New agency for court services founded

An Agency for Court Services was founded yesterday through the enactment of a legal notice with the aim of increasing administrative autonomy and of further modernising the services that the country’s Courts offer to its citizens, the Ministry for Justice, Culture, and Local Government announced.

The ministry said that this is another electoral pledge which has come to being, and noted that it is another step in the reform process that is being done to strengthen rule of law in the country.

Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said that the agency will see that administrative decisions are taken with more autonomy and efficiency.

It was noted that last November, the European Commission had, as part of their European Semester revision, encouraged Maltese authorities to consider the separation of the courts’ administration from the central government so that there is more distance between the government and these administrative operations. This change will result in the modernisation of the courts, including the possibility that the court administration introduces a communication system with the media so to be more dynamic and transform itself to fit today’s requirements.

“The end goal of the agency is to offer better administrative support to the judiciary and all court officials, while offer efficient and effective service to all the citizens who need to use the Courts’ services,” Bonnici said.

He made it clear that all measures for those employed in the current department to be safeguarded will be taken.