In the area of judicial cooperation: to facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, and promote the rule of law, independence and impartiality of the judiciary, including by supporting the efforts to improve the effectiveness of national justice systems, and the effective enforcement of decisions.

The objective of this priority is to facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, and promote the rule of law, independence and impartiality of the judiciary, including by supporting the efforts to improve the effectiveness of national justice systems, and the effective enforcement of decisions.

The activities to be carried out by the European networks should have a strong focus on digitalisation of justice in order to make justice more efficient. In particular, judicial cooperation needs to make full use of electronic tools and channels to ensure the effective, swift, secure and resilient communication between the competent authorities and the relevant actors. Adequate training of justice professionals should be provided to allow them to benefit fully from the digital tools put at their disposal.

In the area of access to justice: to facilitate effective and non-discriminatory access to justice for all, and effective redress, including by electronic means (e-justice), by promoting efficient civil, and criminal procedures and by promoting and supporting the rights of all victims of crime as well as the procedural rights of suspects and accused-persons in criminal proceedings.

The objective of this priority is to facilitate effective and non-discriminatory access to justice for all, and effective redress, including by electronic means (e-justice), by promoting efficient civil, and criminal procedures and by promoting and supporting the rights of all victims of crime as well as the procedural rights of suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings.

The activities to be carried out by the European networks should contribute to improving the independence, quality and efficiency of national justice systems (e.g. of the courts, prosecution services, councils for the judiciary), in order to uphold and promote the rule of law.

In the field of victims’ rights, the activities should contribute to the understanding and the implementation of victims’ rights. They should include practical application of the relevant EU rules, notably the Victims’ Rights Directive, but also application of the EU rules related to compensation to victims and to increased protection of victims in cross-border cases (including victims of terrorism). The activities should focus on exchanging of best practices, including best methods of implementation of the EU rules and on mutual learning.

The overall objective should be to foster the cooperation among the Member State and among the responsible national authorities (national experts) and the relevant practitioners who come into contact with victims (includingpolice, prosecution, judicial  authorities, court staff, lawyers and support services). The activities should take into account the developments in the EU policy on victims’ rights.

In the field of procedural rights of suspected and accused persons, the activities to be carried out by the networks should contribute to the understanding and the implementation of procedural rights of suspected and accused persons. Activities could also cover pre-trial detention (in particular the use of alternatives to detention) and other areas in the field of procedural rights, such as the protection of vulnerable persons, the collection, transfer and use of evidence in cross-border proceedings, and the right to effective remedies against breaches of procedural rights.

Another objective of this priority is to increase the capacity of national practitioners to secure access to justice, by using digital tools for this purpose.

To enable justice systems to become more efficient, whenever possible, the activities should include a training component to allow justice professionals to benefit fully from new digital tools put at their disposal.

This call will support operating costs and activities of European networks active at EU level whose activities contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the programme and which implement, among others:

• network activities, network development and procedural improvements to increase clarity, transparency, respect of EU values and equal treatment;
• analytical activities;
• training activities, including those rolling out and multiplying effect of other activities;
• research and data collection/sharing/analysis;
• mutual learning and exchange of good practices;
• cooperation (including enhancing networking among legal practitioners);
• awareness-raising activities;
• information and dissemination activities with EU added value.

Financial capacity: The financial capacity check will be carried out on the basis of the documents you will be requested to upload in the Participant Register during grant preparation (e.g. profit and loss account and balance sheet, business plan, audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last two financial years available, etc). The analysis will be based on neutral financial indicators, but will also take into account other aspects, such as dependency on EU funding and deficit and revenue in previous years.
The check will normally be done for coordinators, except:

• public bodies (entities established as public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations
• if the project requested grant amount is not more than €60.000.
• If needed, it may also be done for affiliated entities.