March 21, 2007Ljubljana1 The eJustice Project in Austria - Applying eGoverment Interfaces to Increase the Efficiency of Justice Administration Ljubljana,

March 21, 2007 Ljubljana 1

The eJustice Project in Austria - Applying eGoverment Interfaces to Increase the

Efficiency of Justice Administration

Ljubljana, 21. March 2007

Johann Kickinger, IBM Global Business Services

Ljubljana | March 21, 2007 2

IBM Global Business Services

© Copyright BMJ, BMF, BRZG and IBM Corporation 2007

Agenda

Business background

Automation of court proceedings

E-Government interfaces, e.g.:- Electronic legal communication- Database on decrees (court edicts): www.edikte.justiz.gv.at

Benefits and success factors




Austrian Justice System

Courts on 4 levels- Supreme court- 4 Courts of appeal- 20 Regional high courts- 148 District courts

(small courts have been closed)

Prosecution offices parallel to the courts

7.756 Persons at courts- 1.880 Judges and prosecutors- 5.876 Court officials

3.800 Persons at 28 prisons

Budget 2006:- Spendings: 976 Mio EUR- Income (fees): 727 Mio EUR

(Population of Austria: ~ 8 million inhabitants)

Own income covers of spendings!

74,5%




Case Types and Volumes

Total of 3.4 million new cases per year (2005)- 47 different proceeding types

The major case types are: - Civil cases (787.000)- Enforcement cases (1.178.000) - Criminal cases (121.000)- Prosecution proceedings (613.000)- Land register applications: (569.000)- Commercial register applications: (212.000)




Goals for Automation of Judicial Proceedings

Business goals:- Rationalizing and increasing the speed of court and prosecution

proceedings- Improving the service for the general public

One uniform application for court case management:- For all different types of proceedings

prosecution proceedings and criminal proceedings at court, civil proceedings, enforcement of civil titles, family cases, remedy, bankruptcy cases and all minor case types

- For all the different types of courts throughout Austria




Project “Redesign – Automation of Judicial Proceedings”

Complete renewal of the court automation system

Project duration: 1997 to Sept. 2002

Total effort: 165 person years- including effort of own personnel

After project end: - continuous enhancements - adoption to legal and organizational changes




Joint development proved to be successful

Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice and Courts- project funding and subject matter experts

Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance

and

Austrian Federal Data Center - subject matter experts, knowledge of the

old application - development personnel

IBM - development personnel- expertise in object technology- project management- international courts experience and re-use




Automation of Court Proceedings – User-Interface




Austrian Court Automation: Functions and eGovernment Interfaces

Printing

Docket

Name query

Statistics

Court fees

Social security enquiry

GUI

Online HelpIntegrated

word proc.

Electronic Legal Communication

CourtAutomation

Electronic Publication

ExternalInquiries




Applying eGovernment interfaces to expand the reach of the justice enterprise

Supremecourt

High courts

Regional courts

District courts

Legal professions: lawyers, notaries

Companies & Institutions: e.g. banks, Insurance companies, institutions

Citizens




e-Filing of Claims: Austrian Electronic Legal Communication (ELC)

5.000 Users- Lawyers, Notaries- Institutions, agencies- Banks, insurance

companies Electronic applications

- 2,2 Mio eDocuments 85% of civil actions 60% of civil enforcement

Electronic court documents- 4,3 Mio eDeliveries- Savings in post fees:

more than 2,9 Mio € (2005)

1990 20050

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

tau

se

nd

Documents sent to courts




Example: Court publications

notice boards in courts andnewspapers

before:




Court publications: e.g. announcement of auctions of real estate property (in enforcement or bankruptcy cases)

today:




Query of Bankruptcy Edicts




Query of Bankruptcy Edicts: Case-Details




Publication of Court Edicts on the Internet

Full legal effect, no more paper-based publications

For all types of publications, e.g.:- Bankruptcy edicts- Court auctions (real estate and mobiles)- Publications from Commercial Register

95% cost savings compared to newspaper-advertisements:- From EUR 1.090,- to EUR 60,- for a typical bankruptcy case - Inquiry free of charges

Publications resulting from the normal court procedures are automatically published on the internet: www.edikte.justiz.gv.at




Business Benefits of Austrian Court Automation and its eGovernment Interfaces

Speeding up court proceedings- e.g. by avoiding keying of case information and automatic transfer between

agencies - Automatic generation of court documents and decisions with just a few

keystrokes

Improved service, better quality of case information provided- for parties (persons, companies) and their representatives

e.g. instructions for appeal, calculation of court fees to pay- for court officials: up to date working environment

Extended range of information using the internet- Court publications- Direct query of case information by lawyers

Reductions in costs and personnel




Key success factor is the efficient combination of judicial and technical knowledge and experience

AustrianCourt

Automation

Reusable parts

of tech.solution

Croatian Justice Austrian Justice

Real experiencerequired for success

Integrated

Court

Management

System




Recommendations

Use open standards, when defining interfaces between agencies:- XML „Extensible Markup Language“ for data definition - Web services

Design new componentized systems following the principles of a “service oriented architecture” (SOA)

Use experienced partners and a proven method for consulting, analysis, design and implementation

Release

SolutionOutline

Macro Design Micro Design Build Cycle Deployment




Summary

Expectations of the public - Proceedings to be carried out fair and fast

Expectations of court personnel - state of the art working conditions and support

Broad vision, when defining the goals- keep the whole thing in mind:

all case types, all courts and prosecution offices country-wide- strong organizational coordination

to synchronize legislative and technical changes- eGovernment interfaces and interoperability with parties, their

representatives, agencies and institutions

Implementation and roll-out in steps