“PROMOTING CYBERJUSTICE IN SPAIN THROUGH CHANGE MANAGEMENT”
SRSS/S2019/033
Co-operation project
between the Ministry of Justice of the Kingdom of Spain and
the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ)
funded by the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission
Director General,
Secretary general,
Deputy Director,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure and an honour to be with you this morning, almost two years since this significant project has been launched in Summer 2020.
A couple of months before this launch, the Covid-19 Pandemic had taken most of us by surprise, forcing everyone to adjust to new realities – and making the need to be able to rely on solid ICT tools even clearer than what was already the case - in Judiciaries as in other fields.
But when it comes to the development of justice information systems, strong guarantees are necessary.
It should not call into question the basic principles that underpin judicial activities and that are guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights –
Respect of the fundamental principles of the trial, essential guarantees of our judicial systems, such as:
- the primacy of the rule of law,
- the independence and impartiality of the judge,
- the principle of adversarial proceedings, or
- the protection of fundamental freedoms.
For 20 years, the European Convention for the Efficiency of Justice - CEPEJ – has been supporting the improvement of the quality and efficiency of European judicial systems - and strengthening the court users’ confidence in such systems.
It is supporting its member states in the modernisation of their justice systems, by developing tools with a view to offering a framework and safeguards to create and use ICT and AI mechanisms in this field. These do not constitute an end in themselves, but a means available to policymakers, professionals and parties to proceedings, further extending their effects for improving the efficiency and quality of justice though ICT.
For that purpose, the CEPEJ has developed and adopted several documents, starting with the first European Ethical Charter on the use of artificial intelligence in judicial systems – an innovative text, setting out principles to guide the development of AI tools in European judicial systems.
It also produced Guidelines on how to drive change towards Cyberjustice, accompanied by a Toolkit, take stock of existing solutions at the European level, and aiming at helping policymakers master the change process towards cyberjustice.
And, last but not least, the recent Guidelines on videoconferences in courts;
As well as the Guidelines on electronic court filing (e-filing) and digitalisation of courts.
The first ones provide a set of key measures that states and courts should follow to ensure that use of videoconferencing in judicial proceedings does not undermine the right to a fair trial, as enshrined in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and meets the requirements of the Council of Europe’s Data Protection Convention – “Convention 108”. The purpose is to provide states with a framework aiming at eliminating any risk of a violation of the parties' rights during remote hearings, in particular their right to be heard and to actively participate in proceedings, and the right of defence.
The second set of Guidelines defines a number of key measures that states should follow when designing and implementing an e-filing system and pursue digitalisation of courts, thus establishing a digital channel that enables the interaction and exchange of data and e-documents between courts and court users.
Allow me to also add that the CEPEJ has also established a European Cyberjustice Network, composed of up to 3 representatives per member state or observer, aiming to be a platform to share good practices and benefit from peers’ experience, disseminate Cyberjust tools, gather Feedback and input, run survey questions to support the development of future tools.
With the support of this project, Director General Aitor Cubo presented to the members of the European Cybercrime Network the Spanish Draft law on digital efficiency, its objectives and key lessons, at an ad hoc seminar held last month.
Also the CEPEJ’s Working Group on Cyber-justice has ambitious plans ahead, in line with the CEPEJ 2022-2025 Action Plan “Digitalisation for a better Justice”, among which:
- Firstly, to set up a Resource Centre on Cyberjustice and Artificial Intelligence, together with the CEPEJ Working group on quality of justice; it will provide free and open access to existing cyberjustice applications in public use, for member states and all justice professionals interested in these matters. This could be completed with legislation, software, other resources related to Cyberjustice and AI.
- Secondly, to develop Guidelines on e-auctions, and
- Thirdly, to develop Guidelines on the development of public jurisprudence databases, focusing on the use of metadata and anonymization.
Based on the adopted instruments, as well as the experts recommendations provided in 2020 under the first phase of the project, the CEPEJ has supported for the past two years further promotion of cyberjustice in Spain through change management.
Within the project a series of workshops and thematic meetings were held as of December 2020, with the aim to provide and exchange necessary information between Spanish partners, CEPEJ experts and CEPEJ member states representatives:
· On organisational transformations of court systems in the context of digitalisation;
· On good practices on the use of innovative technologies in the justice field;
· On regulatory approaches to the deployment of electronic judicial procedures;
· An on draft Law on Digital Efficiency Measures of the Public Service of Justice.
Furthermore, requests to provide information covering recent normative, organisational, managerial and technological developments related to court hearing and judicial organisation in a digital context have also been sent during the project lifespan to CEPEJ members.
This led to major outputs:
1. A feasibility Study for Electronic Judicial Procedure Regulations
2. A handbook for the Implementation of Cyberjustice Projects in Spain
3. Due to COVID19, the first component underwent a complete overhauling and the initially envisaged objective of supporting a national audit of cyberjustice solutions in Spain was replaced by the objective of providing support to the MoJ in developing proposals for improving the judicial organisation of Spain in the context of digitalisation.
We will hear more in detail directly from our partners and CEPEJ experts.
Everyone has greatly contributed to the project’s success during a difficult time.
The Ministry of Justice has shown commitment and ownership of this project, with sustainable results and long-lasting implications for the future. We are very thankful for that.
I thank would also like to thank very much the European Commission and, in particular, DG REFORM for financing this project and entrusting the Council of Europe and CEPEJ with its implementation; and for their flexibility and support to overcome the challenges this past two years have brought us.
And last but not least, I thank the CEPEJ experts for the tremendous effort they have made to provide Spanish partners with thorough analyses and valuable advice on their path to further promoting cyberjustice, as well as to the European Cyberjustice Network members who have provided their contributions to the outputs throughout the project.
Spain is reaching a remarkable qualitative advancement in regulating the prerequisites, the processes, the underlying safeguards, and the effects of justice digitalisation progressions that are common for many European countries. Spain is also a pioneer in numerous regards, promoting innovations and testing new technologies and related regulations in fields where there are no well-established European standards. Congratulations for this.
I wish to the Spanish Judiciary all the best in their endeavours for a successful reform.
And I look forward to our future co-operation.
Thank you!