EVALUATION AND FITNESS CHECK (FC) ROADMAP

title of the evaluation/fc

Interim evaluation of the Justice Programme (2014-2020)

lead dg – responsible unit

DG JUST

04 Programme management unit

date of this roadmap

03 / 2017

type of evaluation

Evaluation

Interim

Internal

planned start date

planned completion date

Q1 / 2017

Q2 / 2018

Planning calendar

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-regulation/evaluation/index_en.htm

This indicative roadmap is provided for information purposes only and is subject to change.

A. Purpose

(A.1) Purpose

The interim evaluation report shall assess the achievements of the Programme's objectives, the efficiency of the use of resources and the Programme's European added value with a view to determining whether funding in areas covered by the Programme should be renewed, modified or suspended after 2020. It shall also address the scope for any simplification of the Programme, its internal and external coherence, including synergies with other EU programmes and funds, and the continued relevance of all objectives and actions. It shall take into account the results of the ex-post evaluations of the three preceding 2007-2013 programmes (Civil Justice Programme, Criminal Justice Programme and Drugs Prevention and Information Programme).

(A.2) Justification

An interim evaluation report is required by the Article 14(2)(b), (3) Monitoring and evaluation of the Programme Regulation 1 .

B. Content and subject of the evaluation

(B.1) Subject area

The Justice Programme (2014-2020) contributes at the strategic level to the EU Justice Agenda for 2020 (adopted in 2014), including enhancing mutual trust, contributing to economic growth, making justice simple for citizens, and protecting fundamental rights by its targeted funding in judicial cooperation, judicial training and access to justice. It also supports the implementation of the actions in the area of justice set in the European Agenda on Security (adopted in 2015) through its targeted funding in the judicial cooperation in criminal matters.

It aims to foster cooperation between the participating countries (EU Member States with the exception of Denmark and the UK) in the area of the EU civil and criminal law. It covers a broad range of issues from insolvency law and mediation to victims’ rights and rights of the accused in criminal proceedings to a fair trial. The Justice Programme has been put in place also to ensure that Union law. is fully and consistently applied and to promote the smooth functioning of the European area of justice. Its mission is to facilitate proper access to justice for people and businesses throughout Europe, particularly when they live, work, do business or even face trial in another EU country. In the implementation of all its actions, the Programme seeks to promote equality between women and men and to promote the rights of the child. It also complies with the prohibition of discrimination.

The beneficiaries of the Programme are public authorities, academia/research institutes, legal practitioners and their representative bodies, training bodies, and non-governmental organisations.  

The Justice Programme is implemented directly by the Commission assisted by a Committee of the Member States participating in the Programme which is consulted on the annual work programme.

The Justice Programme provides for various implementing measures, including:

Action grants for specific national or transnational projects of Community interest. These can be presented by an authority or any other body of a Member State, an international or non-governmental organisation, under the conditions set out in the annual work programme. These projects are selected through competitive calls for proposals co-financed up to 80% of the total costs (with the exception of calls in training on competition law up to 90% in exception and duly justified cases) and form the core of the programme.

Operating grants intend first, to co-finance up to 80% of the annual work programme of non-governmental organisations or other entities pursuing an aim of general European interest. The organisations are selected through multi-annual competitive calls for proposals. Second, to co-finance expenditure up to 96% associated with the permanent work programme of the European Judicial Training Network mentioned in the legal base.

Activities implemented by the Commission, such as conducting studies and research, opinion polls and surveys; devising indicators and common methodologies; collecting, developing and disseminating data and statistics; holding seminars, conferences and expert meetings; running public campaigns and events; setting up and maintaining websites; drafting and publishing information; supporting and running networks of national or thematic experts; and analysing, monitoring and evaluating the work done.

The priorities of the calls are aligned with ongoing policy developments and widely pre-discussed with stakeholders (such as the European networks, expert groups, and Programme Committee). The 2014-2020 total budget is 377,6 million euro, and the average annual budget is around 54 million euro.

(B.2) Original objectives of the intervention

The general objective of the Programme shall be to contribute to the further development of a European area of justice based on mutual recognition and mutual trust, in particular by promoting judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters.

