Enforcement proceedings in the digital: state and prospects discussed at a professional discussion

The digitalization of enforcement proceedings involves the complete transition of document flow to electronic form through electronic offices in the UJICS. For bailiffs, parties and their representatives, this is primarily a matter of convenience, time and resource saving.

The benefits and prospects of the full digitalization of enforcement proceedings were discussed by attorneys and representatives of the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine, the Department of State Enforcement Service of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Association of Private Enforcement Officers of Ukraine during a professional discussion on «Digitalization of Enforcement Proceedings» organized by the UNBA.

During the event, the participants discussed the issue of issuing enforcement documents in electronic form, the advantages and disadvantages of receiving an application for opening enforcement proceedings in electronic form, as well as the document exchange of enforcement proceedings in electronic form.

Tetyana Rabko, deputy chairman of the UNBA Committee on Electronic justice and cybersecurity of the Bar, informed about the state of digitalization of enforcement proceedings. She noted that last year the procedural codes were amended to require mandatory registration and use of electronic offices in the E-Court subsystem, and this year the possibility of obtaining documents of enforcement proceedings was introduced using the UJICS functionality.

The ability to obtain an electronic enforcement document and present it for enforcement was something that was unthinkable a few years ago, said private enforcement officer Andriy Avtorgov. Despite the fact that this system is not yet fully operational, its advantages are more than obvious. In particular, the recoverer will receive the recovered funds faster, and this will encourage debtors to voluntarily comply with the decisions. At the same time, the digitalization of enforcement proceedings is not only about an enforcement document in electronic form, it is also about the transition of many elements of enforcement proceedings to digitalization. This includes the record-keeping system, the notification of the parties about the opening of enforcement proceedings, the system of arresting debtors' funds in banking institutions, and bots in the service of bailiffs, the private enforcement officer added.

Tetyana Rabko drew attention to the importance of regulating the issue of sending enforcement documents to the State Treasury Service of Ukraine in electronic form, as without the electronic seal of the court, the enforcement document is not accepted for execution.

In his turn, Martyn Gerasym, director of the software development department of the state enterprise «Information Court Systems», added that the courts are currently in the process of manufacturing electronic seals, which will make it possible to apply an electronic signature in the form of a seal to enforcement documents.

Oleksandr Chornobay, deputy director of the State Enforcement Service Department of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, presented the statistics of filing electronic enforcement documents through the UJICS. As of today, these are 2060 documents. The advantage of submitting an enforcement document in electronic form is the elimination of bureaucratic processes and paperwork, reduction of time costs, etc.

Ilya Bardin, a member of the council of the UNBA Committee on Enforcement, emphasized that the issue of reflecting the grounds for returning the enforcement document and re-submitting it in electronic enforcement documents is technically unresolved.

Summarizing the event, Oleksandr Chernykh, chairman of the UNBA Committee on enforcement of decisions, emphasized the importance and openness of such professional discussions between all stakeholders of the enforcement proceedings, which should ultimately have a positive impact on improving the quality of enforcement of court decisions. The fact that attorneys, bailiffs, and software developers were involved in the discussion of the practice of using digital enforcement documents demonstrates the project's focus on maximum efficiency. He suggested holding similar events with the participation of judges and court staff.