The International Framework of Court Excellence (IFCE)

In 2006 the Singapore State Courts led a new initiative for enhancing court performance and quality of service delivery of courts. Together with the US National Center for State Courts, the US Federal Judicial Center, the Australasian Institute for Judicial Administration, the World Bank and the CEPEJ a consortium of court excellence was formed. The main purpose of the consortium is to promote court quality and to provide countries with concrete tools for measuring performance and quality, as well as to stimulate courts to introduce measures for improvement.

Dr. Albers was one of the leading experts and co-creator of the International Framework of Court Excellence (www.courtexcellence.com). Based on international experiences with court quality systems executed in Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Finland and United States an innovative tool was created in the form of an IFCE self-assessment questionnaire. This tool can be used in courts to identify their strengths and weaknesses and for developing a court plan for improvement. At a later stage Global Measures for court performance were added to the instrument of the IFCE, focusing on the application of court performance indicators.

The IFCE is composed of seven areas of excellence

For each area of excellence the International Framework of Court Excellence describes which measures can be taken for becoming the excellent court. Dr. Albers implemented the Framework in several countries. For example, in Ukraine he created a redefined model under the name of Court Performance Evaluation Framework, whilst in Moldova he assisted with the introduction of the Framework in three pilot courts and at a later stage in all courts of appeal. Furthermore, he introduced the Framework in Bangladesh and Kazakhstan as an effort in strengthening their court performance, quality of service delivery and international visibility.