MOSCOW, December 6 - RAPSI. President Dmitry Medvedev has signed a law establishing a supreme examining board for judges and procedure for electing its board members, the Kremlin reported on Tuesday.

The new law aims to make examining boards independent and improve their formation procedure.

The law will also establish regional boards. Their members will be elected at a national congress of judges and regional conferences.

The law will amend the laws On Judges' Status and On Judicial Community Bodies and the Civil Procedure Code. The former law states that candidates must pass an exam to be a judge.

Today, similar qualification boards are only formed by judicial assemblies. The boards will now employ not only judges from common law and commercial courts, but also university teachers of legal subjects, legal scholars and national non-government lawyer association representatives.

The law was adopted by the State Duma and endorsed by the Federation Council on November 18 and 29, respectively.