Femke Damsteegt of Rotterdam District Court (now Judge at the Supreme Court), Herman van Harten of The Hague District Court (now Judge at the Hague Court of Appeal) and District Court Limburg were instrumental to the Debt Officers project when it was set up in 2020. Jan van Breda was involved in the national implementation. All three were present in Cyprus yesterday for the award ceremony and enjoyed explaining the initiative to their European colleagues, as the social impact of this initiative is significant, whilst requiring limited investment. Herman van Harten: 'It is not unthinkable that the Debt Officer project could be  implemented in other European countries. Problematic debts are a social problem in multiple countries and have significant consequences.' 

CEPEJ of the Council of Europe organises the annual Crystal Scales of Justice Prize contest, for the purposes of stimulating the development in the quality and efficiency of the judiciary. It allows European countries to showcase their innovations and learn from all the other innovative and efficient practices applied in other parts of Europe. In order for the project to be awarded a prize, the practice should be easily applicable to other European countries. 

CEPEJ is a Committee of the Council of Europe that evaluates and develops instruments for the improvement of the quality and efficiency of the judicial systems. They, for example, develop practical backlog reduction tools, have drawn up an Ethical Charter on the Use of AI and conduct bi-annual evaluations of the European judicial systems in the European Judicial Systems Evaluation Report, including comprehensive dashboard.