A/69/44 The State party should: (a) Take effective measures to guarantee that all detained persons are afforded, by law and in practice, all the fundamental legal safeguards from the outset of their being deprived of liberty, in particular prompt access to a lawyer and, if necessary, to legal aid; that a relative or person of their choice is informed; and access to a medical examination by an independent doctor, if possible a doctor of their choice, in accordance with international standards; (b) Ensure the implementation of regulation No. 1493 on the types and amount of State-ensured legal aid, the amount of payment and the reimbursable expenses related to the provision of legal aid and the amount of and procedures for payment, adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers on 22 December 2009 in order to increase the number of contracted, sworn legal aid attorneys to provide adequate assistance to all persons requiring State-provided legal aid, including in remote rural areas. Pretrial detention (10) While noting the reduction in the number of prisoners and detainees since the adoption of the criminal policy document that came into force on 1 April 2013, the Committee is concerned at information that no amendments were adopted concerning the duration of pretrial detention, including in police custody, during the reporting period. It is also concerned that national law does not provide time limits measured in days or hours, pursuant to which a person may be kept in small police stations (arts. 2, 10 and 16). The State party should: (a) Adopt all necessary measures to reduce the duration of pretrial detention and devise alternative measures to incarceration; (b) Ensure that there is no pretrial detention in police stations and devise alternative, non-custodial measures to incarceration, taking into account the provisions of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for Non-custodial Measures (the Tokyo Rules) when devising the alternative measures to preventive detention; (c) Ensure that persons remanded in custody are always promptly transferred to a prison; (d) Take steps, including of a legislative nature, to ensure that the return of prisoners to police detention facilities is sought and authorized only exceptionally, for specific reasons and for the shortest possible time. Such a return should in each case be subject to the authorization of a prosecutor or judge and should never be carried out by the sole decision of a police investigator; (e) Establish strict rules concerning the duration of detention in police stations, ensure their effective application by the judiciary and devise alternative measures to incarceration. Administration of justice (11) The Committee is concerned at the lack of efficiency of the judicial system, the unjustified slowness of both civil and criminal proceedings and the backlog of cases (art. 2). The State party should: (a) Reform the judicial system with a view to enhancing the speed and efficiency of judicial proceedings, in particular with regard to criminal justice; GE.14-12596 47