There are four priorities for 2024:

Judicial cooperation in civil matters
The aim is to promote judicial cooperation in civil matters and to contribute to the effective and coherent application and enforcement of EU instruments to create a genuine European area of justice in civil and commercial matters and in the field of family law.
Priority shall be given to projects aiming in particular at:

• better enforcement of judicial decisions through better procedures, casehandling and cooperation in cross border disputes;
• improving in a child-sensitive way the situation of children involved in civil cases, e.g. through better procedures, case-handling and cooperation in the family law area such as parental responsibility, international child abduction and maintenance or issues relating to civil status of children;
• facilitating cross-border procedures, e.g. on service of documents and taking of evidence, on successions or cross-border circulation of public documents, through better information and awareness-raising.

Judicial cooperation in criminal matters
The aim of this call for proposals is to promote judicial cooperation in criminal matters and to contribute to the effective and coherent application of EU mutual recognition instruments in criminal matters.

• Priority shall be given to the implementation and practical application of the following mutual recognition instruments.

A specific priority regarding any particular instrument(s) listed above may be given in the call for proposals.

Proposals not in line with priorities 1 and 2 may still be awarded funding, if applicants can justify this by:

• the necessity to improve the implementation and application of the civil or criminal justice EU acquis on the basis of an evidence-based needs assessment, showing that more activities are required for the proper application of EU law in the field to be covered;
• the need to improve judicial cooperation, e.g. in case of gaps in the acquis or to face newly emerging challenges, on the basis of an evidence-based needs assessment.

However, applicants should take into account that a deviation from the priorities 1 and 2 may result in a less relevant proposal, which may therefore not be considered for funding.

Applicants are strongly advised to research Commission initiatives in the filed of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters to minimise the risk of replication of existing structures, and in particular IT-platforms.

Support to the Member States for the setting up and strengthening of national networks active in the area of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters
The main objective is to contribute to the effective and coherent application of the EU acquis relating to judicial cooperation in civil, commercial and criminal matters.
In the area of civil and commercial matters, support will be provided to the members of the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters (EJN-civil) and to the national authorities, courts and professional associations they represent. Projects will focus on setting up and strengthening national EJN-civil networks to ensure better handling of cross-border civil cases and more generally a better implementation of EU legislation. The national  networks will encourage the full participation of all national Network members (e.g. central authorities, bailiffs, notaries, lawyers).

In the area of criminal matters, support will be provided to national authorities, courts, prosecution services and professional associations representing them, for the setting up and/or strengthening of national networks in order to ensure better implementation of EU judicial cooperation instruments in criminal matters.
Strengthened national networks can promote better implementation of EU civil and criminal justice instruments through cooperation, dialogue, sharing of experience exchange of information and training activities (where appropriate also in liaison with other national systems). Through these activities the national projects would ensure interaction at national level, knowledge sharing and gathering of information. As a result, this would deepen EU-wide building bridges and mutual trust between different justice systems.

Support to the Member States for the linking and exchange of their biometric data with the ECRIS TCN central system.
The main objective of this priority is to support national projects implementing the changes to:

• national IT systems allowing for the appropriate linking and exchange of fingerprints and facial images with the ECRIS-TCN central system.