A report which sets out an action plan for future work on improving the use of information technology in Europe’s judicial and legal systems to enhance their efficiency and accessibility for citizens, businesses and practitioners has been adopted by the European Parliament.

MEP Diana Wallis of the United Kingdom, author of the report, said e-justice can improve how the courts work. “There are already some very commendable projects and cooperation by certain Member States on the use of IT in Europe’s judicial system, but there is still a need for greater coordination and, in particular, a greater emphasis on the citizen in all of this.

 “Further work on e-justice should focus on facilitating access to justice for European citizens particularly in a cross border context through the availability of a European ‘e-justice portal’ for citizens. Such a ‘portal’ could, for example, facilitate applications for legal aid cross-border and ensure the availability of citizen friendly legal information resources in all Community languages.

“Ultimately, we would expect small claims to be able to be filed and processed cross-border through the Internet, thus offering real borderless justice.”

MEP Sarah Ludford of the UK, the Liberal Democrat European Justice and Human Rights Spokeswoman, added: “Information technology can and should also be used by European citizens, and their defence lawyers, confronted with the criminal justice system of other member States.  This might be because they are a suspect of crime, a victim or they simply want to know the law applicable to them if they trade and live in another Member State.”