Quality justice systems 4.

Spain's digitalisation ranking, 7^th out of the 27 EU members, is a testament to its leading role at the European level. This success is further underscored by its climb to the 5^th position in public services, a clear indication of its pioneering lead in developing new digital services. From health to digital identification, cybersecurity to mobile applications, and the integration of artificial intelligence in the public sector, Spain is making significant strides in all of these domains (Economy and Society Index 2022).

Within this context, the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations of Spain is at the forefront of using the most advanced technological solutions to achieve a more modern, efficient, and agile justice system. These efforts are part of the comprehensive ‘2030 Justice Plan’. This 10-year plan endorses the Rule of Law and Access to Justice as transformation levers of justice services. The regions, other ministries, and non-judiciary institutions support it. Objective 2 of the plan, Improving the efficiency of the public justice service, unfolds different programmes and projects to ensure digital justice. In the words of Aitor Cubo, Director General of Digital Transformation, ‘the strategic objective for the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations is to position Justice as a public service that all citizens can recognise as they do with health or security’.^[1]

The digital transformation is not a solitary effort but a collaborative one supported by the Autonomous Communities. This is evident in its institutionalised co-governance approach, implemented through the Technical Committee for Electronic Judicial Administration (CTEAJE). The Committee's presidency is not held by a single entity. It is shared and rotates every 2 years between the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations and the General Council of the Judiciary, showcasing the shared responsibilities and commitment to the strategic endeavour.

The 2022 Royal Decree-Law 6/2023, of December 19, approving urgent measures for the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan in the areas of public justice service, civil service, local government and patronage defines a new legal framework for the digital transformation of the justice administration.^[2] It regulates the accessibility and legal certainty of digital services. The law also governs citizens’ rights to personalised access to justice procedures, information, and services. Finally, the Law reinforces legal security in online proceedings and services, enabling secure telematic trials and hearings.

The project's financial resources were boosted thanks to the European funds: the 2030 Justice Plan benefited from €410 million allocated for justice projects and initiatives in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, a clear testimony that digital justice is one of the pillars of the digitalisation of Spain’s Public Administration.^[3]

Digital justice projects and initiatives

Digital justice is becoming a reality. The level of robotic process automation and the use of artificial intelligence in many of the internal and external services provided are making a difference. The 2030 Justice Plan comprises 13 areas of improvement with around 200 projects, many of which are internal to the organisation.

The projects with direct external impact have the double aim of improving the services offered to justice professionals and reducing existing gaps affecting the population due to age, territoriality, different disabilities and gender, according to Aitor Cubo.

• The Digital Immediacy and Digital Presence Project includes different technological solutions that enable the electronic relationship of justice professionals, citizens, and companies with the Administration of Justice. For example, Clave Justicia, integrated into the Tax Agency platform, guarantees personal identification and electronic signatures.
• A key part of the previous initiative is the Digital Immediacy Virtual Desk (EVID), which uses videoconferences to manage judiciary procedures, making digital interactions between citizens and justice professionals more efficient and trustworthy through a secure identification process. EVID has been implemented in 1 362 judicial organs. This will therefore result in remarkable benefits in terms of the millions of hours and euro saved due to eliminating trips to the courts.^[4]
• Data interoperability also plays a significant role in digital justice.Spain has pioneered the electronic intercommunication of European Investigation Orders through e-CODEX and plays a leading role in the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).
• The Recording Textualisation Initiative is based on convolutional networks for transcribing videos recorded during court hearings. This project transforms justice through artificial intelligence and offers greater agility in information management, saving more than 870 000 working hours. Until December 2024, more than 2.6 million court hearings had been successfully transcribed into text.
• Robotic process automation technology is greatly contributing to the efficiency of the public service of Justice of Spain. Clear examples include the proactive proposal of cancellation of criminal records, that has allowed the cancellation of more than 830 000 criminal records from citizens’ files between March 2021 and December 2024. Before automation, civil servants could manually propose the cancellation of around 30 000 records per month. In contrast, robots were able to propose almost 150 000 cancellations in just the first week of operation. Not to mention how this technology helps expedite the granting of nationality because of residence; a procedure that has decreased waiting times from 5 years to just 5 months, on average, thanks to automation. According to the General Director of Digital Transformation, ‘with the automation of justice procedures, the government can provide an immediate service and eliminate errors.’^[5] The robotic automation process is challenged by needing specialised public employees. “Qualified professionals are required in public administration […] There is no way to economically compete with the job offers of big companies for these specialised tech profiles.’^[6]
• The Prior Appointment Service (Cita Previa) was introduced for judicial bodies and civil registry offices, with more than 1 752 000 appointments and 339 000 non-face-to-face legal proceedings between 2020 and December 2024. At the same time, this saves more than €7 million and reduces more than 3 000 tons of CO₂. ‘All our projects eliminate travel and thus reduce CO₂ emissions, in addition to saving time and paper for professionals and citizens who interact with the Administration of Justice.’^[7]
• ACCEDA allows telematic communication between judicial bodies and legal operators. It is used for the submission of texts and documents, the transfer of copies, and all kinds of communications by electronic means. From 2020 to December 2024, ACCEDA has processed over 580 000 files, such as Electronic Court Files, Criminal records cancellation, apostilles of digitally signed public documents, scholarships for preparing competitive examinations, and incidents and suggestions for the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations. This application entails an estimated saving of more than €70 million for professionals by reducing unnecessary trips to the judicial offices and avoiding the emission of 5 400 tons of CO₂.^[8]
• The Justice Folder (Carpeta Justicia) aims to provide individuals, companies and legal professionals with single access to all digital services the judiciary system offers.^[9] The initiative is based on progressively achieving full interoperability between the Autonomous Communities and is included in the Royal Decree-Law 6/2023 of December 19, approving urgent measures for the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. New versions are constantly released, with the application already offering services such as prior appointment, access to several certificates (such as the civil registry ones) or to the Horus Viewer, an interactive user interface to explore the electronic judicial file. Furthermore, the Justice Folder also makes it possible to every single citizen of the country two AI tools: one to anonymise legal documents and another one to ‘translate’ them into plain language.

After summarising these iconic projects, it is important to notice that lawsuits decided in court entail winners and losers. This unique feature does not happen in the delivery of other services. Therefore, the ministry is approaching service satisfaction differently than in other areas. According to Mr. Aitor Cubo, ‘measuring the success of the justice services through users’ surveys might end up with biased results, so we are promoting a different approach. For example, we are conducting focus groups to understand citizens’ perspectives. We did that with the Justice Folder (Carpeta Justicia) project and got excellent interaction and results’.^[10]

In conclusion, the justice service provision in Spain is modernising through digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotisation, and automation of many processes. There are some challenges ahead, such as the need for qualified technical personnel, the limited budget once European funds are finished. It is important to identify that ‘digitalisation has an enormous effect on exposing inefficient bureaucratic structures’.^[11] This power of digitalisation is highly relevant in a world where judges and court staff enjoy high independence in how courts are run.

Awards

• In December 2024, the Ministry's project, ‘Artificial Intelligence in the Administration of Justice’, was the winner in the CIO 100 Awards Spain 2024 in the category of projects: data management and artificial intelligence.
• In November 2024, the Ministry´s Carpeta Justicia project was selected as the winner in the category of Best Project in Public Administration in the Comunicaciones Hoy Awards 2024.
• In November 2024, the EVID project was the winner in the G2C (government-to-citizen) category, and the RPA project received an honourable mention (‘Most holistic innovation’) in the G2G (Government-to-Government) category at the Best Cases Awards 2024 organised by the European Commission.
• In March 2024, the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) awarded the initiatives of the Spanish candidacy, based on its RPA initiatives. These initiatives are helping to speed up procedures that benefit thousands of citizens and save multiple working hours for public employees. In addition, in this edition of the European Public Sector Award, the Justice Folder App was recognised with a Good Practice Certificate.
• In October 2023, the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations was awarded the category ‘Most Ambitions RPA Initiative Award’ by the SS&C Blue Prism 2023, which distinguishes initiatives in robotic automation. Among the most outstanding projects in this area is automating procedures for nationality by residence, which has robotised more than 2 800 000 application files between August and September of 2023,^[12] reducing considerably the existing backlog.

