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For any question on data and metadata, please contact: Eurostat user support |
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1.1. Contact organisation | European Commission - Eurostat |
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1.2. Contact organisation unit | F4: Income and living conditions; Quality of life |
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1.5. Contact mail address | European Commission - Eurostat |
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2.1. Metadata last certified | 12/06/2024 | ||
2.2. Metadata last posted | 12/06/2024 | ||
2.3. Metadata last update | 12/06/2024 |
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3.1. Data description | |||
The figures from 2022 year of reference onwards on court cases are based on the data collected by the Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe (CoE). It is available at country level for European Union Member States. |
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3.2. Classification system | |||
Regions are classified by Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS). |
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3.3. Coverage - sector | |||
Justice statistics |
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3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions | |||
For further information on concepts and definitions see the CEPEJ explanatory note to the scheme for evaluating european judicial systems 2024 cycle (2022 data) CASES PROCESSED BY THE COURTS Criminal cases (total) Other than Criminal cases (Non-Criminal cases) Litigious Civil/Commercial cases Administrative cases |
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3.5. Statistical unit | |||
The basic statistical units are cases processed by the courts. |
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3.6. Statistical population | |||
For administrative data, the statistical population for each statistic is the complete register (all the relevant records). |
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3.7. Reference area | |||
European Union Member States |
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3.8. Coverage - Time | |||
The current tables are available from 2022 year of reference onwards. |
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3.9. Base period | |||
Not applicable. |
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Absolute number. |
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The standard reference period is the calendar year. |
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6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements | |||
Data are collected for the EU Justice Scoreboard, that is part of the Rule of Law Report. |
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6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing | |||
Council of Europe and European Commission agreed on data sharing of number of first instance courts cases for the following categories: Other than criminal (total non-criminal), civil and commercial litigious, administrative, criminal (total). |
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7.1. Confidentiality - policy | |||
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society. |
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7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment | |||
Not applicable. |
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8.1. Release calendar | |||
Data are released approximately 17 months after the reference year, only after the publication of the EU Justice Scoreboard. |
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8.2. Release calendar access | |||
8.3. Release policy - user access | |||
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users |
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Annual. |
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10.1. Dissemination format - News release | |||
Ad hoc press releases on the day of dissemination of the EU Justice Scoreboard in the Press corner of the EU Commission or of the General-Directorate for Justice an Consumers |
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10.2. Dissemination format - Publications | |||
Data are disseminated in the EU Justice Scoreboard and on CEPEJ website. |
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10.3. Dissemination format - online database | |||
Tables are available on-line Database - Crime and criminal justice and are updated annually within 17 months of the reference year. |
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10.3.1. Data tables - consultations | |||
Not assessed. |
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10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access | |||
Not applicable. |
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10.5. Dissemination format - other | |||
Not applicable. |
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10.5.1. Metadata - consultations | |||
Not applicable. |
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10.6. Documentation on methodology | |||
Each state designates national correspondent to collect the relevant data in respect of its judicial system and deliver it to the CEPEJ. The national correspondents are the main interlocutors of the CEPEJ Secretariat in ensuring the availability and quality of the data. The published data are exclusively provided by the national correspondents. Each country determines which authority is the original source of the national data. The CEPEJ methodology used during data collection and quality check process includes the following tools: |
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10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate | |||
Not applicable. |
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10.6.2. Documentation on methodology for the First instance courts | |||
No comments. |
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10.6.3. Documentation on methodology for the Brought to court | |||
No comments. |
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10.6.4. Documentation on methodology for the Resolved cases | |||
No comments. |
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10.6.5. Documentation on methodology for the Pending cases | |||
No comments. |
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10.6.6. Documentation on methodology for the Criminal cases | |||
CEPEJ collects the Criminal Cases by the breakdown of 1- Severe criminal cases, 2- Misdemeanour and/or minor criminal cases, 3 - Other criminal cases.
