In our article in ECHO 480, we looked at the beginning of, and a few points from, the reform of internal justice launched in 2020. Here we continue with other aspects of the reform.

Beyond the content of this reform, its form was also the subject of lengthy discussions. As regards the consolidation of investigations, agreement came quickly: the creation of a new Operational Circular (OC) to replace OC 9 and OC 10 and thus covering all forms of investigation, which must always be both inculpatory and exculpatory, swiftly reached consensus. As regards the Joint Advisory Appeals Board (JAAB) and the Joint Advisory Disciplinary Board (JADB), discussions took longer. There was unanimous agreement on creating a set of "Rules of Procedure" for these boards, since "professionalisation" also meant putting clear procedures in place. However, a disagreement persisted for some time. The Administration considered this to be purely a technical document, which should therefore be drafted, approved and maintained by experts, without going through concertation. The Staff Association, for its part, has always maintained that the document should be an administrative circular and should therefore fall within the scope of concertation. One of the main reasons is that a number of staff "rights", previously set out in the Staff Rules and Regulations (S&RP), would be moved into it. Taking the document out of concertation would then have allowed the Administration to unilaterally change staff rights, which was not acceptable. The Staff Association (SA) proposal was finally accepted at the Standing Concertation Committee (SCC) meeting in October 2025.

Once all these principles had been agreed through concertation and the changes to the Staff Rules & Regulations (S&RP) approved by the Council last year, the final stretch of the reform was the drafting of the circulars. This task was entrusted to the two experts behind the original report, before being passed to the Joint Working Group on Internal Justice (IJWG) for review. This last step unfortunately went beyond the date initially set of 1 July 2026 but proved critical to ensuring the consistency and accuracy of the texts. A highly detailed yet very constructive round of concertation did indeed bring about a genuine improvement in these texts, correcting numerous issues identified by representatives of both the Administration and the Staff Association. These texts were finally published in August, closing this phase of the reform.

The reform is not yet complete: certain points, such as strengthening informal conflict-resolution mechanisms, still need to be addressed. Given the complexity of the reform carried out, we must all also remain vigilant and monitor the entry into force and the practical application of the new processes. A review and a possible revision of the new texts is already planned after one year of operation, to correct any problems. We encourage you to tell us about any issues you encounter

We can nonetheless celebrate the conclusion of this phase of the reform and the entry into force of the new system. We thank once again everyone involved in this change for their contributions.

This series of articles continues in the next issue of the ECHO, with an article how to approach internal justice as a member of personnel after this reform.