Problems of development of electronic justice in civil proceeding

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Currently, the processes of digitalization and informatization affect almost all spheres of public life. Civil, arbitration and administrative proceedings do not stand aside. Modern information technologies allow the court and participants in legal proceedings to more effectively achieve the goals of justice in the civil law process.
Both the current capabilities and certain shortcomings of e-justice have been particularly vividly demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the vector and prospects for the development of domestic electronic civil legal proceedings have become clearer.
Of course, such a phenomenon as digitalization, on the one hand, opens up new opportunities, but on the other hand, it forces the transformation of areas that have not undergone major changes for years or even decades, so you need to be prepared for various crisis manifestations caused, for example, by unwillingness and unwillingness. society to perceive the new digital reality, lack of technical development and the inability to calculate in advance all the threats and risks [1].
If we turn to such concepts as “digital state”, “digital legal environment”, we will see that they are not yet well-established and cause a lot of discussions. In the Russian Federation, there is currently no basic law that would give a legal definition to the digital state, only some of its elements are enshrined in a regulatory and legal way. Naturally, this has a negative effect on the legal sphere, there is a lack of uniformity. In this regard, doctrinal sources are of great importance, researchers of the legal sphere have an excellent opportunity to study these still new topics, independently form various definitions, analyze the experience of foreign countries and propose its introduction into the domestic system - all this makes the study of the topic “electronic justice". Also, the importance of this topic is emphasized by the demand for electronic justice among citizens, recently this demand has increased significantly. Thus, as of September 2019, 1,867,995 applications were submitted to federal courts of general jurisdiction through personal accounts, and more than 2.5 million applications as of April 2020 [2]. Statistics for 2021 have not yet been formed, but according to preliminary data, the number of applications has already exceeded 3 million. This growing trend is easy to explain. The transition to the digital space allows filing claims, registering applications, submitting responses to claims in electronic form, tracking the progress of the case, as well as acts issued by the court in relation to this case. All this ensures accessibility and transparency for all participants in the trial, and also significantly speeds up the proceedings. The introduction of information technology in the process of legal proceedings helps to reduce the burden on the court apparatus, reduce material costs and speed up the process of filing documents through electronic justice.
On some disadvantages of e-justice
This process is fraught with some problems, in particular, the need to ensure information security and the protection of personal data, which have become one of the directions of the Concept of the Information Policy of the Judicial System for 2020-2030. So, for the information security of the judicial system, within the framework of this concept, the following measures are envisaged: the creation of electronic security services, the protection of personal data in the information systems of courts, the development of identification, the streamlining of algorithms for data processing and access to them [3].
The next problem is related to the fact that the vast majority of Russian vessels use clearly outdated and incompatible technologies. So, since January 1, 2017, courts of general jurisdiction, in addition to claims in paper form, can accept claims filed in electronic form. However, the “Electronic Justice” system lacks a mechanism for internal document flow between various courts. For this reason, when using some automated systems, in practice, it is necessary to duplicate the standard procedures for the exchange of documents, thus complicating the proceedings in civil cases [4]. The solution to this problem lies in adjusting the system and adding the possibility of internal workflow.
In a pandemic, another problem began to manifest itself. The existing infrastructure of information and telecommunication networks has shown that it is not ready to work in conditions of increased bandwidth. This is, of course, more technical than legal. But, nevertheless, every specialist in the legal field and just a citizen can face such a moment.
Another problem is associated with the insufficient level of specialized knowledge in the field of information technology among the staff of the judiciary. The full use of e-justice and the latest advances in digital technology requires a lot of knowledge

About the authors

Anastasia Kuznetcova

Author for correspondence.
Email: miss.kuzne-nastya@yandex.ru
Russian Federation

References

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