General comments on Criminal cases by countries: BG: For most of the crimes, the Bulgarian Criminal Code provides for a deprivation of liberty, which makes the distinction hard to be made. The offences could be divided into two categories: common offences and offences subject to private prosecution. For the common offences, the search of responsibility is subordinated to the common regime (there is a public interest concerned or public interest and personal goods). Such are the crimes against individuals (homicide, grievous or intermediate bodily harm, rape, fornication and etc.), crimes against the property (the list is not exhaustive). As to the offences subject to private prosecution, the criminal proceedings are initiated upon a complaint by the affected person (personal interests of the affected person, and usually the affected person and the perpetrator are close relatives). Those offences have a lower degree of public danger and affect less the rights of the concerned person. Such offences are the minor bodily injury, the insult, the slander and etc. CZ: We are not able distinguish between serious offences and minor offences. Thus only total number of cases is reported. There are no cases that could be reported in "Other cases". DK: When we categorize cases as "severe", it does not mean that privation of liberty is the end result, but based on the category chosen by the court to deal with the case could include severe cases. Minor cases are typically fines that will never have as a result of privation of liberty. Probably there are too many cases under the category "severe" then, but that is the figures we have. DE: General information on the statistics used as sources for answering the questions in this section: see General Comment to Other than criminal (Non-criminal) cases. IE: Except for the Supreme Court, criminal cases are generally counted by offence rather than case due to the various ICT systems used. This is due to data collection/ ICT systems that are in use by the Court Service. Akin to Other than criminal (Non-criminal) cases, the number of pending criminal law cases cannot be provided within the frame of Criminal cases, provided that it is not recorded in caseload data. Misdemeanour and/or minor criminal cases include all cases triable summarily (e.g. common assault, public order offences, burglary or theft in other that aggravated circumstances). ES: When an error is detected in the statistics of a Court, the latter is allowed doing regularization, what means that the Court communicates the correct figure and rectifies the wrong one even if this does not concord with figures offered for previous exercises. This situation can happen for example in the specific control of cases that the Court makes when a judge leaves the Court (called “alarde”), but in general, in any case in which the Judicial Counsellor detects an error that comes from previous exercises but cannot be localized. The system prefers to correct the data than continue and amplify the error. These regularizations and the cumulated cases and the re-opened cases are the causes for the horizontal inconsistencies. CY: The reason for not having data for the subcategories of cases is that there was no electronic filing system that would enable us to have statistical data on different types of cases. LV: Severe criminal cases include all criminal cases according to the Criminal law - it includes all cases where a harmful offense (act or failure to act) committed deliberately (intentionally) or through negligence, provided for the Criminal Law, and for the commission of which criminal punishment is set out shall be considered a criminal offense. Misdemeanor and / or minor criminal cases includes all administrative infringement cases according to the Law on Administrative liability about administrative offence of a person for which administrative liability is provided for in a law or binding regulations of local governments. Other criminal cases include execution of a sentence, cases on penal order of the prosecutor, cases on determination of compulsory measures of a medical nature. In 2022 the increase in the balance of pending cases is related to changes in data collection systems` audit, more specifically, for misdemeanour and / or minor criminal cases. LU: We have classified as minor offenses all cases concluded by penal order in the magistrate's court or district court. Serious offenses encompass all cases concluded by judgment at first instance in the magistrate's court, correctional court, or criminal court. The figures listed under 'other cases' correspond to those cases which were referred to the investigating department. Regarding the unavailability of pending and incoming cases: Due to the specific organization of workflow between courts and public prosecution service, files are only transferred to courts shortly before a hearing date, and if a case is not heard on that scheduled date, they are then returned to the public prosecution service until a new hearing date. Thus, there are - with few exceptions - no pending cases before criminal courts over an extended period, and the number of incoming cases is more or less equal to the number of resolved ones. HU: Criminal offences are severe or minor crimes. Severe crimes (bűntett) are committed intentionally and are punishable with at least two years of imprisonment. All other criminal offences are minor crimes (vétség). Crimes that are not committed intentionally are always considered as minor crimes, despite the possible punishment. Misdemeanours (szabálysértés) are not considered as criminal offences, but are unlawful acts that are endangering the society. The authorities intervening in their respect are the police, the district office, or the National Tax and Customs Office. Their decisions can be reviewed by the relevant section of the respective district court upon request of the accused person. Generally, the court rules without oral hearings, based upon the available documents. However, it can set a hearing if it finds it necessary or if the person charged by a misdemeanor requests it. The judgment is a final and enforceable decision. It is noteworthy that the Hungarian law identifies also the category of civil offences encompassing offences mainly against public administration. However some criminal offenses, such as property crimes involving objects of small value (under 50000 HUF), are classified in this category as well. Civil offences fall under the jurisdiction of various administrative agencies, local governments or traffic police, but not the courts. Concerning the methodology of presentation of data, as according to the Hungarian Criminal Code not only severe crimes (bűntett), but also almost every minor crime (vétség) are punishable with imprisonment, both categories were included into the category “severe criminal cases”. Thus misdemeanors (szabálysértés) were included into the category “minor criminal cases”. NL: Classification of severe and minor cases: Minor offences: mainly traffic offences (speeding tickets, running red lights) and petty theft, vagrancy, littering, etc. Severe offences: driving while drunk, grand theft, violent crimes, vice, drugs/narcotics, etc. RO: There is no classification of severe and less severe offences in the Romanian statistics. FI: The cases are not statistically catecorised in severe criminal cases and misdemeanour and / or minor cases in Finland. The case management systems from which the data is collected are not static reporting tool but a dynamic and constantly changing system. So the exact number depends on the day the data is taken from the system. Part of the data here is collected on january 2023 and reflects the situation on that day. The data available is: 1)Incoming cases 2)Resolved cases 3)Cases pending on the data collection date. The number of pending cases as of 1 January has been calculated based on the available data. Because of the dynamic nature of the system, the previously annouced number of cases on 31 December and the now announced number of cases in 1 Jan will differ.
Comments on 2022 data on Criminal cases by countries: BE: Also to be noted: 9,398 for 'youth court cases' (only the category 'new cases' is available), not accounted for in the table. Point 3: Other criminal cases: the figure of 15,309 corresponds to cases before the Council Chamber (this figure is not included in the total of new criminal cases because data on completed cases is unavailable). The figures for pending and completed cases are not available. BG: "Total criminal cases" includes all criminal cases - criminal cases of a general nature, criminal cases of a private nature, cases of exemption from criminal liability with the imposition of an administrative penalty in accordance with Art. 78a of the Criminal Code, private criminal cases, interrogation and administrative-criminal cases heard by the first instance courts. DK: In 2022 the courts are still dealing with a high number of pending cases in the aftermath of the situation with covid-19. DE: “Severe criminal cases” include criminal proceedings according to the Criminal Code and ancillary criminal laws. The category “misdemeanour and/or minor criminal cases” includes regulatory fine proceedings before criminal courts. IE: The COVID pandemic had an effect on the courts’ ability to deal with incoming business in 2020 especially, which explains the discrepancies with number of resolved cases in 2022. Regarding severe criminal cases both the Circuit Criminal Courts and Central Criminal Courts showed an increase in resolved cases (offences) in 2022. Resolved cases are cases where orders are made. There may be more than one order made in some cases which is why the figure for resolved cases is higher than that for incoming cases. ES: There are increases of incoming and resolved cases compared to the number of cases in 2020. It should be taken into account that information from 2020 represents the year of the pandemic. The recovery of normal work increased the number of cases, incoming and resolved. FR: Source: Ministry of Justice/SG/SEM/SDSE, Cassiopeia statistical file. With regard to the total stock of criminal cases, it is not possible for us to provide this information as the data on the stock of police courts ('Minor Offences') is not available. Furthermore, the line 'Total number' does not correspond to 1+2+3 but rather to 1+2. Indeed, in accordance with the request from CEPEJ, cases falling under the Investigating Judge have been classified under '3. Other Criminal Cases'. These are provided for indicative purposes only and should not be added to the other two categories so as to avoid duplication (which may fall within either minor or major offences depending on how each case proceeds). HR: The data for 2022 in “Other criminal cases” include only the execution of sanctions (imprisonment), investigation actions of a judge and cases connected to procedural matters. In this cycle, the number of other criminal cases decreased because we aligned our methodology with CEPEJ reporting and excluded some of the case types which