The Benefits of New Technologies
It is in the charming town of Pecs in the South of Hungary that took place, on 5 and 6 April 2010, the last UIHJ-EuroDanube session, on the topic of e-Justice.
Our colleagues from Hungary of course but also from Czech Republic, FYRO-Macedonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia were represented.
At the time of the opening ceremony, after a presentation of the city of Pecs by our fellow-member Giulia Kovacs, Miklos Krejniker, President of the National Chamber of the judicial officers of Hungary, opened the conference by greeting the delegations. He then evoked the benefits of new technologies in particular in Hungary with regard to the procedure of order for payment which will see its completion periods reduced thanks to the electronic transmission of titles to the Hungarian National chamber which will redistribute them to the locally competent judicial officers also electronically.
The president of the UIHJ, Leo Netten, congratulated the Hungarian chamber and our Czech fellow-member Juraj Potkonicky, secretary of UIHJ-EuroDanube and Zsolt Orell (Hungary), vice secretary, for the organization of this session. He made a point of underlining by one minute of silence the presence of the Polish delegation in spite of the tragedy which had just struck the head of the country. He then approached the central role of e-Justice in the legal world and was pleased with the upfront position of the judicial officers in this field compared to other professions. He insisted on the role of training for the promotion of e-Justice and asked Francoise Andrieux, general secretary of the UIHJ, to make a presentation on the topic.
Our colleague pointed out the objectives of the International Training Center, one of the main ones being to provide to the judicial officers of all the countries the same education level thanks to the sharing of methodology and common topics.She finished her talk by suggesting to the Hungarian president to organize a forthcoming European training course in Budapest.
Juraj Potkonicky then spoke to present UIHJ-EuroDanube and its new organization in particular through the Website and the sponsored financing.
To Modernize the Management of Procedures
The conference proceeded then in two times. The first part was devoted to the progression and the use of e-Justice in the various countries of UIHJ-EuroDanube. Then the second part was dedicated to the topicality of the counties composing this organization.
Thus, Hungary made a presentation on the electronic management of enforcement cases while reminding that e-Justice must aim at modernizing the management of procedures to liberate and unite forces in order to increase profit. The projects of the judicial officers of this country relate in particular to the communications between the National chamber and the judicial officers, the establishment of a register of attachments, or the information on the goods of the debtor.
The president of the judicial officers of ARY-Macedonia, Antonio Kostanov, stated that, in his country, the documents of the offices all are electronically scanned and preserved but that there are no data-processing exchanges between judicial officers. However, those can obtain information electronically concerning legal persons. The current wish is to increase this access to data concerning debtors in general to make it more complete.
Our Rumanian fellow-members then informed us of the very recent creation of a Rumanian Legal network between judges, notaries and judicial officers for exchanging information and documents.
In the Czech Republic the e-Justice evolution was decisive last year since it saw the creation of a box of exchanges of databases that all legal authorities, ministries and companies can consult. There are also electronic exchanges relating to enforcement between judges and judicial officers.
The President of the Slovak National chamber explained that in Slovakia e-Justice is only at its early stage (since currently only some documents among the least important are transmitted) but will surely develop.
In Poland, our fellow-member Michal Redelbach evoked the system of transmission of decisions in the offices of judicial officers, in place since January 2010. The Polish Land system will also make it possible very soon to register mortgages on line.
In Lithuania, a project of code on e-Justice is currently before the Parliament. The bill regulates electronic signature, electronic auctions and electronic documents initiating proceedings.
Lastly, our Latvian fellow-members indicated that the judicial officers currently work at the installation of a unified system for the execution of cases. The problem in Latvia is that all the authorities and all the ministries have their own system and that, for the moment there is no connection between them. For as much, our Latvian fellow-members take part in workshops and are consulted by the ministry for justice on the improvement of enforcement procedures and their backings.
This UIHJ-EuroDanube session ended with a convivial evening during which the pranks of the Eyjafjöll volcano which retained the majority of the participants on Hungarian ground were forgotten...
So until the next UIHJ-EuroDanube session please visit its website:
http://www.eurodanube.eu/en 
