On Wednesday, November 3, a closing event organized by the University of Southern Denmark for the project “Digitalization of Courts in the Nordic and Baltic Countries” funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers took place. Anita Zikmane, Head of the Division of Case-law and Research, gave a brief presentation on the situation in Latvian courts.

Comparing the represented countries – Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Estonia and Sweden, it can be concluded that the technical solutions available in Latvia already exceed the average in the region. The planned gradual transition to the electronic case management system also outpaces other countries except Norway.

At the same time, it should be noted that in other countries, when digitalizing legal proceedings, focus is also given on creating solutions for people who will not have access to digital technologies, as well as special attention is paid to data security.

The changes introduced by the pandemic have to some extent affected the work of the courts in all the countries studied, however, the extent of the changes and the adjustments used vary according to the regulations of the restrictions introduced. In Sweden, for example, no restrictions were introduced and, consequently, no changes were made to the work organization of the courts, only solutions were sought for atypical situations such as encumbered entry into the country, allowing an expert from another country to be heard by videoconference.

Participants of the conference also shared observations on the impact of digitalisation on length of court proceedings.

At the conclusion of the project, a report prepared by Professor Frederik Waage of the University of Southern Denmark (Syddansk Universitet) will be available.

 

 

Information prepared by

Rasma Zvejniece, the Head of the Division of Communication of the Supreme Court

E-mail: rasma.zvejniece@at.gov.lv, telephone: +371 67020396, +371 28652211