in previous cycles were included. This is due to the fact that data for misdemeanour cases came from a separate case management system in the previous cycles (prior to 2020), and it was not possible to exclude those cases which do not fit any of the above categories. IT: In the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) Italy has undertaken a series of actions in order to reduce both disposition time and backlogs. More information about the reform can be found at https://www.italiadomani.gov.it/content/sogei-ng/it/en/Interventi/riforme/riforme-orizzontali/riforma-della-giustizia.html LV: The decrease in the number of resolved cases is related to the drop in the number of cases received in the courts of first instance. Decrease of pending cases on 1 Jan is related to the decrease of misdemeanour and / or minor criminal cases. In the middle of 2020, Saeima adopted Law on Administrative Liability that affected amount of incoming and resolved of misdemeanour and / or minor criminal cases significantly. According to the law, if the person intends to use his right to appeal a decision, he/she needs to address the complain to the higher official from institution which has made this decision, but if there is no higher official, a decision may be appealed to a district (city) court. This is the main reason for decrease of incoming misdemeanour and / or minor criminal cases. In 2022 the increase in the number of pending cases at the end of the year is related to changes in data collection systems` audit, more specifically, for misdemeanour and / or minor criminal cases. Severe criminal cases, which are assessed according to the Latvian Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law, are decreasing each year. The tendency of the decrease in the number of criminal cases has been observed for a longer period of time. The reduction of severe criminal cases can be explained by changes in legislation. (In the summer of 2020, amendments to the Criminal Procedure Law entered into force, which stipulated that the case for minor violations of the criminal law is not referred for initiation of criminal proceedings (Section 373 An investigator with a consent of a prosecutor or a prosecutor may refuse to initiate criminal proceedings, if a misdemeanor has been committed), which affected the the total number of criminal law cases received in court. A decrease in the number of criminal cases received has been observed since 2019. The number of pending cases (pending for more then 2 years) has significantly decreased. The decrease in cases is due to the lifting of restrictions, which were related to limiting the spread of Covid-19. The reduction of pending cases also is related to the court reform, increased interest and pressure of the public, the Council of Justice and the Ministry of Justice to reduce the number of long pending criminal cases. Starting from 2022, data on "other criminal cases" are also collected and inserted in the table. LT: Protracted proceedings in criminal cases are caused by the non-appearance of the parties to the proceedings or their representatives at the court session, the request of the parties to the proceedings to postpone the proceedings and the collection of additional evidence. It can be concluded that the protracted examination of criminal cases is also usually determined by circumstances depending on the actions of the participants in the process. HU: As misdemeanour cases have very strict deadlines, the number of resolved cases strongly correlates with the number of incoming cases. The decrease of incoming cases may be a result of the end of the pandemic as misdemeanours in connection with it "disappeared" as well. MT: Since in Malta the vast majority of the cases contemplate the possibility of imprisonment, barring a few contraventions, the cases indicated as misdemeanors/minor offences, are those cases which are heard by the Court of Magistrates (excluding those being heard as a Court of Criminal Inquiry) having a maximum punishment of 2 years imprisonment while the cases indicated as 'severe criminal offences' are those having a punishment of over 2 years (Criminal Court & Court of Criminal Inquiry). NL: Increase in Category 1 - This is due to a technical change in registration, where it was found that some 14.500 cases were effectively resolved (from a legal standpoint) but had remained ‘open’ in the administration. This has lead to a decrease of the number of pending cases. Increase in Category 2 - These cases are both minor criminal offences and also traffic fine cases (so-called WAHV- or Mulder-cases). The latter group shows the main increase. Possibly the increase is due to numbers being low in 2020 and 2021 as a result of Corona, and increased mobility since then. SE: Starting on January 1st in 2022 a distinction was made possible between severe, minor and other incoming criminal cases at district courts. However, the statistics will not be reliable until after a year or two due to continued registration of resolved cases without this refined distinction. The number of criminal cases received in total has increased over a number of years, but in 2022 the increase stopped, although the number of cases remained at very high levels. The number of cases relating to "rapid proceedings" decreased at the district courts that have been active in the trial operation for the longest, that is the district courts in the Stockholm region. Furthermore courts joined the trial operation during 2022. Criminal cases resolved increased by one percent, and pending cases decreased by two percent for the first time since 2015. |