Source: Office of the General Director of Digital Transformation, Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Parliamentary Relations, Spain.

In 2019, Malta started to modernise its legal services with the support of the European Commission. The main aim was to establish a Digital Justice Strategy for the Maltese Justice sector in line with European good practices. Previous attempts to digitalise the justice sector in Malta, had proven to be inconsistent and lacking an evidence-informed strategy.

To achieve effective digitalisation of the justice system, it was imperative to involve relevant stakeholders. Consequently, Malta sought assistance from the European Commission to support its digital reform through the development of a Digital Justice Strategy. As a result, the Maltese government adopted its own Digital Justice Strategy, which was launched in December 2021, following initial stakeholder consultations regarding the Action Plan designed to facilitate the implementation of the Strategy.

The Strategy’s main goals are to fully digitalise the justice system, enhance public access to the justice system and to improve the analytical capabilities and digital skills of the staff within the justice sector.

In order to achieve these goals, the security of the digital tools will be aligned with those set at EU level and the Strategy will undergo continuous audits to ensure alignment with the latest technology and innovation, including ongoing training programmes. User trust in the digital environment is essential; without it, the entire digital justice system could be compromised.

The Strategy has embraced a ‘Digital by Design and Digital by Default’ methodology, signifying a complete transition from the previous paper-based system to one that is predominantly digital.

It is expected that the Digital Justice Strategy, with an investment of around €300 000 co-financed by European funds, will improve the efficiency and quality of the Maltese justice system. In April 2022 the project was selected as the ‘Project in the Spotlight’ by the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM).

More information can be found here: Digital Justice. To download the Strategy, please click here.

‘JustizOnline (in German) is the digital public service platform of the independent Austrian courts and public prosecution offices, which provides digital access to judicial proceedings. Its goal is to enhance trust in the judiciary, eliminate existing barriers and ensure easy access to justice for the public. Each citizen can interact with the judiciary in a simple, digital way and submit personal judicial matters quickly and unbureaucratically. The services offered include selected online court procedures, 24 hours a day from any desktop or smartphone. The project extends the independent courts and public prosecution office services to include cutting-edge, charge-free, and transparent digital services. The highest security and accessibility standards are guaranteed.

The project JustizOnline, launched in 2018 following a ministerial proposal to digitalise the judiciary, had several objectives

• the creation of a digital access channel to judicial proceedings on a citizen platform
• the location and time-independent inspection of files and information on the state of the proceedings
• the availability of an overview of defined trial dates with immediate active information in case of any delays, cancellations, or other issues
• a modern and mobile usable publication platform with the possibility to register creditors in bankruptcy proceedings.

A broad range of citizens were involved on site at the court to test the developed prototypes. Within the implementation project, several internal user-friendly reviews were conducted on a use case-oriented workshop basis with judges and secretaries.

A homogenous and modern appearance of the judiciary is ensured by integrating previously isolated services. This is an essential factor in the public perception of the judiciary as a modern, easily accessible, citizen-oriented and professional public institution. With the creation of this platform, the Austrian judiciary provides state-of-the-art and citizen-friendly access to the judicial services, and become more transparent and comprehensible to citizens and businesses. In this way, it is increasing confidence in the judiciary as the third pillar of the rule of law and contributing to build a better Europe, enhancing legal certainty and peace.

JustizOnline is in continuous expansion with planification of several further services; therefore, the team is still working to enhance the platform and implement new features to address various target groups. At the core of the project, the task of the judiciary – the creation of legal certainty and peace – remains unchanged, and it is considered essential how these services arrive at the citizen. This is exactly where this new service comes into play and creates considerable benefits for all citizens and companies in Austria, through the fundamental redesign of the accompanying value-added processes.

JustizOnline also facilitates an optimisation of processes at court; the digital shift will enhance efficiency in the administration and will lead to reduced waiting and travel time as well as costs. Emissions are reduced due to cutting the need to travel and eliminating the need for printing thousands of pages due to digital file handling and electronic inspection. This project is therefore also making a contribution to protect the environment, which underlines the sustainability of this project from operational, financial, and environmental points of view.’

The project was awarded the second prize in the category Digital in the European Public Sector Award 2021.

Source: European Public Sector Award

Luxembourg’s legislation used to be primarily paper-based, making access difficult for people, businesses and civil servants, and sometimes also for ministries. However, this has been overtaken by a new paradigm: access, sharing and enriching legislative information. In this context, a change in the direction of digitalisation was necessary. The ‘Casemates’ project by the Ministry of State’s Central Legislation Service is part of an initiative to open and reuse data. This approach aligns with the concept of linked data or semantic web technologies, organising resources to enhance machine readability and providing them under an open license for reuse by businesses, associations, or any interested parties.

In January 2017, a comprehensive set of new applications and websites was launched. This ecosystem facilitates the sharing and interconnection of legal information across different applications, improving access to legislation for citizens and businesses. The major objectives behind this initiative were

• modernising the publication of the Official Journal
• facilitating accessibility and participation
• enabling access to public information
• introducing ‘Legislative Open Data’ for greater transparency and efficiency, better reflecting user needs.

A new portal for Luxembourg legislation, legilux.lu (in French) was established. This portal not only improved access to and the exchange of information, but also reduced legislative complexity. With the digitalisation of the publication process and standardisation of texts in legislative procedures, administrative costs were lowered. Additionally, better search results were provided on the portal and via search engines like Google, enabling users to easily access current legislation.

The project is considered successful. The quality, adaptability, and reusability of the solution, thanks to semantic web technologies, led to its adoption by other countries. For example, the Swiss federal government implemented the Casemates software, treaty management application, text publication application and legislative process monitoring application. These applications were customised, and the data migration was completed in just 18 months, becoming operational for the Swiss federal government since 1 January 2021.

In February 2021, the Italian government also decided to adopt the legislative data model of Luxembourg (jolux ontology) and Casemates applications to develop their new official journal.

The Casemate project not only reduces project costs and risk, but also enhances semantic interoperability between legislations of the European countries for the benefit of European citizens, professionals and companies.

Source: European Public Sector Award

Even before its Strategy for Modernising Justice Area in Poland 2014-2020 was approved, the Ministry of Justice had set up a new website in 2013: Justice System Statistical Information: Statistics Poland / Databases (in Polish).

This platform includes statistical databases, best practices, national and international data comparisons, and relevant terms and definitions. It is accessible to a wide audience, including justice professionals, NGOs, academics, and the general public, ensuring transparent data on the Polish justice system and supporting efficient, competent and effective justice. This accessibility enables social control and feedback and the platform itself facilitates informed decision-making by making relevant information readily available. The Ministry of Justice is committed to continuously updating and expanding the information available on the portal.

At the same time, three other IT tools are being continuously developed, to improve quality and increase accessibility of public service delivered by the justice system.

• The Information Portal aims to give authorised persons’ access by internet to information concerning ongoing proceedings in which they participate (https://www.gov.pl/web/sprawiedliwosc/portal-informacyjny).
• A Court Portal unifies different courts’ websites and creates a justice system contact point for the citizens (https://prs.ms.gov.pl/).
• The Court Rulings Portal publishes common courts’ rulings on the internet (https://orzeczenia.ms.gov.pl/).

