Building Interoperability for European Civil Proceedings on Line

Period
September 1, 2010 to February 28, 2013
Duration
30 months
Abstract

The aim of this project is to contribute to the development of e-justice to foster civil justice services at the European level. Overall, it is to be regarded as a further step of a broad research endeavor that IRSIG-CNR and the other research partners have been carrying out in recent years to develop a large body of empirical knowledge about the functioning of e-justice systems in EU and to identify key issues affecting the development of e-justice in different countries.
The project is designed to assess the legal, institutional, organizational and technical conditions in which e-justice can successfully support and handle small claims in trans-border cases as indicated in Priority 3.1 of the call.
This project aims to extend the prevailing research focus in two major ways:
1) Examining the problems and the specific conditions of organizational and institutional interoperability, besides (but not independently of) the more technical issues of technological interoperability;
2) Developing a detailed assessment of the legal and administrative specificities characterizing the communications between and across national jurisdictions, that cannot be easily handled and accounted for through general business process models currently proposed.
The project purports to analyze the compatibilities and the different types of interoperability between the national systems. That entails not only the study of technical standards, but also the various organizational arrangements and the legal systems of different Countries. The basic questions the project intends to answer are: What needs to be done for the national justice systems to become more integrated and capable of ‘talking’ to one another in the treatment of small claims and payment orders online? Should technical, functional and legal interfaces be designed or should a new electronic jurisdiction be created at the European level encompassing the national systems? These questions are of paramount importance for the future of European justice but so far only marginally addressed by existing studies.

Outcomes

2 seminars; 10 reports; 1 website; International Conference; Publication of book.

Partners

The project is coordinated by the University of Bologna, Italy

Central European University (CEU), Law Faculty, Budapest; The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Institute of Law and Technology (IDT);  University of Bologna, Dipartimento di Scienza Politica, Centro Studi e Ricerche sull'Ordinamento Giudiziario (Unibo-DSP); University of Bologna, Centro Interdipartimentale Ricerche sul Diritto delle Comunità Europee (Unibo-CIRDCE); Italian Ministry of Justice, ICT Department (DGSIA)
 

Researchers
Conceição Gomes (coord)
Diana Fernandes
Fátima de Sousa
Marina Henriques
Paula Fernando
Keywords
civil justice, interoperability, new information technologies
Funding Entity
European Commission