Strengthening the role of the Supreme Administrative Courts as facilitators of judicial cooperation and access to administrative (e-)justice

ongoing

ACA-Europe is an international non-profit association under Belgian law, present in 35 states. It consists of the CJEU, the Councils of State and the Supreme Administrative Courts (SAC) of the 27 EU Member States (MS) and 2 advisory bodies that are not part of their state’s SAC (LU and RO). The SAC of AL, ME, RS, TR and UA, which are candidate countries for membership of the European Union, have observer status. The SAC of the UK, NO and CH are guests. All SAC rule at last instance and therefore play a vital role in unifying and harmonising EU law. ACA-Europe aims to be a ubiquitous pan-EU project, making a substantial contribution to a better access to administrative justice and judicial cooperation (both horizontal and vertical) in the field of administrative justice. The general objective of ACA-Europe is to promote, within its financial limits, the exchange of views and experiences on issues relating to the jurisprudence, organisation and functioning of its members in the performance of their judicial and/or advisory functions, in particular with regard to EU-law. The specific objectives of this programme are to: - improve the (specialised) knowledge of SAC judges on EU legislation, including the application of EU instruments, the priority of the rule of law and of fundamental rights; - increase the capacity of SAC judges to ensure access to justice and respect for the priority of fundamental rights; - promote, make available and/or facilitate electronic communication channels and establish (in-house) databases with EU added value; - continuously practice good governance. These objectives will be achieved through dissemination and exchange activities, e-tools (databases, e-library, website, flash- and e-news), milestone and networking activities. Gender mainstreaming and non-discrimination are evident general principles in all actions and projects of ACA-Europe (based on a conducted gender impact assessment) and in its proposal to the European Commission.