DIGITAL EVIDENCE BEFORE THE COURT LAW THEORY AND

DIGITAL EVIDENCE BEFORE THE COURT: LAW, THEORY AND PRACTICE 2 -3 April 2004 University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Law

ON-LINE ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC COURT DOCUMENTATION AND COURT TRIALS: BULGARIA Miroslav Ognyanov Bulgarian Legal Portal LEX. BG Web: www. lex. bg E-mail: miroslav. [email protected] bg

Bulgarian Judicial System in 2004 Efforts to reform judiciary Judicial System Reform Strategy 2001 Action Plan 2002

Judiciary Structure

Bulgarian Judiciary IT Strategy Current IT organizational status of the Judiciary. Problems: Insufficient level of computerization; Inadequate current IT organizational status of the Judiciary - understaffed IT areas both at the central and national level; Numerous projects are being and have in certain areas been performed for the same computerization requirement without any central plan and approach.

Judiciary Computerization Priorities Presently in Progress l l l Computerization of the Judiciary Unified information system to combat crime Bankruptcy proceedings (independent subproject of court case management) Property register Prosecutors and Court Case Management systems Unified Court Case Management system Unified commercial registers & central pledge register Document management / workflow system (Phase I) Data warehouse / management information system Conviction status certificate system Legal information system Technical infrastructure procurements

Judiciary Computerization Priorities Medium and Long Term (by 2006) l Investigation Services case management system l Document management & workflow system (Phase II) l Data warehouse / management information system (new systems inclusion & project continuation) l Prisons and Arrests information management system l e-Justice (Phase I) l Enforcement of Judgment System l Financial management (payroll, etc. ) l Technical infrastructure procurements l Human resource management l Accounting system compatible to the Acquis l e-Justice (continuation)

Overall Concept MIS Public services Data Warehouse/OLAP L>

E-Justice No definition or explanation in the Judiciary Reform Strategy nor in the Judiciary IT Strategy E-Government Strategy 2002 (implementing e. Europe 2005 Action Plan: An information society for all) – main purpose is the provision of quality and easily accessible electronic services 1 of the 20 planned electronic services – incorporation of a new company Performance of procedural rights in court proceedings electronically

Implementation Measures Implementation of the IT strategy (full computerization in courts, completion of unified software systems, training of the staff) Adoption of a Law on Submission and Issuance of Electronic Documents Signed with Universal Electronic Signature in the Judicial System

Funding Main donors: PHARE PROGRAM USAID Judicial Development Project

USAID Judicial Development Project The activities focus on two broad areas: court administration (purchase of hardware and development of case management system); and judicial training.

Model Pilot Courts

Case Study 1: Varna District Court http: //www. vcourt. org/index. html

On-line Access to Electronic Court Documentation in Varna District Courts Remote access to the company register; On-line services; Access to the court cases - only by the parties or their representatives

Case Study 2: Supreme Administrative Court - http: //www. sac. government. bg

On-line Access to Electronic Court Documentation in SAC Free on-line access to a significant part of the introduced case management system in the SAC Decisions of the court and scanned documents available on-line Full database of court acts (all the decisions and finings of the court, protocols from court hearings etc. are available on-line)

e. Court – On-line Broadcasting of Court Trials http: //netlaw. lex. bg/ecourt Partners: Varna District Court Net. Law Foundation Lex. bg

e. Court – On-line Broadcasting of Court Trials Aims: Increased transparency of the work of the Judiciary; Publicity of court trials; Increased confidence in the work of the Judiciary and the Magistrates

Court 1 Court 2 Video server ISP Internet Clients

e. Court – On-line Broadcasting of Court Trials Main activities: On-line broadcasting of lawsuits of public interest Archiving Availability Usability in the legal education Forum