civil cases in order to reduce the burden placed on the Supreme Courts and to strengthen their function as the unifiers of the decision making practice. It was emphasized that the Supreme Courts as the bodies designed to deal with legal and not factual issues shall principally rule on the matters of fundamental legal importance. The President of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic focused in her contribution on the admissibility of the appeal on points of law in civil and commercial proceedings under the new Code of Contentious Civil Procedure. She has also mentioned that the number of cases brought before the court has a decreasing tendency since 2015, which is partly the consequence of the newly implemented filtering mechanisms.
The second part of the session was dedicated to the level of the Directive implementation and the potential stricter precautions introduced in some legal orders. The participants also discussed on criminal consequences of the money laundering and terrorist financing and the means of sanctioning such behaviour in criminal legal provisions in particular countries. The host of the meeting, the President of the Curia of Hungary Péter Darák, suggested in his closing remarks a prospect of deeper cooperation through exchange programs between the courts, which idea was warmly welcomed by the meeting participants.
The Permanent Conference of the Presidents of the Supreme Courts of the Visegrad countries, Croatia and Slovenia is a communication platform established in 2002. The Presidents of the Supreme Courts have met for the first time in Brno, Czech Republic. This event is an expression of the participating countries’ endeavours to advance the common interests discussion built on the shared cultural, intellectual and religious grounds along with furthering integration of these countries in the EU.
Communication Department