E-Court failures violate constitutional guarantees – UNBA

In recent days, the Ukrainian National Bar Association has received numerous reports from lawyers about technical failures in the operation of the Electronic Court subsystem. In particular, the complaints relate to the inability to log in to the electronic office, which restricts advocates in exercising their procedural rights, in particular, to submit documents and participate in court hearings in the videoconference mode.

The UNBA informed the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, which, in accordance with the Regulation on the Procedure for the Functioning of Certain Subsystems (Modules) of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System, approved by the decision of the HCJ of 17.08.2021 No. 1845/0/15-21, is responsible for the proper functioning of the Electronic Court subsystem of the UJITS.

The lawyers also drew the attention of the SJAU to the fact that technical failures in the E-Court subsystem lead to a violation of the human right to access to justice and a fair trial guaranteed by Article 55 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

According to clause 4 of the Regulation, the owner of the UJITS software is the state represented by the SJAU. UJITS operates on the basis of the main and backup data centers. Organizational and financial support for the creation and operation of individual subsystems (modules) of the UISIS is provided by the SJAU.

In view of this, the UNBA asked the SJAU to eliminate technical problems in the operation of the E-Court subsystem and to ensure the possibility of exercising the rights of litigants.