Source: Ministry of Justice, Poland

In Vienna, a helpline has been set up to help victims of cybercrime. In 2021, cybercrime increased by 30 % in Austria. In most cases victims have lost money through online fraud (for example, via phishing emails or fraudulent websites). The City of Vienna therefore set up a Cybercrime Helpline. This is freely accessible for all victims, who can share their story and are being listened to. The City of Vienna also uses the website to raise awareness about cybercrime and tries to increase digital literacy among the local residents by providing free information on how to detect online fraud and how to respond in case of being a victim of cybercrime.

The Cybercrime Helpline is a joint project by the Vienna State Parliament and City Council, supported by expert organisations and specialised counselling centres. It took about 1½ years to launch the helpline at a cost of approximately €12 000. Employees of the helpline receive continuous training to be aware of new forms of cybercrime and to deal with conflict management and handling difficult situations.

Source: European Public Sector Award

This French project allows investigating authorities to receive complaints from victims of domestic violence directly within medical facilities. This system strengthens the protection of victims by providing them with a simplified procedure, enabling them to lodge a complaint at the time and place where the violence was initially reported. Plans are in place to expand this system across all of France.

As part of a broader effort by the French Ministry of Justice to promote good practices within all its departments, with a particular focus on combating domestic violence, this project aims to facilitate the reporting of violent acts by victims. It also ensures better management of the victims by reducing wait times for investigation services and creating a trustful environment so that victims can easily report acts of violence. This practice became widely adopted in 2020, with many jurisdictions signing protocols or conventions to define deployment modalities for this system.

Within the hospital setting, it is crucial to ensure the application of all victim rights under comfortable, dignified, and confidential conditions. This requires a dedicated room equipped with necessary furniture and materials for filing complaints, as well as coordination with other medical professionals and frequent meetings to address cases where a complaint has been filed within the hospital.

Regarding the role of the police, investigators, behaving as civilians with unmarked police vehicles, receive complaints from victims directly at medical facilities. For the heaviest cases and most severe violence, the referring doctor will invoke the family protection unit, consisting of six investigators that have received a national specific training.

Investigators can also make good use of the victim’s hospitalisation period, during which the victim is momentarily isolated from the aggressor to try to convince her to take action before potentially returning home. In line with this approach, regular engagement with the Medical-Legal team for conducting medical and psychological assessments of the victim is promoted.

This project won the 2021 European ‘Crystal Scales of Justice’ prize.

Further information: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cepej/2021-crystal-scales-of-justice-prize

The ‘Virtual Digital Interaction Desk’ (El escritorio virtual de interacción digital – EVID) is an initiative by the Ministry of Justice in Spain. Falling within the framework of the 2030 Justice Plan, this project aims at innovating and improving public justice services. Supported by European funds, EVID aligns with the goals of the Next Generation EU programme, promoting a more digital, ecological, and resilient Europe. This project forms part of a broader effort to modernise the justice system and meet the challenges of the digital age.

The Virtual Digital Interaction Desk (EVID) allows citizens to take care of procedures by videoconference, create and manage appointments, and also has the advantage of communicating with the Pre-cita service.

This automated tool provides legal certainty throughout the citizen care process, as communications will be encrypted, and there are guarantees of integrity.

An advancement involves the use of digitalising signature tablets for re-identifying individuals (non-cryptographic signatures) within an organisation or a secure area, during mixed appearances where participants are connected to the meeting room.

The EVID project transforms how citizens interact with the justice system. It aims to improve user experience for both citizens and businesses by offering remote services. The project also promotes work-life balance by enabling remote work for professionals and remote care for citizens. Importantly, EVID ensures that digital interactions hold the same weight as face-to-face ones.

The project has a strong environmental focus, aiming to reduce unnecessary travel and the associated carbon footprint. EVID also seeks to create a more inclusive justice system by providing equal opportunities for all citizens, regardless of location. Furthermore, the project aims to generate trust in remote interactions, promote innovation in citizen and professional dealings, and provide reusable systems for all administrations.

The EVID system allows citizens to manage procedures through video conferencing from any device. The platform offers a secure environment with features such as a predefined agenda, document sharing, session recording, and electronic evidence generation. To ensure a smooth and secure process, EVID integrates with other systems such as the Appointment Application for identification, the Justice Key for secure authentication, and a video conferencing system for secure recordings and information exchange. The project addresses security and privacy concerns by employing digital certificates, non-cryptographic digital signatures, secure communication channels, and encrypted data storage. Blockchain technology is also used to ensure the traceability and immutability of all events and documents within the EVID system.

The implementation of EVID has resulted in a safer, more social, inclusive, and environmentally friendly justice system. It offers cost savings through increased efficiency and brings justice closer to all citizens, particularly those in remote areas or facing mobility challenges. The project is constantly evolving, with an update introducing broader authentication options and improved functionalities. These advancements demonstrate the ongoing commitment to providing user-friendly and innovative solutions for the justice system.

Source, Ministry of Justice, Spain and European Public Sector Award

The French website justice.fr is the main source of information about judicial proceedings and any information linked to the French justice system. It is the one-stop shop website about the French judiciary for citizens and partners of the judiciary (lawyers, notaries, bailiffs).

Next to this website, France has also a more general website, service-public.fr, which has a broader approach dealing with all kinds of situations in a life of a citizen and relationship with public administration. This website also includes justice related questions.

In April 2023, the Ministry of Justice launched the mobile application Justice.fr which mirrors the website but adapted to mobile phones. The application aims to improve and simplify information for citizens, businesses and partners of the judiciary to access justice and enforce rights.

Origins

For citizens having to deal with the judicial system means often stress, as it is normally not frequently occurring in someone’s life. Hence, citizens require an easy access to information that is linked to the actual issue, the situation that they need to deal with.

Providing this information online means that some pedagogical approach is required to guide citizens and respond to their specific needs. This is again different for partners of the judiciary who already have some background knowledge and look for very specific information. Yet also these want an easy-go-to access that corresponds to their specific professional interactions with the judiciary.

An important trend regarding digitalisation is that many digital operations should be compatible with mobile phones. The mobile phone is the key tool for most of citizens and professionals to handle day-to-day interactions and to access online supported tools and online search.

At the launch of the mobile application the Minister of Justice (Eric Dupond Moretti) declared ‘I want the French to have in their pocket, on their mobile phone, the tools and resources they need to communicate with the legal world. I want justice to be closer, more protective and faster’.^[28]

The mobile application aims to provide ‘justice at hand’ meaning to accompany citizens in their research for information about their rights, requests and procedures. The app enables the user to

• find a nearby court or justice point using geolocation
• find out about rights and procedures, thanks to almost 8 000 factsheets on a range of subjects: family, civil status, employment, housing, consumer affairs, business, companies in difficulty, tax, health, road traffic offences, etc.
• calculate benefits (legal aid, maintenance, garnishment of wages)
• call help and guidance for support numbers
• access directories of legal professionals (lawyers, bailiffs, notaries, conciliators)

The application mirrors the content of the website – justice.fr - but provides more detailed tips and information, interlinks with other embedded websites. Justice services are being digitalised step by step and have been developed over time in silos. The application can provide one global personnel space where all these services are interlinked.

The creation of the application is part of the bigger digitalisation of justice project called ‘Portalis’. The idea is to transform justice in a way so as to dematerialise the judicial proceedings from the start of the proceedings until the decision is served.

Results

The mobile application was initially developed fairly quickly in about 3 months. It required, however, external support to build it for which a procurement procedure was put in place. In this case it was necessary then to develop a back-end that is compliant with security policies and compatible for management in-house of the Ministry – this took about 6 months.

The application is operational for more than 1 year. It has been specifically downloaded by those that have ongoing judicial procedure(s). The number of users mirrors the volume of users of the justice.fr website which is approximately 4 to 5 million users per year. The website justice.fr is somewhat concurring with other websites in place that inform about the French legal system like the website service-public.fr, or masecurite.interieur.gouv.fr, which links to criminal issues and information about criminal law. The latter impacts on the number of users. The app justice.fr mirrors the app masecurite.fr, which was the first application that was created in link to justice. A visual identify applies to all public websites and applications. The design of the application allows to integrate new functionalities over time such as, for example, in May 2024 created options to introduce proceedings at the family court, the guardianship judge, or bringing a civil claim.

