MOLDOVA PRESENTATON Mr. Vasile CRETU

Transcription

1 VII. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE REGULATORY JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES OF THE BALKAN AREA MAY 2012, ISTANBUL New Technologies and Their Implementation in the Judiciary Conference organized by the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors of Turkish Republic Istanbul, May 28 th and 29 th, 2012 MOLDOVA PRESENTATON Mr. Vasile CRETU

2 New Technologies and Their Implementation in the Judiciary In the past years, the situation of the quality of law and human resource in the judicial system of the Republic of Moldova has been improved, especially after the involvement of justice in several projects to strengthen the judicial system in Moldova. Computerization of the judiciary was started several years ago by implementing a series of policy documents, key among which are: - Judicial Information System Concept for (approved by Government Decision no. 776 of ); - The strategy of strengthening the judiciary and its Implementation Action Plan (Decision of the Parliament of Moldova no. 174 from ). - Programme of Action on the Threshold Country Plan of the Republic of Moldova within the U.S. "Millennium Challenge Account (approved by Government Decision no. 32 of ); In present, the judicial information system of the Republic of Moldova contains three elements: - Integrated case management program (PIGS); - The audio recording of court proceedings "Femida"; - Web pages of court. Thus, one of the most valuable and beneficial projects for the judicial system was Threshold Country Program for Good Governance "Millennium Challenge" administered by the Agency for International Development (USAID). Through the program judicial system received material and technical - logistical assistance - were renovated headquarters of several courts, so that following in the next 2-3 years the other courts should be restored both in terms of exterior and interior, as well as in terms of multiple activities of the courts. Through this program was installed the Integrated case management program (PIGS) on the Courts s servers. Simultaneously recording equipment was installed an specialized audio software in 153 hearing rooms. The courts have been equipped with computers, printers and other equipment in total about 2000 units. Initially the project worked with a group of four "pilot courts" in Chisinau, Rezina, Comrat and Ungheni. In order to supplement the activities of case management and judicial administration, the program was developed and created a customized database software for automation and integration of case management in all courts of the Republic of Moldova.

3 During the months April to July 2009, all court staff has been trained, including individually, by representatives of the Good Governance Program on the use of equipment and a separate training on software use for all judges and court staff. This included a training course for employees without computer experience in the field and another one for employees with an average level of computer literacy. Thus, in the second half of 2009 over 80% of all employees of the judiciary in Moldova work with automated systems. Simultaneously in the Action Plan all courts have been equipped with necessary equipment and software for audio recording of court proceedings. The Integrated Management of Files This being said, PIGS is a specialized software that allows management of court records electronically. It has been customized and designed with a soft "open source" to automate manual procedures performed in accordance with judicial legislation of Moldova. On September 17, 2009 the Superior Council adopted the Decision on digital audio recording of court hearings and firmware implementation of case management. PIGS was introduced gradually 2010 being the first year when all courts have used the first version of PIGS. Now, with the support of the Programme for Good Governance started the second version of PIGS improved by the suggestions and proposals of the users and the deficiencies identified. Now, with partner specified works being undertaken to develop the third version of PIGS which will contain a revised statistical way, apt in the future to replace manual reporting statistics, and a new principle for automatic distribution of files - in the degree of complexity of legal cases. PIGS records and manages all types of cases - civil, administrative and criminal - heard in courts of first instance and monitors and manages a file throughout its review process, from initiation and issue the decision at first instance, before the call and / or disposal of the case in higher courts, like the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Thus, PIGS involves creating electronic versions of court file, the software allows the reproduction of all operations related to file management: registration file, saving documents, models of judicial acts, record maintenance, transfer to another court, etc. The distribution of causes of PIGS contains two options: - Distribution of Manual cases, file sharing allowing a particular judge court established by the President in accordance with the procedure set out in Regulation on random distribution of cases in courts;