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10.6.7. Documentation on methodology for the Non-Criminal cases | |||
CEPEJ collects the Other than criminal (Non-criminal) cases by the breakdown of 1 - Civil (and commercial) litigious cases, 2 - Total non-litigious cases (as sum of 2.1- General civil (and commercial) non-litigious cases, 2.2 - Registry cases and 2.3- Other non-litigious cases), 3 -Administrative law cases and 4- Other cases. General comments on Other than criminal (Non-criminal) cases by countries: BG: The division by types of cases in the statistical forms published by the Supreme Judicial Council of Bulgaria is quite different from the CEPEJ categorisation and for that reason breakdown cannot be made. Only administrative cases are possible to differentiate due to existence of administrative courts. Furthermore, in Bulgaria registry cases are not resolved by courts. They are under the competence of the Registry agency where is the property register, the commercial register, the BULSTAD register and the Register of the Property Relations between spouses. CZ: For years 2010, 2012 and 2013, business register cases, administrative cases and insolvency registry cases which are decided by the regional courts (second instance courts) acting as first instance courts, were included in the table concerning the case-load of second instance courts. On the contrary, since 2014, administrative cases, business registry cases and insolvency cases (and also some litigious cases) which are still decided by the second instance courts acting as first instance courts, are subsumed within the table of first instance corts (which was already the case for the 2008 exercise). Methodology has been changed in year 2015 – more case types have been included, which led to the big increment in the number of cases. There are no further changes expected. DK: As concerns "non-litigious business registry cases", it is important to note that pending cases always may vary a lot as it is a residual figure when pending prior to the period, received and resolved cases are counted. Furthermore, the reason for the discrepancy is that we do not have pending figures from the Maritime and Commercial High Court. The number of “administrative law cases” which are litigious is encompassed in the number of “civil and commercial litigious cases”. With regard to "non litigious land registry cases", it should be pointed out that due to the high amount of incoming and resolved cases, the residual figure of pending cases prior and after the period may vary. DE: General information on the statistics used as sources for answering the questions in this section: IE: Historically, the number of pending civil cases has not been recorded in caseload data, as many cases initiated before the Irish courts either settle out of court or are not proceeded with by the plaintiff/applicant without there being any procedural requirement that the parties inform the court of either a settlement or an intention not to proceed with the case. Civil (and commercial) non-litigious cases include proceedings not resolved inter partes, such as undefended pecuniary claims, deed poll applications, probate (grants of representation), wardship proceedings, registrations of enduring powers of attorney, appointment of care representatives, unopposed personal and corporate insolvency proceedings, liquor licencing applications and marriage notice exemption applications. ES: When an error is detected in the statistics of a Court, the latter is allowed doing regularization, what means that the Court communicates the correct figure and rectifies the wrong one even if this does not concord with figures offered for previous exercises. This situation can happen for example in the specific control of cases that the Court makes when a judge leaves the Court (called “alarde”), but in general, in any case in which the Judicial Counsellor detects an error that comes from previous exercises but cannot be localized. The system prefers to correct the data than continue and amplify the error. These regularizations and the cumulated cases and the re-opened cases are the causes for the horizontal inconsistencies. CY: The reason for not having data for the subcategories of cases is that there was no electronic filing system that would enable us to have statistical data on different types of cases. LV: Data from the first and appeal instance courts are compiled by the Court Administration, and the Court Information System is a living database that allows data to be corrected, so changes between previous periods are possible. In 2022 the increase in the balance of pending cases is related to changes in data collection, more specifically, from 2023 it is possible to determine the number of unfinished cases in non-litigious land registry cases. FI: The case management systems from which the data is collected are not static reporting tool but a dynamic and constantly changing system. So the exact number depends on the day the data is taken from the system. Part of the data here is collected on january 2023 and reflects the situation on that day. The data available is: 1)Incoming cases 2)Resolved cases 3)Cases pending on the data collection date. The number of pending cases as of 1 January has been calculated based on the available data. Because of the dynamic nature of the system, the previously annouced number of cases on 31 December and the now announced number of cases in 1 Jan will differ.