To achieve the general objective, the Programme shall pursue the following specific objectives:

(a) to facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters;

(b) to support and promote judicial training, including language training on legal terminology, with a view to fostering a common legal and judicial culture;

(c) to facilitate effective access to justice for all, including to promote and support the rights of victims of crime, while respecting the rights of the defence;

(d) to support initiatives in the field of drugs policy as regards judicial cooperation and crime prevention aspects closely linked to the general objective of the Programme, in so far as they are not covered by the Internal security fund for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management or by the Health for Growth Programme.

Specific objectives of the Justice Programme shall be pursued through, in particular:

(a) enhancing public awareness and knowledge of Union law and policies;

(b) ensuring efficient judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, improving knowledge of Union law, including substantive and procedural law, of judicial cooperation instruments and of the relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, and of comparative law;

(c) supporting the effective, comprehensive and consistent implementation and application of Union instruments in the Member States and the monitoring and evaluation thereof;

(d) promoting cross-border cooperation, improving mutual knowledge and understanding of the civil and criminal law and the legal and judicial systems of the Member States and enhancing mutual trust;

(e) improving knowledge and understanding of potential obstacles to the smooth functioning of a European area of justice;

(f) improving the efficiency of judicial systems and their cooperation by means of information and communication technology, including the cross-border interoperability of systems and applications.

(B.3) How the objectives were to be achieved

The general objective and the specific objectives shall be achieved through the following types of actions:

(a) analytical activities, such as the collection of data and statistics; the development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, indicators or benchmarks; studies, researches, analyses and surveys; evaluations; the elaboration and publication of guides, reports and educational material; workshops, seminars, experts meetings and conferences;

(b) training activities, such as staff exchanges, workshops, seminars, train-the-trainer events, including language training on legal terminology, and the development of online training tools or other training modules for members of the judiciary and judicial staff;

(c) mutual learning, cooperation, awareness-raising and dissemination activities, such as the identification of, and exchanges concerning, good practices, innovative approaches and experiences; the organisation of peer reviews and mutual learning; the organisation of conferences, seminars, information campaigns, including institutional communication on the political priorities of the Union as far as they relate to the objectives of the Programme; the compilation and publication of materials to disseminate information about the Programme and its results; the development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools, using information and communication technologies, including the further development of the European e-Justice Portal as a tool to improve citizens' access to justice;

(d) support for main actors whose activities contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the Programme, such as support for Member States in the implementation of Union law and policies, support for key European actors and European-level networks, including in the field of judicial training; and support for networking activities at European level among specialised bodies and entities as well as national, regional and local authorities and non-governmental organisations.

C. Scope of the evaluation/FC

(C.1) Topics covered

The interim evaluation of the Justice Programme will focus on the programme management/implementation status and will cover the implementation period from 1 January 2014 until 30 June 2017, i.e. annual work programmes 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. It will consider all activities that have taken place in all participating countries of the Justice Programme. It will aim at assessing how the Programme has performed compared to the indicators set in the Programme Regulation (Article 15) and depending on the degree of implementation of projects and activities; it will attempt to identify some initial results of the Programme as compared to its objectives. The evaluation will also address the way in which gender equality and non-discrimination issues have been addressed across the Programme's actions.

The interim evaluation of the Justice Programme will take into account and will build on the results of the ex-post evaluations of the 2007-2013 programmes, i.e. Civil Justice Programme, Criminal Justice Programme and Drugs Prevention and Information Programme of which the Justice Programme is successor.

(C.2) Issues to be examined

The main issues the evaluation will address are the following indicative aspects:

a. effectiveness

To what extent have the objectives been achieved considering the set indicators?

How relevant were the actions funded under the Programme to the needs of the different stakeholders?

What factors influenced the achievements observed?

How have the eligibility criteria influenced the formation of partnerships and the scope of proposals?

Compared to the three 2007-2013 predecessor financing programmes, how did the Justice Programme perform in terms of better policy targeting, and targeting of the right groups of beneficiaries?

How effective have been the communication activities in informing the potential applicants about upcoming calls and in increasing the visibility of funded projects?

b. efficiency

Which are the costs and benefits of the intervention?

To what extent has the intervention been cost-effective?

What factors influenced the efficiency with which the achievements observed were attained?

How affordable were the costs borne by different stakeholder groups, given the benefits they received?

c. relevance

How well do the (original) objectives (still) correspond to the needs within the EU?