A back-end office team has been created to deal with updates and content of the application. Because the application is downloadable for apple and android phones the team also needs to deal with the app stores, meaning that users may leave comments or requests.

Learning points

One of the first learning points was that before one can build an application, it requires the pre-existence of a highly developed website – meaning having rich content in place. Several factors should be taken into account when building an application

• how to ensure a secure backend – choice – what is manageable within the justice ministry
• who is in charge to animate the content of the website (as the application is closely linked to the justice website) and provide regular updates (changes to laws and regulations etc)
• mobile applications are downloaded via Google and Apple mobile stores – who provides replies to user feedback and comments; user feedback is also crucial to understand needs and preferences of target audiences
• setting out a yearly update plan to ensure constant improvement and adaptation of the application
• ensure accessibility of the of the app for users with disabilities
• control for interoperability with other services
• think about what type of services should be integrated in the future to ensure compatibility of the backend solution
• continuous user feedback (in the case of France also feedback from the physical justice consultation points - first contact for citizens) can provide further pointers to issues and for improvement of the app
• analytics contribute to track user behaviour and the app performance which also contributes to inform future updates
• planning for budget to extend new features of the app gradually.

Follow-up

The French Ministry of Justice has plans to continue to develop services for the app such as chat and call functions, for example. For this purpose, the Ministry made use also of funding available by the European Commission via the Technical Support Instrument from Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM). This has been of essential support to contribute to continue to develop the mobile application.

Source: Ministry of Justice, France

For further information: Litigants - Justice.fr: launch of the mobile application to facilitate access to justice

In 2019, virtual assistants named Zintis and Justs were introduced on websites linked to the justice system - https://www.ta.gov.lv/lv and https://elieta.lv/web/ - to help customers find the information they need. The assistant is a computer programme establishing a dialogue online between a human and a computer. It is available to customers at any time of the day and night, every day, which enables customers to find information outside the working hours of the authorities, when it is more convenient for them. The assistant helps customers by replying to questions, and also decreases the work of customer service specialists, replacing the technical routine work, enabling employees to focus on work with higher added value, and improving the efficiency of work of the authority.

The chatbot ‘Justitia’ of the BMJ is an interactive component of the JustizOnline platform (justizonline.gv.at). Justitia provides information on a wide range of digital information and services offered by the Austrian justice system. Content such as queries on the company register and land register, as well as downloads of relevant documents and forms with online submissions to courts and public prosecutors' offices are among the core areas. In addition, Justitia helps with questions about one's own legal procedures, provides an overview of the status, and navigates to file inspection and submissions for ongoing procedures.

Source: https://justizonline.gv.at/jop/web

Digital Immediacy and Non-Face-to-Face Services (www.mjusticia.gob.es) is a set of processes and tools that allow remote interactions and trust-building between both citizens and professionals, and public administration. This project, focused on secure identification of citizens and operators, is a joint effort of the Spanish Ministry of Justice, the State Secretariat for Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, and the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT). The following solutions have been established within the Digital Immediacy and Non-Face-to-Face Services.

• Justice key (Cl@ve Justicia). Originally developed by the AEAT, the Cl@ve system has been integrated into the Ministry of Justice application called Cl@veJusticia. It is a two-step identification system that uses a mobile phone and the data from individuals’ National Identity Document (DNI) or Foreigner Identification Number (NIE). It acts as an interface to ensure that judicial administration officials can securely identify individuals remotely.
• Remote court hearings (Vistas Judiciales telemáticas). The Royal Decree 16/2020 established telematic court hearings as the preferred method for conducting proceedings during the COVID-19 pandemic. To comply with this decree, the Ministry of Justice implemented technological systems including a high-quality video conferencing system, to conduct court hearing remotely.
• Appointment application (Cita previa). This service is accessed via the Judicial Electronic Headquarters. It allows to set up appointments remotely for professionals in the legal field, citizens, and businesses who would otherwise need to visit judicial offices in person for legal procedures.
• Virtual Digital Interaction Desktop (Escritorio Virtual de Interacción Digital - EVID). Integrated with the Appointment application, the Virtual Digital Interaction Desktop allows officials to handle procedures via video conferencing, create and manage appointments. This automated tool is encrypted and thus provides security throughout the entire process.

Sources: ¿Qué es? - Cl@ve, Unifying and Simplifying Identification for Spanish Online Public Services (for information in English)

A 2007 project ‘IT support for enforcement procedure based on authentic document’ identified the Slovenian paper-based system in courts as inadequate and set a goal that decisions should leave the court system within 2 working days to significantly speed-up judicial proceedings. The logistical solution was to move to secure electronic transfer (digitalisation and automation) and to centralise the process, ultimately delivering savings worth over 2 % of the courts’ budget.

The process

This outcome was not achieved overnight, but instead evolved through a sequence of milestones, each one leading from the other.

It started with the development of the 'postbook module' with the goal to enable the use of an external printing and enveloping contractor with sufficient capacity. The 'postbook module' was designed to securely transfer all the decisions in electronic form, along with its metadata (name, delivery address, and description of content) to the external contractor. Additionally, a special envelope (a 'machine envelope') was designed to support the new business process, which involved the following steps: printing; enveloping; and printing metadata on the (full) envelope.

The system came into effect on 1 January 2008. During 2008, 557 463 deliveries were made using the 'postbook module'. In 2009, this number more than doubled to 1 120 463, which amounts to approximately one in six of all court shipments each year. The fact that the shipments were produced (printed, enveloped) outside of the courts contributed to substantial savings. It was estimated that, in 2009, more than 72 person-years of staff effort were saved, and re-invested in accelerating the entire enforcement procedure. The impressive number of IT-supported deliveries and the outlook of its further growth, led to a new field of research in court logistics: the new business process was named 'postal highway'.

In alignment with the IT Strategy, the ‘postbook module’ has been re-used by every new IT system put in place. A project group was established to ensure interoperability of the module. To extend the use of the software to incoming and outgoing mail and to support other types of filing and/or delivery, a specific software, called ‘EVIP’ (the Slovenian acronym for ‘Registry of Incoming and Outgoing Mail’) was created. All the input/output interactions with courts are performed in a controlled and standardised fashion and logistic data can be monitored by the business intelligence system.

To minimise the costs and delivery times, an eDelivery module was introduced to EVIP. The system went live in 2011 for insolvency procedures and land registry. In 2011, over 121 000 eDeliveries were made, along with nearly 1.5 million deliveries using the 'postal highway'. In 2014, eDelivery was introduced to the enforcement procedure, lowering the load on the 'postal highway'. In 2015, e-Deliveries and ‘postalhighway’ combined represented more than 50 % of all deliveries.

Introduction of eFiling and eDelivery to EVIP

During the re-engineering of the land registry and insolvency IT systems, it was decided that electronic filing (eFiling) should be introduced. To further minimise the costs and delivery times, electronic delivery was introduced. A new functionality (module) was introduced to EVIP, called SVEV (Slovenian acronym for 'System for Secure Electronic Delivery'). The system went live on 1 February 2011 for insolvency procedures, with the land registry following on 1 May 2011. During 2011, 121 365 electronic deliveries were made using the SVEV module of EVIP, along with 1 591 498 deliveries using the 'postal highway'. In 2014, eDelivery was introduced into the enforcement procedure, boosting the numbers of electronic deliveries to 790 637, while lowering the load on 'postal highway' to 1 319 470. In 2015, the number of electronic deliveries grew to 1 291 192, along with 2 059 480 deliveries using the 'postal highway', together representing more than 50 % of all deliveries.