Comments on 2022 data on Other than criminal (Non-criminal) cases by countries: BE: In relation to administrative matters, the total number of cases includes figures for the Council of State, the Council for Alien Law Litigation and the Flemish administrative courts Raad voor Vergunningsbetwistingen, het Milieuhandhavingscollege and Raad voor Verkiezingsbetwistingen. CZ: Pending cases on 31 Dec. ref. year: In general, the number pending cases in Czech republic is decreasing, which can be seen in the table. Administrative law cases: There is a significant and steady decrease in law administrative cases in last years. Thanks to the decreasing number of incoming cases and thanks to the increasing of the number of judges, the pending cases are rapidly decreasing. DK: In 2022 there was still an aftermath of the unusual situation of the Covid-19 related to the periods with clos-ing down the society, including the courts. It has created more pending cases as the prosecution continued to forward new cases to the courts that could not deal with it. Land registration is the major source of in-coming cases with very large figures. It fluctuates a lot depending on interest rates, loan rescheduling etc. DE: "Non-litigous civil cases" represent non-litigous enforcement cases. IE: The COVID pandemic had an effect on the courts’ ability to deal with incoming business in 2020 especially, which explains the discrepancies with number of court cases in 2022. ES: There are increases of incoming and resolved cases compared to the number of cases in 2020. It should be taken into account that information from 2020 represents the year of the pandemic. The recovery of normal work increased the number of cases, incoming and resolved. FR: Source: Ministry of Justice/SG/SEM/SDSE, General Civil Registry; Council of State. Following a change in methodology, the "contentious civil (and commercial) cases" now include: general litigation cases before the judicial tribunal, local court and rural leases paritarian tribunal, family matters, sales-related cases, agricultural work accidents cases, proceedings related to distressed businesses (safeguarding, reorganization and judicial liquidation) before the judicial tribunal and commercial court , judge's orders matters, liberty and detention judge matters (detention of foreigners and involuntary hospitalization), as well as social division proceedings before the judicial tribunal; ordinary procedures before the labor relations council; contentious business at the commercial court; protection of adults' affairs as well as political electoral disputes. Following the 2021 divorce reform in order to avoid any disruption in series continuity an estimate is used for 2022 (contentious civil cases and non-contentious civil cases). Due to lack of data reporting on political electoral disputes are not included in beginning or end-of-year stocks for "contentious civil and commercial cases". These represent 0.6% of completed case load in 2022. Similarly due to absence of data reporting attempts at conciliation are not included in beginning or end-of-year stocks for "non-contentious civil cases". These represent 0.6%of completed case load in 2022.Due also to lack of data reporting suits(excluding consumer code) at the local court and salary garnishments are not included in beginning or end of year stock for other cases.These represent 8.% of completed caseloads in 20 .(respectively1.%an d6%). The above explained lacks of data do not allow for complete horizontal coherence in the table. HR: In 2022, the number of incoming Civil (and commercial) litigious cases dropped because of the unique situation from the previous cycle of a significant number of incoming collective labour cases from the public sector workers (more than 60.000 incoming cases). Since they were resolved in 2022, this has led also to a significant increase in the number of resolved cases. CY: The total number of resolved cases has increased as there was an increase in the number of judges. Administrative law cases include the cases filled at the Administrative court of international protection. LV: In 2022 the increase in the balance of pending cases is related to changes in data collection, more specifically, from 2023 it is possible to determine the number of unfinished cases in non-litigious land registry cases. LT: 2.1. The duration of court hearings is influenced by the number of new cases received at the court and the number of working judges who hear these cases (judge workload), the type or type of the case and its complexity, the cases specified in the law when the hearing must be postponed (e.g. by a party to the proceedings disease etc.). It should be noted that in 2022, 705 judges worked in Lithuanian courts (of which 2 judges were appointed for 2 years), 786 judge positions, that is, 81 positions were not filled, which could lead to a larger balance of unexamined cases at the end of the year. It is noteworthy that in 2022 compared to 2021, the number of civil cases examined in district and district courts (first instance) increased by 1.7%. LU: The decrease in the number of non-contentious cases brought before the courts can be attributed to a legislative change in 2021, which raised the jurisdictional threshold from €10,000 to €15,000 in favour of the justices of the peace (https://legilux.public.lu/eli/etat/leg/loi/2021/07/15/a541/jo). This change has resulted in a reduction in both new cases filed and cases concluded by the courts, as certain matters that would have traditionally been brought before the courts are now within the purview of justices of the peace since 2021. MT: In 2022, there was an overall increase in the caseload of the civil courts when compared to the previous evaluation, primarily because this data reflects the normal caseload following the Covid-19 pandemic. Having said this, during this year there was also one specific 1st instance court that has registered an exponential increase in the incoming caseload as a result of legislative issues. This increase in the incoming caseload was reflected