Efficiency in the conduct of public enforcement officers in a special enforcement procedure for the purpose of settling monetary claims arising from utility services and related activities: The example of Serbian law

Abstract

Public enforcement officers were introduced into the law of Serbia and into the legislation of countries in the region with the aim of establishing a more efficient system of enforcement. In contemporary legal history, the first public enforcement officers in Serbia were appointed in 2012. However, so far no study, based on scientific methodology, on whether their appointment has achieved the set goal has been published. Domestic procedural theory is still largely based on the almost dogmatic assumption that entrusting judicial procedural powers to public enforcement officers has contributed to efficiency, especially in enforcement proceedings for settling monetary claims arising from utility services and related activities, compared to the previous inefficiency of the courts. The t-test determined the statistical significance of the correlations of individual efficiency variables set by CEPEJ, on a sample of public enforcement officers appointed for the territories of selected courts in Serbia. By applying statistical methods, it was examined whether a satisfactory clearance rate was achieved in the enforcement procedure, whether this special enforcement procedure was expedited, and whether the number of unresolved cases was reduced in these proceedings, which would indicate the efficiency of public enforcement officers regarding these procedures wherein they decide on the motion for enforcement and conduct the enforcement. The determined values of the observed variables in the observed sample indicate that the legislator in Serbia, by introducing public enforcement officers, did not achieve the promised efficiency of this special enforcement procedure.

Keywords

• efficiency of the enforcement procedure
• public enforcement officers
• cepej methodology for determining efficiency