Related to these reforms Slovenia’s Supreme Court developed another eDelivery solution for the exchange of court documents and cases to make it compliant with the AS4 (Applicability Statement 4) profile of the OASIS ebMS standard. AS4 is an open standard for the secure and payload-agnostic exchange of business-to-business documents using web services. 

The new system, called ‘Laurentius’, was launched in 2016 and has been used ever since by all the 66 courts in Slovenia to exchange court documents and case information electronically and securely. To do so, it has been using a new software module which replaced the eDelivery software (used since 2011).

Success factors

EVIP initiative followed the strategic guidelines from Slovenia's IT Strategy, which identifies four components as the key success factors, each equally important to every IT-related project.

• Legislative. During the development of new services, it is crucial to have a two-way cooperation with the legislature. Without that, introduction of new services (e.g. 'postal highway' with its new envelope, electronic delivery, etc) is not possible.
• Technical. Use of adequate technology for the problem at hand, adhering to the IT strategy and the existing architecture of the IT system.
• Organisational. Every IT solution's success is tightly connected to the ability of an organisation to adapt to change, as well as to the flexibility of the IT solution to be able to provide added value to the users.
• Business and strategic. Every IT project should have a solid business objective (plan), which follows the strategic goals of the entire organisation.

Results

EVIP is now a central communications hub between entities across the Slovenian judicial system that participate in court procedures. It acts as a central register of incoming and outgoing deliveries (mail, messages, etc.), as a communication hub between entities, and as an integration layer with court's back-office applications.

The EVIP has had a significant impact on the performance of Slovenian courts, especially in the field of logistics (i.e. incoming and outgoing mail). The time needed for preparation and shipment of court documents has been significantly cut (see graph below), even for the court procedures that do not yet fully support electronic delivery. Before the introduction of EVIP, times were calculated in months – now they are calculated in days, or hours in the case of eDelivery, significantly shortening the entire length of court procedures. Moreover, court personnel have been relieved of the administrative work of printing, enveloping and shipping, leaving them with more time to focus on court procedures.

EVIP handles around 4.5 million deliveries per year, of which around one-third is still traditionally delivered, with electronic delivery and postal highway amounting to 27 % each.

.

The chart (below) shows the savings in terms of people each year. Due to a strategic decision that core IT systems should be developed in-house, the only attributable costs are salaries of the engineers involved with the project, estimated at €175 000 in total. Set against these direct costs, the cost savings of using the EPIV system, compared with the counter-case of not using it (‘reference costs’), are significant, rising to €4.2 million by 2015 - equivalent to more than 2 % of the courts’ budget. More information about the budget can be found here (in Slovenian).

Source: Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, Centre for Informatics - Special services - Courts of Justice

Efficient and trustworthy judicial systems are fundamental for any well-functioning democracy. The Lithuanian Court Information System (LITEKO IS) is an integrated information system used by the courts in Lithuania to manage and process judicial cases electronically. By digitalising court procedures and documentation, LITEKO IS’s purpose is to reduce administrative burdens, minimise errors, and expedite case handling. The system aims to provide better access to judicial information for the public and legal professionals, thus fostering transparency and trust in the judiciary.

Origins

Since its launch in 2004, the Lithuanian court system has relied on LITEKO IS as its core operational platform. The National Court Administration (NCA), an independent institution under the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania, is responsible for the management and administration of LITEKO IS.

The LITEKO IS, a game-changer in the Lithuanian court system, not only facilitates critical functions for judges and court administrators but also revolutionises public access to justice. It automates court-related data collection, processing and systematisation, and is a comprehensive repository for case materials. It enables seamless data exchange with public services and registries and supports delivering electronic court services to the public. Importantly, LITEKO IS covers all courts and processes within the Lithuanian General Court System, from district and appellate courts to specialised courts like the Supreme Administrative Court and Regional Administrative Courts (excluding the Constitutional Court, as it is not part of the Lithuanian General Court System). This comprehensive coverage ensures that all court documents are registered and stored in LITEKO IS, thereby ensuring a transparent and accessible justice system.

LITEKO IS maintains a comprehensive record of all court proceedings, even when paper forms are used. Each case is assigned a unique identifier, and the system tracks the case through all stages of the process. All procedural documents related to civil and administrative cases are fully digitalised; however, complete digitalisation has not been reached in criminal cases due to legal regulations requiring paper forms in specific instances (particularly cases involving confidentiality, security, and/or non-disclosure concerns). For example, civil and administrative case protocols can be recorded in audio format, but criminal cases still require paper protocols because audio recordings are not considered a suitable substitute.^[40]

Despite undergoing phased modernisation, LITEKO IS had become technologically outdated. The system's slow performance became the key impetus for a comprehensive modernisation initiative, which was carried out in two stages, described in detail below.

Results

Both stages of the LITEKO IS modernisation project yielded a series of tangible outcomes with a significant impact on Lithuanian courts.

• Knowledge transfer. Lithuania’s judicial system representatives' three study visits to Denmark, the Netherlands, and Slovenia facilitated knowledge exchange on best judicial IS management practices.
• Strategic development. A feasibility study explored advanced approaches to smart court resource management, which would address the root causes of administrative and organisational issues within the courts, thereby facilitating the effective resolution of problems as they arise.
• Model of court resources management. The developed model ensures efficient and transparent distribution of cases, ensuring an even workload for the courts. Case distribution algorithms are integrated into legislation and the modernised LITEKO2 IS. In the long term, this will allow for evaluating the costs of handling each case.
• Capacity building. Seven training programmes equipped over 2 000 LITEKO users and administrators with the necessary skills to leverage the modernised IS effectively. Additionally, 50 court mentors were trained to support their colleagues.
• Innovation exploration. The project initiated the development of Justis, a virtual assistant currently being trained as of 2024.

In addition, the modernisation of the LITEKO IS (and the storage of relevant data) indirectly contributed to optimising Lithuania's judicial system. By analysing caseload and judges’ workload data, the LITEKO has formed the base for significant judicial reform, which was implemented in 2018 and 2024.^[47]

The 2018 reform streamlined the court structure based on the territorial principle.^[48] The number of district courts was consolidated from 49 to 12 strategically located courts across the country: Alytus, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Marijampolė, Panevėžys, Plungė, Šiauliai, Tauragė, Telšiai, Utena, and the Vilnius Region (with 4-5 subdivisions). Additionally, a separate District Court of Vilnius City was established.

Building on this success, a further optimisation is planned for July 2024: the Plungė District Court will undergo a divisional reorganisation, with its rights and obligations divided between the Klaipėda District Court and the Telšiai District Court. This move will further optimise the workload across the court system in Lithuania.^[49]

NCA is committed to maintaining and updating the LITEKO2 IS for 5 years after its completion. The state budget allocated to administration and courts will determine further continuity of results.

The remaining 3^rd stage of the project is necessary to modernise LITEKO fully. The following tasks still need to be implemented

• development of integration interfaces with state or EU-level IS and registers (e.g. data exchange with key partners such as the Chamber of Bailiffs of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Prison Service, and Lithuanian Post and others; the European Case Law Identifier (ECLI)^[50] and interfaces with the e-Justice portal)
• data migration
• the development of the public electronic services portal
• launch of the modernised LITEKO2 IS into the production environment.

The LITEKO2 IS is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2024; this delay was necessary to accommodate the adoption of legal and regulatory changes related to optimising and reorganising Lithuania's court system, which will enter into force on July 1, 2024.

Learning points

Other Member States' public administrations can learn valuable lessons from Lithuania's experience with LITEKO IS. Lithuania achieved significant efficiency gains and enhanced transparency by modernising the entire judicial system through LITEKO IS. Leveraging external funding, such as the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, proved instrumental in financing large-scale modernisation initiatives.

