USAID Mission Director Visits Commercial Court in Leskovac

March 21, 2008

USAID Mission Director Michael Harvey (blue tie) during the walk through of the Commercial Court facility in Leskovac

On Friday, March 21 at 11:00 am, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Michael Harvey will visit the Commercial Court in Leskovac, where Commercial Court President Dragan Zdravkovic will demonstrate the results of the cooperation between USAID and the Serbian Government on Commercial Court reform. The visit will include a walk through of the court facility and a presentation of the real results achieved since the introduction of the USAID-sponsored technology in the Commercial Court in Leskovac, showing its direct impact on the substantial reduction of case backlogs.

The mutual cooperation on Commercial Court reform, implemented by USAID's Commercial Court Administration Strengthening Activity, worth $ 13.7 million, commenced in April 2004 with support provided by the American people. This USAID project provided computerization and enabled the networking of all 16 commercial courts, as well as the implementation of the first country-wide statistics gathering system called the Case Data Collection Instrument (CDCI), operational as of January 2006. This system enables the tracking of commercial court cases and the creation of statistical reports that allow court presidents to monitor case backlogs and take necessary actions to remedy problems. The Leskovac Commercial Court President has used this system to make substantial improvements in two key areas of the commercial court's practice: Bankruptcy and Enforcement cases.

The USAID Mission Director Michael Harvey will discuss the ongoing commitment of USAID to assist the Serbian government in their efforts to reform the Serbian judiciary, promote transparency and efficiency, and strengthen the Serbian economy. He will also announce the next step of planned USAID technical assistance at the Commercial Court in Leskovac: the upcoming implementation of the new Case Management System (CMS), a comprehensive case event and document tracking system, already successfully functioning in two pilot courts (Belgrade and Novi Sad). This system will bring the transparency and efficiency of the Commercial Court to a level consistent with the most advanced automated court management systems in Europe and the U.S.