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E-Justice: EU web portal launched
July 20, 2010 10:44 AM
The first version of the European "e-Justice" web portal has been launched in Brussels following the informal meeting of the Justice and Internal Affairs Council, in the presence of Members of the European Parliament, European Justice Ministers, Commission Vice President Reding and organisations representing legal practitioners.
For some years now, the intention behind the e-Justice project has been to develop the use of information and communications technologies in the field of European justice. The web portal launched on Friday, developed jointly by the Commission and by Member States with input from Parliament (Resolution of 18 December 2008, rapporteur: Diana Wallis - ALDE, UK), is to be a focal point for citizens and practitioners to access information on justice matters in the EU.
Vice-President and former Parliament rapporteur Diana Wallis, who gave a keynote speech at the event said:
"I am delighted that the first version of the EU's e-Justice portal is finally being launched. Citizens and businesses increase their cross-border trade and activity in large part due to the Internet - however when things go wrong, things get much more complicated for them, sometimes overwhelmingly so."
"This e-Justice portal should act as a signpost and resource in such cases, and should be developed as soon as possible into an ambitious electronic interface between citizens and justice systems and between judges and practitioners in different Member States. The objective is to increase access to justice in the Internal Market, to reduce legal costs and to do away with language barriers."
Concrete examples
A French creditor who is owed money by a company in Poland but knows only the French language and French law could check via the e-Justice portal whether the Polish company is insolvent. It could then get information on how to enforce a French judgment in Poland, or how to find a Polish lawyer to take its case on and whether it could benefit from legal aid.
In future releases of the e-Justice portal, our French creditor would be able to submit certain claims to Poland directly via the portal via standard forms (for example, using the European Small Claims Procedure), complete with an authenticated electronic signature. If the Polish judge felt that more information was needed from the French judge, a video conference could be arranged via the portal.
Visit the e-Justice Portal at: https://e-justice.europa.eu
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