Update on Reforms in Other Jurisdictions
(As of December, 2007)
Some of the more significant administrative justice reforms undertaken or initiated in other jurisdictions between July and December 2007 are summarized below, including:
- Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services’ Tools for Regulatory and Adjudicative Agencies;
- the final report of the facilitator of the Ontario government’s Agency Cluster Pilot Project;
- the Saskatchewan ombudsman’s report on timely decision-making by administrative tribunals;
- the Administrative Review Council’s Best Practice Guides (Australia);
- a discussion paper about possible reform of the civil and administrative justice system in Queensland, Australia; and
- the establishment of the United Kingdom’s Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council.
Earlier updates on reforms in other jurisdictions are available on the Publications and Research page.
Within Canada
Council of Canadian Administrative Tribunals (CCAT)
The new guide for tribunal members and staff, Introduction to Administrative Justice and to Plain Language, is available on the CCAT website.
Alberta
The Alberta Law Reform Institute’s review of the Alberta rules of court continues. Comments on consultation memoranda addressing issues related to civil appeals and criminal jury trials were requested by June 30, 2007.
Ontario
Ontario’s Ministry of Government and Consumer Services launched its Tools for Regulatory and Adjudicative Agencies. The tools include: position descriptions identifying the purpose, key duties and qualifications for chairs, vice-chairs and members; core competencies that describe how the key skills, abilities and behaviours are demonstrated for effective performance in each position; a code of conduct to reflect standards of ethical and professional conduct expected of an appointee; learning and development maps that analyze and develop learning and development plans; and individual learning and development maps. A guide to using the tools is a part of the package, which is designed to be adapted and implemented with minimal effort.
The Final Report of the Agency Cluster Facilitator for the Municipal, Environment and Land Planning Tribunals was released. The report concludes that clustering or grouping together these tribunals, which operate in similar and related sectors, can enable the tribunals to coordinate resources and collaborate on modern best practices, while safeguarding specialized expertise and tribunal independence, and strengthening the quality, consistency and accessibility of public services.
Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General released the summary of findings and recommendations made by the Honourable Coulter Osborne, appointed in 2006 to lead Ontario’s Civil Justice Reform Project. The full report is expected soon. Issues addressed in the summary include access to justice for both represented and unrepresented litigants and proportionality in terms of the time and expense of proceedings in relation to the amount at issue and the importance of the issues. Recommendations include proposed changes to the rules of civil procedure, several statutory amendments, potential improved scheduling practices for the judiciary and best practices for the profession.
Saskatchewan
The Saskatchewan ombudsman released the report Hearing Back: Piecing Together Timeliness in Saskatchewan’s Administrative Tribunals. The report makes 27 recommendations based on best practices that support timely decision-making by administrative tribunals.
The Saskatchewan Law Reform Commission’s Handbook on Professional Discipline Procedure is now available. The handbook, a guide to procedure in disciplinary investigations and hearings conducted by professional associations in Saskatchewan, sets out the requirements for the various stages of discipline proceedings, from receipt of the complaint to assessment of the penalty.
Outside Canada
Australia
The Administrative Review Council (ARC) launched its series of best practice guides for statutory decision-makers, releasing five guides that address key stages in the administrative decision-making process in plain and accessible language. The guides can be tailored to meet unique needs of specific decision-makers. The subject areas covered by the guides are: lawfulness; natural justice; evidence, facts and findings; reasons for cecisions; and Accountability.
The ARC’s website shows the following major projects underway:
The Australian Law Reform Commission released its discussion paper Client Legal Privilege and Federal Investigatory Bodies, which addresses the rationale for and makes recommendations about client legal privilege in investigations by federal government agencies. Submissions closed in November 2007, with a final report expected soon after.
The Australian Administrative Appeals Tribunal is currently reviewing the way it manages applications for review respecting social security and has prepared a draft guide. Submissions for comment closed Oct. 1, 2007. This is the second in a series of guides it is developing for each of the various types of appeals it hears.
The Council of Australasian Tribunals (COAT) has recently posted its Practice Manual for Tribunals online, however the manual is only accessible by COAT members.
Queensland, Australia
The Department of Justice and Attorney General published a discussion paper to explore options to improve the existing mechanisms to deliver civil and administrative justice and to develop an administrative review policy to ensure a consistent and contestable approach across government agencies when making decisions about reforms to existing administrative review mechanisms or when a new right of review is created. Six options are proposed, representing the full scale of possible reform: from creating a single generalist tribunal or creating a new administrative justice division in a court to a hybrid model (with the amalgamation of like tribunals, while retaining specialist tribunals where necessary) to no structural reform at all (retaining specialist tribunals, with or without process reform to individual tribunals). The advantages and disadvantages of each option are detailed, with specific consultation questions posed. Two performance measures (efficiency and effectiveness) are proposed to measure current tribunal performance and also to analyze the benefits that might be achieved by any proposed reforms. Submissions closed in December, with a report expected to follow.
New Zealand
The New Zealand Law Commission released a draft report on public inquiries, which reviews and makes proposals about the law relating to public inquiries, including commissions of inquiry, royal commissions and non-statutory ministerial inquiries. The closing date for submissions is Jan. 31, 2008. The law commission also released a consultation draft of the limitation defences bill. The proposed new bill will provide a comprehensive statute to assist plaintiffs in bringing claims while also protecting defendants from unjust pursuit of stale claims. Submissions may be made until Feb. 15, 2008. However, no further progress is reported on the law commission’s unified tribunal framework project. Progress on these and other law commission initiatives can be followed here.
New Zealand’s State Services Commission has developed and implemented a Standards of Integrity & Conductcode. The code came into effect Nov. 30, 2007 and applies to most government ministries, departments, authorities, boards, commissions and agencies.
United Kingdom
The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, establishing the Tribunals Service and the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council (AJTC), came into force on July 19, 2007, and will be implemented gradually over the next two years.
The Tribunals Service published its transforming tribunals consultation paper that sets out the role of tribunals in the wider context of the various systems that deliver justice and examines the role of the AJTC. It also describes recent changes in the ways tribunals are organized and supported and provides more detail regarding future organization of the system. Submissions may be made until Feb. 22, 2008.
The AJTC replaced the Council on Tribunals. The AJTC will keep the administrative justice system as a whole under review, with a view to making it accessible, fair and efficient, and will seek to ensure that the relationships between the courts, tribunals, ombudsmen and alternative dispute resolution providers satisfactorily reflect the needs of users. Its new websiteis: http://www.ajtc.gov.uk/.
The Judicial Studies Board published the Tribunal Competences: Qualities and Abilities in Action, a framework of competences setting out the skills, knowledge and behavioural attributes needed to perform the judicial role in any tribunal jurisdiction. This handbook was produced to better reflect recent developments in the area of administrative justice, including the implementation of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.
The United Kingdom Law Commission is continuing to look at the remedies available against public bodies. The project focus is primarily on monetary compensation, but will look at other remedies that relate to monetary compensation. The project is mainly concerned with remedies awarded by the courts and the relationship between the courts and the ombudsmen, but will also consider how these relate to remedies awarded by other non-court bodies and statutory schemes. The intended 2007 publication of a consultation paper has been postponed at the request of the government contact group, so that it could provide further information. Publication is now planned for May 2008. Progress can be followed here.
