On November 26, the Supreme Court held a webinar on the use of the written procedure in court proceedings and its role in the conditions of a pandemic. The webinar was attended by almost 100 judges and court staff from all levels of Ukrainian courts.

Ilze Freimane, Chair of the Administrative District Court, and Veronika Krumina, Chair of the Department of Administrative Cases of the Supreme Court Senate, spoke in detail about the written procedure in administrative cases. Aija Branta, Senator of the Department of Criminal Cases of the Supreme Court Senate, described the course of the written procedure in criminal cases, while Rihards Gulbis, Legal Research Counsel of the Department of Civil Cases, spoke about the written procedure in civil cases. The webinar was concluded by Elina Majore, Head of the Chancery of the Supreme Court, sharing experience on the technical aspects of the written procedure, as well as on the use of electronic signatures.

Ukrainian colleagues asked a lot of questions, mainly about various technical aspects of the implementation of the written procedure, the course of judges' deliberations, and about drafting of rulings. Ukrainian judges were also interested in the work of Latvian courts during the pandemic, such as the nuances of remote court hearings, video and audio recording of court hearings, as well as the use of electronic signatures. Ukrainian colleagues acknowledged that the information received was valuable and provided a broader overview, as the written procedure has not been widely applied in Ukraine so far.

This was the last step in the implementation of the project “Use of e-Solutions in the Management of Court Work and Processes in Ukraine during the COVID-19 Crisis” carried out in cooperation with the Court Administration, the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine.

The project application developed jointly by the Supreme Court Administration and the Court Administration has received support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Development Cooperation Grant Project Competition. The aim of the project is to share with the colleagues of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine the experience of using e-solutions in court work and process management during the COVID-19 crisis, putting special emphasis on e-elections, working time accounting and crisis management.

The project has received funding in 2020 from the Development Cooperation Budget administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

 

Information prepared by

Janis Supe, Project manager of the Supreme Court

E-mail: janis.supe@at.gov.lv