The Government has Acted Responsibly and Comprehensively: Venice Commission

On October 14, the Venice Commission published its opinion on the package of constitutional laws regarding the "Judicial Code" on its official website (the Armenian translation can be found here). The following was recorded: the Commission positively assesses the amendments proposed in the package of projects. The proposed mechanisms aim to ensure a higher level of impartiality among judges, and their implementation will be more effective in combating corruption, while not disproportionately intervening in matters of judicial independence.

The amendments proposed in the Judicial Code package have gone through a public discussion phase in the country, after which the Ministry made several changes based on the suggestions of the judiciary, representatives of civil society, and other interested parties. Many representatives of civil organizations, whom experts met in Yerevan, noted with satisfaction the transparency and inclusiveness of the drafting process of the package of projects.

The Venice Commission understands the proposed direct promotion mechanism for the formation of the Anti-Corruption Committee, which is aimed at overcoming potential deadlocks in the process in the future. Overall, in the current political context of Armenia, this promotion mechanism is acceptable as a preliminary solution that should be reviewed after the formation of the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Regarding the establishment of an age threshold for judges, the Commission pointed out that it cannot criticize this proposal from the authorities abstractly without considering the educational system and demographic circumstances. As for the conditions for the appointment of judges concerning the standards of the Council of Europe, there is no specific age mentioned, therefore, this issue is a choice for the authorities.

Armenia implements a unique approach regarding the early retirement of Constitutional Court judges, referring to the necessity of applying the Constitution since the changes made in 2015 in the post-revolutionary context, particularly this issue is addressed considering that the transition to a specific term of office under the changed Constitution for a lifetime position of a Constitutional Court judge, as provided by the Constitution before the 2015 amendments, should be applied immediately.

The Venice Commission has criticized the approach of introducing mandatory early retirement in previous opinions, meaning those cases where it is not foreseen by the principle of voluntary retirement and when it concerns a large number of judges. Subsequently, the Commission clarifies its approach to early retirement.

It is noteworthy that in the recommendations given to Armenia, the Commission stated that if this is envisaged exclusively on the principle of voluntariness and considering the effective functioning of the court, the Commission cannot refer to any standard to criticize the proposed approach. In any case, with the aim of not endangering the effective functioning of the court, the Commission proposed to soften even those potential cases in the draft if seven out of nine judges of the Constitutional Court decide to retire early simultaneously.

In conclusion, the Commission notes that the Judicial Code package developed by the Ministry is commendable; moreover, the Government acted responsibly and comprehensively during the drafting of the project, discussing it with both domestic stakeholders and international partners.