How relevant is the EU intervention to EU citizens?

How relevant were the groups targeted by the intervention?

d. coherence/complementarity

To what extent is this intervention coherent/complementary with other EU and/or national policies and funding programmes which have similar objectives?

To what extent the different actions and interventions lead to a coherent approach within the Justice Programme (internal coherence)?

To what extent is the intervention coherent with international obligations, including the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development?

e. EU added value

What is the additional value resulting from the EU intervention(s), compared to what could be achieved by Member States?

To what extent do the issues addressed by the intervention continue to require action at EU level?

What would be the most likely consequences of stopping or withdrawing the existing EU intervention?

f. equity

How fairly are the different activities distributed across the different target groups, and EU Member States?

How has the gender mainstreaming been promoted?

How have the rights of the child been promoted?

g. scope for simplification

How can the grant management be further simplified to alleviate administrative burden of the Commission and of the applicants?

(C.3) Other tasks

NA

D. Evidence base

(D.1) Evidence from monitoring

The following data sources are available:

Programming documents: Implementation reports (2014, 2015), annual work programmes (2014-2017), programme statements (2014-2018), annual management reports (2014-2017), annual activity reports (2014-2016)

Project documents (all action grants and operating grants): proposals, grant agreements, interim and, if available, final project reports, project websites, proposals evaluations, projects evaluations; Since 2015, with the use of a new IT tool, more structured project data will be available. The new IT tool provides for continuous reporting and monitoring.

Procurements): signed contracts, delivered goods and services

(D.2) Previous evaluations and other reports

Ex-post evaluation report of Civil Justice Programme (2007-2013)

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0059  

Ex-post evaluation report of Criminal Justice Programme (2007-2013)

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52017DC0115  

Ex-post evaluation report of Drugs Prevention and Information Programme (2007-2013)

The Commission Impact Assessment which accompanied the Commission proposal to establish the Justice Programme 2014-2020

The mid-term evaluation report of Civil Justice Programme, 2011

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0351:FIN:EN:PDF  

The mid-term evaluation report of Criminal Justice Programme, 2011

http://ec.europa.eu/justice/funding/jpen/interim_evaluation_report_2011_en.pdf  

The mid-term evaluation report of Drugs Prevention and Information Programme, 2011

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52011DC0246&qid=1467122450426&from=EN

Policy-specific reports published by DG Justice and Consumers, such as the annual report on European judicial training ( https://e-justice.europa.eu/fileDownload.do?id=5799faaa-b4ce-498c-aeb1-bba4b81d900e , https://e-justice.europa.eu/fileDownload.do?id=ae7d84cc-2bd0-4eb3-9c31-94b753a20bdb )

Policy-specific reports and resolutions by the European Parliament

Political and policy documents, including Council Conclusions by the Council of the EU, and by the EU Member States

Policy-specific reports published by other stakeholders.

(D.3) Evidence from assessing the implementation and application of legislation (complaints, infringement procedures)

NA

(D.4) Consultation

The main stakeholders to be consulted are citizens, participants in the activities of funded projects, the applicants and direct beneficiaries, such as EU networks, NGOs, public authorities, research/academia, business and international organisations. EU Agencies, Programme Committee members representing the EU Member States and expert groups assisting DG Justice and Consumers will be also consulted.

The main objective of the consultation will be to gather quantitative and qualitative data from the public and in particular from various stakeholders mentioned below who have had some contact with the Justice Programme, and test hypotheses. The consultation strategy shall consist of the following:

An online 12-week public consultation to be published on the "Your Voice In Europe" website. The questionnaire will be drafted in 24 EU official languages, also with a possibility to provide written input in any of the 24 EU official languages. A summary of the open consultation outcome will be published in English.

Targeted consultation through an online survey: all applicants and beneficiaries, if necessary complemented with a targeted consultation through phone interviews for a sample of randomly selected applicants and beneficiaries representing different target groups.

Targeted consultation through a questionnaire sent by email: Programme Committee members.

(D.5) Further evidence to be gathered

NA

E. Other relevant information/ remarks

The data processing and data analysis including the stakeholder consultation for the interim evaluation of the Justice Programme will be mostly conducted by a contractor that will work under the supervision of an Inter-Service Steering Group consisting of representatives from relevant Commission Directorates-General.