However, the modernisation process also faced several challenges. The technological obsolescence of the original LITEKO has underscored the importance of ongoing maintenance and updates to prevent systems from becoming outdated. Operational challenges, including uneven workload distribution, inefficient data processing, and budgetary constraints amid unforeseen circumstances (like the COVID-19 pandemic), led to delays in project execution and highlighted the importance of realistic project planning and resource allocation.

Close collaboration within a team is essential when implementing such large-scale projects. This includes a cohesive team with interchangeable roles, and continuity is maintained through effective project management. Additionally, it is important to establish reliable methods for storing and sharing information, ensuring that it remains accessible to all team members, including new additions to the team.

Furthermore, before the beginning of the project, a detailed study is needed so that the team can fully understand the project’s scope and intended outcomes, providing a clear vision for everyone involved. Nevertheless, before embarking on such a project, it is important to confirm that the market has sufficient reliable and capable suppliers supporting the chosen technology. This ensures a smoother project execution and reduces the risk of disruptions. Lastly, adequate human and financial resources are needed to allow for the interchangeability of team members and faster achievement of goals.

In conclusion, the LITEKO2 project represents a leap forward for Lithuania's court system, as it enables essential functions for judges and court administrators and transforms public access to justice, improving how people interact with the legal system. Nevertheless, LITEKO's true strength lies in its long-term adaptability. Its new system's design (based on the OpenText document platform), which consists of layers of infrastructure, repository, service, development, and user applications, ensures its ability to evolve alongside the legal framework and court needs. This means that changes in the legal framework can be accommodated by updating specific system components rather than overhauling the whole platform. Thus, these features guarantee that LITEKO remains responsive to changes well into the future.

Follow-up

Looking ahead, LITEKO2 paves the way for the upcoming modernisation project of the Lithuanian Courts' E-Service Portal. This project will prioritise addressing the legal needs of external users and individuals. While the exact timeline remains to be determined, groundwork is underway to gather input from external users and court communities.

Source: Information Technology Division, Technology and Resource Management Department of National Courts Administration and Legal Services Policy Group, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Lithuania.

The Patras District Civil Court in Greece developed an online information system to digitalise public services. Hosted by the Greek Government’s Cloud Services, the system was developed in-house using open-source technologies.

The system offers a wide variety of services to citizens, lawyers, public notaries and third-party public administration agencies. It is also used by the judges and employees of the Patras District Civil Court to manage internal processes. Deployment of the system included the Public Administration Users’ Authentication Service (OAuth2.0, TAXISnet codes), an important functionality that enables the users to digitally sign certificates and documents.

Services offered to the citizens

Citizens can obtain information on the procedures of the Patras District Civil Court, download templates of documents and applications, make enquiries on judgment publication for their cases. Certification using TAXISnet codes enables submitting online applications for certificates and then receiving digitally signed certificates, booking appointments for disclaiming heritage, requesting copies of published last wills.

Services offered to the lawyers

‘In addition to services offered to the citizens, lawyers have the possibility to retrieve detailed information about their cases at the Patras District Civil Court and track case files. Also, they can generate reports including all their cases and programme automatic notifications (sent via email) on published judgment or newly scheduled initial hearings. Those functionalities require previous registration. However, the lawyers may submit applications for the issuance of certificates on behalf of their clients, using the account they already have at the Patras District Civil Court, without logging in with TAXISnet codes.’

‘By the time of the application for the European Public Sector Award, the system had more than 5 900 active citizen user accounts and more than 600 active lawyer accounts that were served. With the help of the platform, more than 16 000 cases were registered, and more than 22 500 certificates were retrieved.’

Sources: https://www.eirinodikeio-patras.gov.gr/, European Public Sector Award

The strategic Justiz 3.0 initiative in Austria was set up in 2014 to improve IT support for various user groups of the justice administration. It takes thereby a holistic approach and focuses on all operations of the justice system. In practice, this means the creation of a file management system that is completely digital and cases are fully electronically handled.

A first pilot was launched in 2016 focusing on the digital file management in a few courts. During this pilot users were involved from an early stage to be able to get their feedback included early in the process. After the running of some successful pilots, Justiz 3.0 has been expanded to more areas, such as decision-making support and register-keeping.

When Justiz 3.0 started, a Judicial Digital Workplace (JDAW) was set up to support integrated working across the various justice system applications. As a consequence, judiciary staff could automatically work in all applications with a file number. More specifically, this means that once a file number has been created, it no longer needs to be entered again when additional applications are opened for that file reference number.

In 2019, Justiz 3.0 was rolled out at all regional and district courts (this was a piloting of digital file management in general civil proceedings). More pilots followed and from 2023 criminal court proceedings were also fully digitalised.

From the end of 2023, all new cases in civil and judicial proceedings have been handled digitally by all Austrian courts and all public prosecutors’ offices. Around 160 courts and prosecution services are now benefiting from the digitalisation of file management in civil, criminal and justice administration matters. In addition, approximately, 700 hearing rooms have been adapted for hearings with digital files. It is expected that by the end of 2025 the whole Austrian justice administration will have become digital.

The judiciary digitalisation has had both advantages for staff working in courts and for the public. For staff, the filing systems have become less time-consuming and waiting lists have been reduced. With the file number it is possible for several people to simultaneously process files. This also helps citizens, who are able to remotely check the status of files and personal presence is no longer needed in all cases. Via JustizOnline (a digital information and service platform), files can be viewed from a PC or smartphone to check the status of proceedings.

Although Justiz 3.0 is a relatively new project, 2023 figures show that more than 4,000 users are digitally accessing their files, and 1.1 million cases are managed digitally.

Austria has, partly thanks to Justiz 3.0, one of the most technically advanced judiciaries in Europe, which is underlined through the regular top rankings in European benchmarking.

Sources include Justice 3.0 - BMJ

Spain's Data-Driven Justice project supports the European Data Strategy by emphasising data-driven decision-making within the justice system. Led by the Ministry of Justice and managed by the State Technical Committee for Electronic Judicial Administration, this initiative involves regional administrations and judicial bodies. It has two main goals

• create an accessible data platform integrating various sources from justice administration systems and other government agencies for a comprehensive view of justice operations
• shift from a document-driven to a data-driven justice system by establishing a common open platform, defining and refining indicators, ensuring regulatory compliance, and promoting a data-driven strategy.

The project's architecture includes

• a data warehouse for standardised collaboration between administrations and organisations, available at https://datos.justicia.es/
• statistical dashboards for data visualisation and analysis to support evidence-informed policies
• georeferencing tools for advanced visualisations and insights at national and municipal levels.

Adhering to a data manifesto ratified by all involved parties, the project ensures responsible data management, treating data as a public good and upholding cybersecurity and personal data protection standards. The ultimate aim is a more efficient, transparent, and citizen-centric justice system.

Source: European Public Sector Award

LVwG Styria is a digital public service platform of the independent Regional Administrative Court of Styria, providing digital access to appeal procedures. The project aims to enhance trust in the judiciary, eliminate existing barriers, and ensure easy access to justice for the public. Each citizen can interact with the judiciary in a simple, digital way and submit personal judicial matters quickly and unbureaucratically. The services offered include selected online court procedures, available 24 hours a day and without local restrictions, from any desktop or smartphone. The project extends the independent court services to include cutting-edge, charge-free, and transparent digital services. The highest security and accessibility standards are guaranteed.

The project LVwG Styria originated following a need to replace an outdated application from 1992 that was used to support the resolution of appeal procedures. The project had several objectives in mind

• the creation of a universal digital solution for file access across the entire state administration through the state’s citizen portal (Bürgerportal)
• the introduction of a comprehensive electronic administrative procedure in the complaints area
• the introduction of an electronic interface between the IT system and the nationwide accounting system to automate the recording of any costs incurred in the appeal process
• digitally managing decisions and legal sentences, text passages, and comments for the creation of decisions
• digitally handling general meetings and committees and collecting key figures for the statistics of the activity report.

