Action Plans

What problem does the commitment aim to address?

In Armenia, the justice and the judicial and legal reforms are among the primary directions of the Government of the Republic of Armenia. Nevertheless, for years, the reforms have not achieved the goals and targets set before them, in some cases not having relevant effective mechanisms and a toolkit for implementation.

In July 2022, the Government of the Republic of Armenia approved the 2022-2026 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms and the Action Plans deriving therefrom. The Action Plan provides for introducing the e-Justice system and tools, as a result of which:

(1) an electronic document circulation system between the judicial, law enforcement authorities (inquest and preliminary investigation bodies, Prosecutor's Office), law enforcement bodies (Compulsory Enforcement Service, Penitentiary Service, Probation Service) and other bodies, and organizations will be established;

(2) the current electronic management systems of courts and other bodies of the sector of justice will be modernized;

(3) a unified judicial electronic management system will be created and introduced, that will ensure the transfer of cases from one court instance to another and between the seats of the same court instances, as well as putting into operation of party-to-party, party-to-court efficient notification system, as a result of which the electronic submission of evidence to the court, filing motions and carrying out other procedural actions will become possible;

(4) the official on-line correspondence, the electronic document circulation between all participants of the case will be ensured, as well as creating an opportunity for natural and legal persons to contact state bodies on-line, submit applications, complaints and other documents thereto, and in addition, provide an opportunity to follow the progress of the case on-line;

(5) collection of statistic data via the system during the entire course of proceedings will be ensured;

(6) all the electronic systems and databases operating within the bodies of justice will be unified, and creation of digital archives will be ensured.

Upon the introduction of the unified e-justice system, citizens' electronic communication with the justice system will be ensured. Through the unified e-justice system, it will be possible to ensure the organization of collection, alignment and harmonization of statistic data during the entire course of proceedings, combination of electronic systems existing in law enforcement bodies (inquest bodies, preliminary investigation bodies, Prosecutor’s Office), judicial and law enforcement authorities (Compulsory Enforcement Service, Penitentiary Service, Probation Service), and unified electronic communication between the bodies of the sector of justice.

Development of such a platform has an important significance from the point of view of organizing the law enforcement processes more clearly and transparently; at the same time, it will allow to avoid undue delays of processes and provide an opportunity to maintain relevant statistics for the purpose of revealing the risks, and developing policy correctly.

With the OGP-Armenia National Action Plan, the Government of the Republic of Armenia undertakes the introduction of the "eCourt-statistics" statistical tool deemed to be a component of the e-justice system, which will allow analyzing the processes related to the examination of pre-trial and judicial cases (contextual and formal) according to pre-determined statistical indicators (statistic data) and by applying the "open data" format. The analysis of the processes related to the examination of judicial cases will provide an opportunity to the members of the civil society to exercise public supervision of over the administration of justice. The statistics will be available free-of-charge to the stakeholders (legal community, citizens, researchers, international institutions and sectoral state bodies).

Currently, the judicial system of the Republic of Armenia does not have a unified electronic system within the framework of which all the judicial proceedings are carried out.

There are several separate electronic tools that cannot ensure the full digitization of trial, in which conditions the "e-Justice" unified management system cannot be introduced and function effectively.

At the moment, the development and introduction of the "eCourt" unified management system are a primary necessity, the fulfillment whereof will provide the court and the parties with the opportunity to perform the judicial functions and procedural actions — carried out within the scope of proceedings — electronically.

It is envisaged that the system will contain the electronic toolkit for civil, administrative, bankruptcy and criminal court cases, each in a separate module, combined with the electronic databases of all the bodies and organizations that are engaged in the trial or are processors/controllers or recipients of information necessary for the court.

To introduce the "eCourt-statistics" statistical analytical tool of the e-Justice system, which will be aimed at raising the analysis of processes related to pre-trial proceedings in criminal cases and examination of court cases, raising the accountability and transparency of the judicial system in order to ensure the application of "open data" format. The unified electronic system will ensure the conduct of electronic document circulation, contribute to the development of a unified policy for maintaining the systems operating within the bodies of the sector of justice, collection of comprehensive statistic data, saving of time and material resources, and simplification of administration.

The introduction of the "e-Justice" unified system is aimed at:

(a) establishing an electronic document circulation system between the judicial, law enforcement authorities (inquest and preliminary investigation bodies, Prosecutor's Office) and law enforcement bodies (Compulsory Enforcement Service, Penitentiary Service, Probation Service) and other bodies, and organizations;

(b) modernizing the current electronic management systems of courts and other bodies of the sector of justice;

(d) creating and introducing a unified judicial electronic management system that will ensure the transfer of cases from one court instance to another and between the seats of the same court instances, as well as putting into operation of party-to-party, party-to-court efficient notification system, as a result of which the electronic submission of evidence to the court, filing motions and carrying out other procedural actions will become possible;

(e) creating an electronic platform, by ensuring the official on-line correspondence, the electronic document circulation between all participants of the case, as well as by creating an opportunity for natural and legal persons to contact state bodies on-line, submit applications, complaints and other documents thereto, and in addition, provide an opportunity to follow the progress of the case on-line;

(f) ensure collection of statistic data via the system during the entire course of proceedings;

(g) unify all the electronic systems and databases operating within the bodies of justice;

(h) ensure creation of digital archives.

Development of such a platform has an important significance from the point of view of organizing the law enforcement processes more clearly and transparently; at the same time, it will allow to avoid undue delays of processes and provide an opportunity to maintain relevant statistics for the purpose of revealing the risks, and developing policy correctly.

With the OGP-Armenia National Action Plan, the Government of the Republic of Armenia undertakes the introduction of the "eCourt-statistics" statistical tool deemed to be a component of the e-justice system, which will allow analyzing the processes related to the examination of pre-trial and judicial cases (contextual and formal) according to pre-determined statistical indicators (statistic data) and by applying the "open data" format. The analysis of the processes related to the examination of judicial cases will provide an opportunity to the members of the civil society to exercise public supervision of over the administration of justice. The statistics will be available free-of-charge to the stakeholders (legal community, citizens, researchers, international institutions and sectoral state bodies).

It is recommended to develop and introduce a tool of judicial system within the framework of e-Justice, which will provide an opportunity to carry out statistical and analytical works on judicial processes, starting from the pre-trial stage.

This can be achieved by combining the current electronic systems, and introducing unified electronic communication between the bodies of the sector of justice.

At the same time, it is necessary to improve the current statistical lines and statistical cards.

In addition, in accordance with international obligations, it is necessary to provide for statistics separated for corruption cases, including statistical information according to positions, according to the distinction between the public and private sectors, and information on corruption crimes committed by legal persons.