in a modest increase in the resolved caseload, but had a more pronounced effect on the pending caseload. NL: In previous years, we were able to produce the number of incoming and pending cases for categories 1, 2, and 2.1, but not this year. The Judiciary has decided on a different norm for one of the components needed for this number, so these numbers are no longer available as of 2022. AT: Starting from 2022, “non-litigious family matters” are taken into consideration in the category “general civil non-litigious cases”, while before they were communicated in “other”. PL: Administrative law cases - In 2022, the number of incoming administrative cases decreased compared to the previous year. The number of incoming complaints about the inaction of public administration bodies and the protracted conduct of proceedings by these bodies also decreased. The decrease in the receipt of such complaints in 2022 was 30.2% compared to 2021. This may be indicative of the catching up of public administration activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for the next years will show whether the downward trend will continue. PT: “Civil (and commercial) litigious cases”, includes the case-flow of civil justice, labour justice and juvenile justice. It does not include civil and labour enforcement cases. RO: There are no explanations for the discrepancies, as for volumes of cases in the order of hundreds no conclusions can be drawn regarding statistical trends. SK: Discrepancy between the pending cases on 31 Dec. 2021 and the pending cases on 1 Jan. ref. year in the line 1. and Total is due to an administrative error caused by the court. In the rest lines, there is no discrepancy between the pending cases on 31 Dec. 2021 and the pending cases on 1 Jan. ref. year (compared with the previous year). A significant increase in the Business registry cases category in 2022 (comparing incoming and resolved to 2020) is related to legislative changes to Act no. 530/2003 Coll. on the Commercial Register. The amendment to the law - included the birth-number among the recorded data with the aim of unambiguously identifying natural persons registered in the business register. In the case that it was not possible to add this data automatically from other reference sources into the the business register, it had to be added based on a court proposal submitted by September 30, 2022 (increase in incoming cases). Other discrepancies are reflection either of the submission activity of the public (incoming cases) or productivity of the judicial system itself - in resolved cases. SE: Migration cases are included in administrative law cases. |
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10.6.8. Documentation on methodology for the Litigious Civil/Commercial Cases | |||
See 10.6.7. Documentation on methodology for the Non-Criminal cases |
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10.6.9. Documentation on methodology for the Administrative Cases | |||
See 10.6.7. Documentation on methodology for the Non-Criminal cases |
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10.7. Quality management - documentation | |||
In addition to the methodology developed by CEPEJ (see 10.6), CEPEJ provides a specific data collection within the study delivered annually to European Commission for the EU Justice Scoreboard. Documentation on CEPEJ methodology for this annual study on the functioning of judicial systems in the EU Member States including methodological note can be found in the Study on the functioning of judicial systems in the EU Member States - Facts and figures from the CEPEJ questionnaires 2012 to 2021 and CEPEJ website |
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11.1. Quality assurance | |||
Data are provided by the European Commission for the efficiency of justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe |
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11.2. Quality management - assessment | |||
No assessment has been made. |
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12.1. Relevance - User Needs | |||
Data are required for the EU Justice Scoreboard |
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12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction | |||
Not assessed. |
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12.3. Completeness | |||
Some data are not available (":") for certain categories/countries and years. Some data are not applicable (":z", "m" since 2025) for certain categories/countries and years. ":" (information/data is not available) means that the concept/category referred to exists in respective state, but the information/data is not known (e.g., administrative law cases exist but their number cannot be quantified).
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12.3.1. Data completeness - rate | |||
The completeness in terms of number of countries for each indicator is shown in the following table.
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13.1. Accuracy - overall | |||
Court statistics reflect the number of cases processed by the courts. However, the type of cases within the different CEPEJ categories with which courts deal can differ in the countries. The specifics of some countries are described in the general and specific comments (See 10.6). |
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13.2. Sampling error | |||
Not applicable. Data are from administrative records. |
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13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3. Non-sampling error | |||
Data from administrative records are likely to contain some random errors (mistakes) as well as systematic errors (bias). |
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13.3.1. Coverage error | |||
Not applicable.
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13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.2. Measurement error | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.3. Non response error | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate | |||
Not applicable.