A broad range of citizens were involved on site at the court to test the developed prototypes. Within the implementation project, several internal user-friendly reviews were conducted on a use-case oriented workshop basis with judges and secretaries.

A homogenous and modern appearance of the judiciary is ensured by integrating previously isolated services. This is an essential factor in the public perception of the judiciary as a modern, easily accessible, citizen-oriented, and professional public institution. With the creation of this platform, the Styrian judiciary provides state-of-the-art and citizen-friendly access to the judicial services and become more transparent and comprehensible to citizens and businesses. In this way, it is increasing confidence in the judiciary as the third pillar of the rule of law and contributing to build a better Europe, enhancing legal certainty and peace.

LVwG Styria is in continuous expansion with the planification of several further services; therefore, the team is working to enhance the platform and implement new features to address various target groups. At the core of the project, the task of the judiciary – the creation of legal certainty and peace – remains unchanged, and it is considered essential how these services arrive at the citizen. This is exactly where this new service comes into play and creates considerable benefits for all citizens and companies in Austria, through the fundamental redesign of the accompanying value-added processes.

LVwG Styria also facilitates an optimisation of processes at court; the digital shift will enhance efficiency in the administration and will lead to reduced waiting and travel time as well as costs. Emissions are reduced due to cutting the need to travel and eliminating the need for printing thousands of pages due to digital file handling and electronic inspection. This project is therefore also making a contribution to protect the environment, which underlines the sustainability of this project from operational, financial, and environmental points of view.

For further information: https://www.lvwg-stmk.gv.at/ (in German), European Public Sector Award

The Court Administration of Latvia is a digital public service platform of the independent Latvian courts and Land Registry Offices, providing digital access to judicial proceedings (civil, criminal and administrative).

The eCase portal allows unregistered users to follow progress of a case having access to basic information and data, such as the location of the case, adopted decisions, outcome of proceedings, whether the court’s decision entered into force, as well as the name of judge that examined the case. The parties of the case can access the specific files more in detail by registering to the platform and authentication processes such as eID card and eSignature. If the person does not have the means to do the authentication process online, it can do otherwise by presenting physically at the court in charge of the case.^[51] The usage is granted for 24 months. The eFile also includes audio and video files in cases where parties followed the proceedings from distance.

The eCase is also available for criminal cases for investigation stage and during court proceedings.

The Court Administration of Latvia also facilitates an optimisation of processes at court; the digital shift will enhance efficiency in the administration and will lead to reduced waiting and travel time as well as costs. Emissions are reduced due to cutting the need to travel and eliminating the need for printing thousands of pages due to digital file handling and electronic inspection. This project is therefore also making a contribution to protect the environment, which underlines the sustainability of this project from operational, financial, and environmental points of view.

In the future, solutions for alternative dispute resolution will also be integrated into the eCase system.

Source: https://www.at.gov.lv/en/jaunumi/par-notikumiem/it-is-now-possible-to-register-on-e-case-portal-with-identification-means-issued-by-court-administration-12200

In Germany, the judicial system is largely decentralised with each Bundesländer having significant responsibilities over their own judicial administration. This has resulted in great differences between the administrations of each judicial system, with states having their own filing management system. Having 16 different types of software has proven to be costly and inefficient, and led to fragmented and unaligned justice systems, with substantial differences in the level of digitalisation between justice administrations across Länder.

The project Gemeinsames Fachverfahren (GeFa), launched by the federal government in 2023 and applying to all Bundesländer, aims at modernising and aligning the judicial system in the country. The GeFa project is setting up a uniform and nationwide programme, which applies to all ordinary courts, prosecutor’s offices and specialised courts.

GeFa is a user-friendly and modern application that standardises data recording, processing and management across all Bundesländer. It thereby integrates 20 external applications which operate across three distinct infrastructure environments. GeFa uses a combination of different agile methodologies (SAFe framework and Scrum), which is a novelty in the German justice system. Agile in an umbrella term for different software development processes. The Agile Manifesto supports teams and business who want to innovate and adapt quickly, while also mitigating risks. The benefits of making use of this combination of agile methodologies are that there is a continuous development cycle, allowing for rapid feedback from technical, legal experts and end users. User experiences get priority, for example through a professional user interface design, user group testing and accessibility compliance in line with EU regulations. GeFa also uses artificial intelligence (AI) for the automation of case management tasks and to support user experience.

The GeFa project has a Programme Steering Committee with representatives of various states: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia, under the Bavarian Presidency. There is a separate State Advisory Council with representatives of all 16 Bundesländer. Through this Council, the states can express their views and are kept informed on developments.

GeFa influences the work of around 100 000 end users, including legal professions and administrative staff. All 16 Bundesländer are using the same software to administer their justice, while at the same they still keep control as the various tasks and requirements can be implemented in different ways depending on the federal regulations in each state.

Although it is expected that GeFa will increase the efficiency of the justice administration and improve the user experience, it is too early to know the results of the project. In February 2024 GeFa was first tested in Karlsruhe, Düsseldorf and Darmstadt by judiciary employees, followed by testing in Berlin, Koblenz, Bad Vilbel, Hamburg and Rostock in May 2024.

Sources European Public Sector Award and GeFa - The Joint Specialist Procedure

An AI application to support judges in formulation of decisions in a similar manner (similar to other cases) in the area of flight passenger rights – was developed in response to automated tools by legal representation companies (lawyers). The latter are able to submit a high number of court claims to due to automated tools. This helps to speed up decision-making in court cases and to support judges with an additional tool.

A pilot project called Frankfurt Electronic Judgment Configurator Frankfurt (’Frauke’ – Frankfurter Urteils-Konfigurator Elektronisch) has been run at the local court in the field of air passenger rights. The pilot project used data from boarding passes, flight times, weather data and data resulting from previous decisions in similar cases. AI is hereby used as an additional piece of support for judges when deciding in an air travel dispute.

More specifically, this means that the individual data is automatically read out for the decision. The judge selects a case type with a click, and the software compiles the finished decision from preconfigured text modules. Of course, the judge still examine, fine-tune, review and approve the decision. All text modules remain fully editable and contribute to further learning of the tool. The tool contributes to accelerate administrative processes specifically in mass claims – concerning the same flight for example. It is not the intention that AI would replace actual decision-making by judges, but to support a quicker processing of decisions.

The regions of Brandenburg and Hesse will take over the use of AI in settlement cases regarding travel delays with flights. The Ministry of Justice of Brandenburg has allocated €200 000 for the use of AI applications in 2023 and 2024. Hesse will try out an AI tool which can analyse pleadings, read out metadata and use text modules to support judges when preparing their judgment.

For further information: Hessen Justiz - Hesse and Brandenburg cooperate on the AI project ‘FraUKe’ (in German), Digitalisation of civil proceedings in Germany | Global law firm | Norton Rose Fulbright

The Spanish Ministry of Justice has faced a significant challenge of an increasing backlog of files and requests. Accumulating over time, the backlog limited the Ministry’s capacity to meet its obligations effectively. Combined with increased migration in Spain, the situation led to delays in critical procedures, including the granting of nationality by residence.

As part of its digital transformation journey, the Ministry decided to address this pressing issue and recognised that manual processes were no longer sustainable and sought to automate repetitive tasks. Their goal was twofold: reduce the backlog and enhance overall efficiency. Inspired by the digital agenda and supported by European funds, the Ministry streamlined its operations and robotic process automation (RPA) has been implemented in different tasks and processes.

• Transmission of operation receipts between the Judicial Deposits and Consignments Accounts System (Cuentas de Depósitos y Consignaciones Judiciales - CDCJ) was automated, saving over 100 000 hours / year and enabling the processing of 160 000 expungements in 1 week.
• The process of granting nationality by residence was also automated leading to savings of 157 000 hours of work (between July 2022 and January 2023), over 214 000 nationality applications reviewed and over 100 000 granting proposals.
• Registration, distribution, and processing of requests arising from Law 8/2021 on the review of disability measures in judicial proceedings was automated.
• Electronic auction management in the region of Murcia was also successfully automated.
• The process of automatic handling of European Investigation Orders (EIOs) through the e-Evidence Digital Exchange System (eEDES) and transfer of these requests to the CJI-Cris Portal for processing was successfully implemented.

