DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE JUDICIARY

Digital transformation, or the use of technology to transform analogue processes into digital ones, affects all areas of life, including the judiciary. An example of this is the digitisation of the judiciary, which has been a popular topic in legal community for some time.

The need for greater digitisation of the judiciary has long been signalled. It was not until the COVID-19 pandemic that this process was accelerated, leading to the immediate introduction of solutions that had hitherto been in the design phase. The reform of the justice system, which had been postponed for years, took place under duress. This resulted, inter alia, in chaotic and inconsistent internal solutions hastily implemented by courts in the face of the pandemic. This problem particularly concerned aspects of the use of the remote mode and the lack of court e-files. It is necessary to analyse the problem very deeply, as well as to think about the introduction of solutions in accordance with the Constitution and European standards. Over 93% of lawyers - judges, advocates, legal advisers, prosecutors - believe that the Polish justice system does not make adequate use of new technologies. Nearly 90 percent also claim that legislative changes fail to keep up with technological developments - these are the main conclusions of the analyses contained in the report by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the digital revolution in courts has already taken place. At a recent press conference, the Ministry boasted about the completed projects, such as full computerisation of the National Court Register or e-delivery. According to the Ministry's data, as of July 2021, 13.5 million documents have already been transferred through the Courts Information Portal, including about 3.4 million deliveries. Additionally, more than 3,500 courtrooms in Poland have been equipped with digital audio-video equipment for recording hearings. In this way, approx. 10.3 million hearings have already been recorded in this way, including over 9.4 million after 2015. The parties to the proceedings may access the recordings of the hearing through the Court Information Portal. The recordings fulfil the role of an electronic protocol, as a result of which detailed written protocols are no longer needed for electronically recorded hearings, which significantly reduces the time a citizen has to spend in court.

According to the Ministry of Justice, thanks to the new regulations, almost one third of proceedings in courts in Poland take place online. A revolution can certainly be described as the introduction of remote hearings since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, over 300,000 hearings have been held remotely since July 2020. Currently, remote hearings are regulated under the temporary provisions of the Act on special solutions related to preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and crisis situations caused by them under Article 15zzs1 in force during the period of the state of epidemic emergency or state of epidemic declared due to COVID-19 and within one year from the cancellation of the last one.

The system works, but it is apparent that it lacks comprehensive regulation and training for court employees. There are also no provisions unifying e.g. the issues related to openness of these proceedings or participation of the public. Some courts directly indicate that it is not possible to ensure participation of the public in e-trials. There are also significant differences between courts in terms of the software used by courts to conduct sittings and hearings remotely. A study conducted by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights shows that the Jitsi Meet application is used by almost all courts of appeal and 33 regional courts. Next to it, the most popular is the Avaya Scopia platform used by six appellate courts and 33 circuit courts. Apart from the above-mentioned, courts also use the MS Teams platform (two courts of appeal and 11 regional courts), Cisco Webex (nine regional courts), Skype (three regional courts) and ZOOM (Regional Court in Legnica).

One of the more innovative projects in the pipeline is the "Court in the Smartphone". According to the Ministry's announcement, cases will be settled in the simplest and most convenient way via a smartphone. The system will be integrated with the mObywatel application and through it, it will be possible, among others, to take part in an online hearing, send a letter to a court confirmed by a Trusted Profile or read a digitised file.

The digital transformation of the judiciary is advancing at a rapid pace. Now is the time to fine-tune the resulting solutions in accordance with Polish and EU law while observing the principles of proper legislation. This applies in particular to remote hearings and e-service. In planning new solutions, the greatest care should also be taken to avoid the so-called digital exclusion and ensure that citizens have access to justice to the same standard.