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13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.4. Processing error | |||
Not applicable. |
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13.3.5. Model assumption error | |||
Not applicable. |
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14.1. Timeliness | |||
Data collected from the justice system sum up cases recorded over the course of a year, usually from the 1st of January to the 31st of December of the reference year. The data for the reference year Y are disseminated at Y+17 months, after a process of collection, quality check and only after the publication of the EU Justice Scoreboard by European Commission (see 8.1). |
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14.1.1. Time lag - first result | |||
Data are released approximately 17 months after the reference year, only after the publication of the EU Justice Scoreboard. |
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14.1.2. Time lag - final result | |||
Not applicable as there is only one release. |
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14.2. Punctuality | |||
No delay in 2024. |
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14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication | |||
No delay in 2024.
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15.1. Comparability - geographical | |||
As countries records information primarily for their own administrative purposes, the data and methods they use may vary. However, countries should provide data in accordance with the CEPEJ methodology to ensure comparability of data from different judicial systems. This consistency and comparability is checked during the quality check process carried on by CEPEJ Secretariat. Any discrepancies from the CEPEJ definitions are described in the comments in 10.6. |
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15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient | |||
Not applicable. |
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15.2. Comparability - over time | |||
CEPEJ is providing data to Eurostat starting with 2022 year of reference. Eventual changes in future that might introduce breaks in the time series from the side of data providers or eventual changes in CEPEJ methodology (within questionnaire/explanatory note) will be noted and registered in the countries’ comments. These are also indicated by the flag ‘b’ for values in the datasets. |
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15.2.1. Length of comparable time series | |||
The current comparable time series starts in 2022. The time series on Legal cases processed in first instance courts by legal status of the court process (criminal, civil/commercial litigious and non litigious, administrative and other non criminal) collected by Eurostat is available from 2008 since 2022. Current data can be based on different definitions and cannot be directly compared with the data published at a national level up to 2022. |
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15.3. Coherence - cross domain | |||
Not applicable.
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15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics | |||
Not applicable. |
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15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts | |||
Not applicable. |
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15.4. Coherence - internal | |||
The internal coherence of the data is checked with basic validation rules (see section 18.4. Data validation). Figures for categories may not add up to the total, because information for some categories is unknown (see CEPEJ methodological principles in 10.6). |
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The dissemination of CEPEJ data avoids duplication of data collection by Eurostat and unnecessary response burden for the data providers. |
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17.1. Data revision - policy | |||
To further specify the general Eurostat revision policy, the following revision policy has been established for the crime domain. Revisions to the data are possible at any time, but only based on new data received from CEPEJ. |
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17.2. Data revision - practice | |||
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision practice of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy). All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data. Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated. Data are only published once they are deemed to be sufficiently complete for all data providers. Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated. Data are usually revised for the previous two years. Aggregates and components are revised at the same time. |
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17.2.1. Data revision - average size | |||
Not applicable. |
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18.1. Source data | |||
The first instance courts statistics published annually are derived from administrative sources covering courts of the justice system. The source data type is the data recorded in the administrative registers. |
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18.2. Frequency of data collection | |||
Annual |
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18.3. Data collection | |||
Since 2008 up to 2022 data, Eurostat annually collected data on first instance cases for 38 jurisdictions (41 jurisdiction until 2019 data collection) through a questionnaire that was sent to a national contact point responsible for distributing the questionnaire to the appropriate data producers in the jurisdiction. The national contact point was then responsible for returning a completed and consolidated response to Eurostat. Since 2022 data, data are povided to Eurostat by CEPEJ and disseminated in a different dataset. |
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18.4. Data validation | |||
Each state designates national correspondents to collect the relevant data in respect of its system and deliver them to the CEPEJ. The national correspondents are the main interlocutors of the CEPEJ Secretariat in providing data and ensuring the quality and reliability of the data. According to the defined methodology, CEPEJ works in full trust and transparency with the national correspondent through continuous dialogue. The CEPEJ Secretariat verifies the quality and consistency of the data submitted by each correspondent in the light of the CEPEJ's own methodology of presentation of data (“quality check process”). This process improves the quality, availability, comparability and the comprehensibility of the data. CEPEJ will publish only the data which reaches a high level of quality. |
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18.5. Data compilation | |||
Not applicable. |
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18.5.1. Imputation - rate | |||
Not applicable. |
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18.6. Adjustment | |||
Not applicable. |
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18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment | |||
Not applicable. |
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