Institute of Justice from Warsaw launched a research team “Administrative justice reform” within the implementation of the research project “COMPARATIVE RESEARCH PLATFORM 2023” Asst. Prof. Kristian Turkalj, Ph.D. was appointed as member of the research team. The title of Turkalj’s research is “Digitization of judicial proceedings in administrative matters as a means of ensuring the right to a fair trial“. The aim of research is to analyse how ICT resources (mainly digitalisation) could be used more often in administrative court proceedings, all with the aim of speeding up these proceedings, facilitating citizens’ access to court files and reducing costs for the parties participating in these proceedings. Also, the aim is to propose a relevant legal framework concerning digitalisation of the Administrative Judiciary in order to conduct administrative proceedings in impartial, efficient and transparent manner, and thus contributing to the respect of the right to a fair trial from Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
The legislative framework for digitalisation of Administrative Justice System should provide an impartial, efficient and transparent judicial system, which ensures fair and fast proceedings in resolving administrative disputes, as well as ensuring the rights of individuals. The impact of digitization of the judiciary goes beyond the pure level of modernization of the judiciary and becomes one of the key tools for the protection of the right to a fair trial. The aforementioned rights are exercised in administrative proceedings before an administrative authority, while judicial protection is exercised in an administrative dispute before an administrative court. Unlike civil and criminal judicial proceedings, judicial protection in administrative matters is usually preceded by mandatory proceedings before an administrative authority. In line with article 6 (Right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights “in the determination of his civil rights and obligations everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time”. Considering the specifics of exercising civil rights in administrative matters, digitalisation of administrative court proceedings could be an essential tool to strengthen the impartiality of the judiciary through random and automatic allocation of cases.
Digitalisation of the judiciary also contributes to better management of courts and court proceedings by providing reliable statistical data for monitoring the work of judges and tracking the progress of court cases. It can also be a tool for better control and transparency of administrative procedures by ensuring citizens’ access to their court cases remotely (online). Furthermore, digitalization can be a tool of increasing the efficiency of the judiciary and speeding up court proceedings by introducing electronic communication between administrative authorities, citizens and the court itself.
Results of research will be presented at International Scientific Conference which will be held15-17 November, 2023 in Warsaw. Also, results will be published in a paper “Digitization of judicial proceedings in administrative matters as a means of ensuring the right to a fair trial“.
Text: Assistant professor Kristian Turkalj, PhD