To design, implement and drive process automation across all areas of the Judiciary and its related functions effectively, the Ministry of Justice established an Automation Excellence Centre (Centro de Excelencia de Automatización - CEA). This new organisational model elevated governance and project architecture, enabling acceleration of existing processes and reducing the workload on Judiciary personnel. On the administration side, the RPA processes are managed centrally by the Directorate-General for (Dirección General para la Transformación Digital de la Administración de Justicia - DGTDAJ), which is in constant dialogue with various departments of the Ministry discussing which processes can be further automated.

Key benefits of RPA implementation include

• automation of simple and repetitive tasks, enabling judicial bodies to concentrate on tasks where they can add greater value
• light and rapid deployment of the technology, as RPA is non-invasive and doesn’t require significant adjustments to the existing technology architecture
• overall process performance improvement by eliminating bottlenecks and enabling 24/7 utilisation.

RPA in Justice was the second prize winner of the European Public Sector Award (EPSA) 2023-24 in the Digital Transformation category. Moreover, the project received several other awards

• winner of AMETIC 2022 in the Social & Public IA Award category
• winner of SS&C Blue Prism 2023 in the Innovation in Public Administration category
• finalist of EnerTIC Awards 2023
• finalist of SOCINFO 2023

Sources: https://www.administraciondejusticia.gob.es/-/robotizacion-de-procesos-judiciales,

The Ministry of Justice receives an award for its robotic process automation projects (mjusticia.gob.es), Presentación de PowerPoint (aslan.es), Automatización CDCJ-Minerva (justicia.es), European Public Sector Award

In France, DataJust, an automated data processing system, was authorised by a decree on 27 March 2020 to develop an algorithm for evaluating public policies, creating a benchmark for bodily injury compensation, and aiding dispute resolution. The algorithm records the amounts requested, offered, and allocated to victims for each type of damage. This initiative aimed to establish a compensation benchmark for various bodily injuries adjudicated by judges. Bodily injury litigation was chosen due to its repetitive nature and the need for quantified responses based on numerous criteria.

The algorithm’s development required access to personal data from hundreds of thousands of decisions on personal injury cases. DataJust initially relied on decisions from judicial and administrative courts of appeal between 2017 and 2019. The software aimed to provide a database for compensation amounts and an indicative reference framework for judges. The Ministry of Justice also intended to use the ‘Dintilhac nomenclature’ as a reference for personal injuries. The goal was to develop an algorithm providing a reference framework for each damage item to determine average compensation based on recurring criteria.

In January 2022, the Ministry of Justice abandoned the DataJust project due to concerns from stakeholders, particularly magistrates, who feared the tool would standardise legal action and reduce their independence. Despite its potential to aid decision-making, the project faced technical challenges. The algorithm’s development relied on a large volume of judicial decisions for training, but extracting relevant information from these text-based decisions proved difficult. The specific form and syntax of court decisions made it hard to distinguish the final awarded amount from other mentioned amounts. To overcome this, standardising court decision drafting or developing natural language analysis methods specifically for French legal language could be considered. However, these options could constrain judges in providing case-specific responses.^[59]

The DataJust project was also intended to respond to another tool available to lawyers – legaltech product Case Law Analytics which uses AI to estimate specific risks linked to a case and to advise about a strategy to defend the client. Case Law Analytics uses data from court of appeal decisions^[60] to advise about tendencies of compensation for permanent functional impairment for example, demonstrating important differences about compensation awarded by courts in different court districts. This shows that public administration projects work alongside legal tech solutions.

Sources: Données personnelles - DataJust | Justice.fr, Case Law Analytics - Simulez les décisions de Justice

The use of algorithms for dispute resolution could provide a fair, expedited and cost-efficient option for EU citizens, but there was a lack of implementation of such a model. The Conflict Resolution with Equitative Algorithms (CREA) project^[61] uses algorithms to assist in resolving civil disputes, potentially streamlining national and cross-border proceedings in the EU. The project’s goal is to eliminate differences caused by various national laws across EU countries. It focuses on applying algorithms to resolve disputes involving the allocation of goods or issues, such as inheritance disputes or the division of marital assets in a divorce.

The project also aims to develop new algorithms to distinguish available rights from national mandatory rules. Another initiative is to establish a ‘European Common Ground of Available Rights (ECGARs)’ using algorithms for better settlements. The final stage involves developing software that might in the future ensure integration into the European e-Justice portal. The CREA approach allows judges and lawyers to assist disputants in reaching a fair, balanced, and satisfactory solution. This approach benefits EU citizens by providing a cost-effective way to access justice.

Research examined the use of Conflict Resolution with Equitative Algorithms (CREA) in resolving civil disputes, particularly asset distribution in divorce and inheritance cases. The findings showed that CREA software can effectively assist in dispute resolution at both national and cross-border levels. The establishment of ECGARs, a significant achievement of this study, helps address disparities in laws among EU Member States regarding cross-border asset division. Although the study was based on a small sample of EU legal systems, the results suggest that the CREA project was effective in its testing phase. However, further research is needed to examine the results and user feedback on the CREA model’s applicability and efficiency, and to explore the legal systems of all EU Member States.^[62]

Source: CREA PROJECT (crea-project.eu)

Digital data and traces play an increasingly important role as proof in criminal cases. The volume, variety and variation of this data is growing rapidly. In order to interpret this data for optimal use in forensic research, there is a need for a system that helps categorise, analyse and give relevance to data. To cope with this need, The Netherlands Forensic Institute developed an open digital forensic platform with the aim to support investigative services, the Public Prosecution Service and criminal law justice. The launch of the digital forensic platform, better known under the name of ‘Hansken’, was stimulated after a child pornography case in 2010, during which the police did not have sufficient means to investigate relevant data.

How does it work?

All users of the platform, have their own Hansken installed within their own organisation. Per case, the investigative team imports all extracted data from the seized items, such as mobile phones, computers and USB’s, into Hansken. Using the Hansken Query Language, the platform makes all digital traces in a case easily accessible. It also facilitates collaboration between case investigators, data scientists and digital experts in the investigations. A very important aspect of Hansken is that the traces are especially made accessible to the tactical investigators, which gives them a greater part in the digital investigation. An important transformation in digital forensics.

Big data

Hansken is specifically suitable for investigations that contain large amounts (up to hundreds of Terabytes) of digital data. And the Hansken platform is scalable (using frameworks as Hadoop and Elastic), which means that partners can process large amounts of data using a distributed network.

Artificial Intelligence

To reach the most effective way of investigating the data, there is also an increasing integration of different AI models into the platform, such as speech-to-text, text recognition, translation, semantic search and object detection.

Working together in a community

The platform is more than just a tool. It is also a community in which users share forensic knowledge and work together on the development of the platform. And the Hansken Community is growing. In 2024, the platform is used by governmental organisations in 15 countries. Partners (law enforcement and academia) set up their own Hansken infrastructure on premise and are fully responsible for their implementation of Hansken. More importantly, they are allowed to extend their implementation with additional functionality and share those developments with the community. This way, digital forensic knowledge is strengthened and enlarged by (inter)national cooperation. Parties can connect existing tools and libraries (formats) to the platform and develop their own extensions and plugins using Hansken API’s (application programming interfaces).

Viewing facility for lawyers

Next to the criminal investigators involved in an investigation, public prosecutors, judges and lawyers have access to the same sources and see the same context of the digital data. This helps to make the trial as fair as possible (principle of the ‘equality of arms’). Lawyers can also view the data from their office.

For further information: European Public Sector Award