E-justice platform on trial next week

The e-justice platform will go live on a trial basis next week, Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Philippos Hadjizacharias said on Wednesday.

“Full speed ahead for the new system of electronic justice, which will go operational on a pilot basis on December 18,” the minister posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“This has been a collaborative effort that has come to fruition. We move forward with modernisation and by ending red tape, with digital leaps for Cyprus.”

The launch of e-justice marks the full electronic registration of legal documents.

It will also involve the digitisation of penalty orders, as well as the system’s integration with various government departments and services such as the police and attorney-general’s office – the goal being to facilitate timely, accurate and automated data exchange.

It’s understood the implementation of the e-justice system will occur in phases. The first phase will cover the district courts, but not when exercising criminal jurisdiction. The second phase will incorporate courts exercising criminal jurisdiction, and the administrative court of international protection. The third and final phase will include the two supreme courts.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, and due to the restrictions, the bar association and the judiciary had adopted ‘i-justice’, which aimed at digitising files so they could be filed remotely. This later morphed into the drive for full transition to digital.