Situation during visit (See: E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3) Information received in the reporting period assembly those judges can only be nominated by the Head of the SC. 2. Under the new system, the procedure of appointment of judges is vague; members of the High Council of Justice appointed by the President and the Parliament can veto any candidate for being appointed as a judge. 3. After the reform, new mechanism of transfer of judges from one court to another is actively used in practice; in other words, a judge from the first instance court in Tbilisi can be transferred without any justification and time-limit to any other district, city and/or appellate court in any other region of the country. This mechanism is frequently used as punishment and/or reward. 4. Reportedly, there is no objective criteria set by the law for giving benefits to judges, which leads to the subjective decisions taken in this regard. 5. Grounds for disciplinary responsibilities under the law are too broad, which might lead to subjecting judges to disciplinary sanctions for a minor misdoing; this is particularly striking because the procedure of disciplinary responsibility of the judges is secret and cannot be disclosed to anyone; after the reform no one is familiar with the details of its implementation in practice. A/HRC/19/61/Add.3 76 Recommendations (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3) Steps taken in previous years (See: A/HRC/4/33/Add.2, A/HRC/7/3/Add.2 and A/HRC/16/52/Add.2) Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia chairs the meetings of the High Council; 2007 Law on the ―Rules of Communication with Judges of General Courts of Georgia‖; Revision of the Code of Judicial Ethics to ensure compliance with the European Standards of Judges‘ Ethical Behaviour adopted by the Conference of Judges on 20 October 2007; A competitive selection process for judges is conducted periodically by the High Council of Justice; training improved, salaries raised; Illegal decisions by judges were decriminalized by law; amendments to the Law on ―Disciplinary administration of justice and disciplinary responsibilities of judges of common courts of Georgia‖ of 19 July 2007 make explicit that wrongful interpretation of the law based on intimate convictions of the judge cannot form the basis for disciplinary proceedings and the judge cannot be prosecuted for such conduct; On 10 October 2008, amendments to the Constitution of Georgia merged the Prosecution Service with the Ministry of Justice; a new Law on the Prosecution Service, adopted on 21 October 2008, incorporated the prosecution service in the Ministry of Justice; the Chief Prosecutor is nominated by the Minister of Justice and appointed by the President.