The Founding Members of the Consortium developed the Framework and are dedicated to its continual development. They:

• actively promote use of the Framework
• have assisted in refining the Framework and related resources
• actively participate, in person and online, in the Consortium’s work and promote the Consortium’s objectives
• contribute to the objectives of the consortium and ensure programs and future plans of the organisation support the consortium’s court excellence objectives
• provide support, collaboration, education, research and development of court excellence tools.

Founding Members:

The Founding Members of the Consortium developed the Framework and are dedicated to its continual development. They:

• actively promote use of the Framework
• have assisted in refining the Framework and related resources
• actively participate, in person and online, in the Consortium’s work and promote the Consortium’s objectives
• contribute to the objectives of the consortium and ensure programs and future plans of the organisation support the consortium’s court excellence objectives
• provide support, collaboration, education, research and development of court excellence tools.

The founding members are:

• Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration (AIJA) Ltd
• Federal Judicial Center (FJC)
• National Center for State Courts (NCSC)
• State Courts, of Singapore (formerly known as the Subordinate Courts, of Singapore)

and the Organisations that assisted the Founding Members include the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice, World Bank and Spring Singapore.

The Founding members developed a membership policy for those courts and institutions which wish to join the Consortium. In 2025 that policy was revised and there are two categories of membership:

2.1 Supporting Members 

This category of membership is open to individuals, courts, court systems, tribunals, tribunal systems, and judicial institutions. Judicial institutions are institutions that provide active support, education, and assistance to judges, courts, or court systems but do not have direct responsibility for implementing the Framework in courts or court systems.

Supporting members:

i. have an active interest in the Framework;
ii. assist the Consortium in fulfilling its objectives;
iii. share information, experiences and ideas with the Consortium; and
iv. promote use of the Framework

Courts, court systems, tribunals, and tribunal systems may join as Supporting Members when they are considering whether and how to implement the Framework, and move to Implementing Member status once they have demonstrated evidence of significant use of the Framework (see below).

2.2 Implementing Members:

This category of membership is open to courts, court systems, tribunals and tribunal systems.

Implementing members:

i. have an active interest in the Framework and implemented the Framework ;
ii. assist the Consortium in fulfilling its objectives including providing advice where able;
iii. share information, experiences and ideas with the Consortium;
iv. promote use of the Framework;
v. have demonstrated significant use of the Framework. Examples of significant use include:

• • Completion of the self-assessment questionnaire or checklist and development of an improvement plan
  • Well-defined planning for further rounds of self-assessment
  • Demonstrated use of the Framework in the administrative operations of the court including strategic planning and leadership development
  • Creation of an organizational structure to support the implementation of the Framework
  • Other areas as identified in collaboration with the IFCE Executive Committee.

Initial application for implementing member status requires documentation demonstrating significant use of the Framework. Thereafter, the head of the court, court system, tribunal, or tribunal system must annually certify continued implementation of the Framework. Implementing Members that do not complete the annual certification will have their membership status revert to Supporting Member.