4 - Automatic allocation of cases, carried out by PIGS. As a criterion for the automatic distribution of files currently serves on the workload type of file, deduced the number of cases per judge in the proceeding which does not necessarily expresses the real effort of the judge, needed to consider one or another file based on the complexity. It was therefore decided to develop degrees of complexity of cases, and that was executed by approving the Regulation of the degree of complexity unique national civil legal cases, criminal offenses. Degrees of complexity of cases will be incorporated in the third version of PIGS. PIGS allows better use the working time of court staff and court rooms by planning hearings. However, currently it is working to improve the statistical module PIGS which currently generates only a few statistical reports on the trial of civil cases, criminal offenses. The new statistics module, which will be built in the third version of PIGS will be a complex, one that will generate consistent statistical reports per system and per instance, apt to substitute future statistical reporting manual. PIGS allows automatic extraction on the courts websites of the list of meetings, cases list and published court decisions. Thus, facilitating access to justice for litigants and information on the trial of cases, increasing advertising to ensuring quality and transparency of the administration of justice. Publication of judicial decisions on the website has to create a true role-based national law, a promoter of high standards of quality of justice and homogeneous application of the regulatory framework. The audio recording of court proceedings "Femida" Under amendments of the 336 art. of the Code of Criminal Procedure and 275 and 276/1 art. of the Code of Civil Procedure, and under the SCM decision no. 259/12 of 17 September 2009 following the hearings from October 1, 2009 will use the integrated case management and audio recording of the court hearings and trial participants and their representatives are entitled to a copy of the protocol and the audio recording of the hearing. For this purpose, to facilitate the practical application of the new stipulations of the Code of Criminal and Civil Procedure, the Superior Council developed and approved the Regulation on digital audio recording of court hearings which provides guidance on digital audio recording of court hearings, obligations of the judge and the court s clerk during recording hearing, digital audio archiving and record keeping, access of the courts of appeal, issuance of copies of the audio recordings and audio recording system administration.

5 Femida SRS system includes both technical equipment, as well as the operational program. The result of the system work is the report of the hearing in electronic form and/or on paper, in which are listed in a chronological sequence, the starting time of the event, name of the event, participants and brief comments, the panel data of judges component, the file number, the disk number on which it will register. The system of technical recording and logging of the judicial process "SRS Femida" provides multi-channel digitally audio and video recording ensuring transparency of judicial processes. The system also automates the recording of the court through the use of standardized and editable templates of the court hearings. Synchronization of audio and video data to the text provides instant access to the necessary event of the hearing. If necessary, the Secretary may establish a verbatim transcript of the whole hearing or in fragments. When reading the protocol, a simply click on any word in the text and automatically it begins to play the corresponding recording of the session. According to the newly introduced changes in legislation audio recordings with the protocols of the meeting represents the full registration of the case s file. Records of the hearings will be able to be heard in court processes of the same level or higher courts, allowing all parties to the dispute, besides reading the printed protocol, listen to different parts of the relevant meeting. Before recording the only way to record court hearings were mainly handwritten protocols of the clerks, which were often inaccurate or incomplete. According to the Regulations, all audio recordings are kept on the server of the court. Using audio recording equipment in the courts creates significant opportunities to improve the transparency of judicial processes to ensure the accuracy of registration files and improve the quality of assistance given to the parties. Web pages of court In December 2008, Threshold Country Program "Millennium Challenge" Good Governance launched the website of the Supreme Court, where are published all Supreme Court decisions that have been adopted since January The website also includes information about the work of the Supreme Court, its structure, schedule hearings and decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice. Publication of all decisions of the Supreme Court provided the names of all parties involved is a step in ensuring the transparency of the activities of the Supreme Court. The hearings and judges examining records name is very useful information for both parties to the trial, their lawyers and the general population.

6 In September 2008 the Ministry of Justice launched the websites of the Courts of Appeal. Websites of the ordinary courts may find the following: a greeting from the president of the court, court structure description, schedule hearings, the list of pending cases, a database of decisions and statistical information to the public, vacancies and contacts. Just like the website as the Supreme Court, information placed on this website will provide transparency of ordinary courts and help parties, their lawyers, the general public and the media to better understand the activities of courts, providing access and opportunity download from the Internet of judgments and hearings program. Rules on publication of court decisions adopted by the SCM in December 2008, requires all courts to post their decisions on ordinary websites until July 1, Thus, users can access data about the process - such as information about the case, the meetings gave the judgment pronounced on the case and other general useful information like general information on application, provisions, guidelines. Another aspect is the possibility of the access of court activity reports, statistical reports posted on the website. Thus, web pages courts have an important role in promoting confidence of the society in the judicial system, ensuring transparency of the court, communication. In the beginning, using management program of cases and audio recording was going slow because of the need for training on how to use it. However, automation of courts improves their performance in important areas for Moldovan citizens with significant positive results such as: Improved efficiency in daily operations carried out by the courts by speeding the traffic of records. Elimination of double effort (repeated introduction of primary data) by court personnel. Processing of the files faster and more efficiently. According to the Moldovan law and practice, every case will continue to be prepared on paper files, used for the period studying the case and kept in the archives of the court after issuing the decision. In future, after the automation of records managing will be fully integrated, the judiciary will amend the rules of relating archiving. Thank you all for your attention. Mr. Vasile CREŢU, Doctor of Law, member of Superior Council of Magistracy