Luris in Montenegro and Serbia

Project description

This project is the continuation of previous cooperation between Serbia and the Netherlands in the field of the systematic registration, handling and monitoring of international legal assistance requests in civil and criminal cases, and involves also Montenegro, as a partner committed to improve its system and increase the efficiency of international mutual legal assistance.

The cooperation already started in 2010 when the Netherlands offered the Serbian Ministry of Justice the IT-system LURIS. LURIS has been  developed by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service for the registration and monitoring of mutual legal assistance. Bilateral exchanges between Montenegro and Serbia have led to an increased interest of Montenegro in a similar IT system. As a result several preparatory meetings took place between the three countries, which led to the set up a joint project, aiming at the improvement of the LURIS system in Serbia and introducing it in Montenegro.

In Serbia the system will become accessible to the Republic Public Prosecutors Office which will lead to the improvement of the quality of the data, generated by the system. In Montenegro the system will be introduced and users will be trained. The cooperation with Montenegro creates new opportunities to exchange knowledge and expertise in the field of mutual legal assistance between Serbian and Montenegrin authorities, and their counterparts in the Netherlands. In this way, LURIS can be tailored to meet the Montenegrin needs taking into account the experience and lessons learned in Serbia. The system will make the management of international legal requests efficient, cost-effective and generate statistical data, which are crucial to the reforms in the context of the EU accession process of both countries.

The Ministry of Justice and Public Administration of Serbia, the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office of Serbia, the Ministry of Justice of Montenegro and the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office of Montenegro are implementing partners given their prime responsibility for general matters of the legal (reform) processes, and more specifically given their central role in managing incoming and outgoing requests for mutual legal assistance.