Digital transition of the justice system

The digital transition of the justice system in Switzerland concerns nearly 300 courts, cantonal and federal (first and second instance, civil, criminal and administrative branches), cantonal offices of the Public Prosecutor and the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Confederation, the Swiss Lawyers' Association and the cantonal Bar Associations.

It presupposes the adoption of an appropriate legal framework, at both federal and cantonal levels. This transition also involves adapting the working procedures of the judicial authorities, their information systems, the workstations of the magistrates and collaborators as well as the courtrooms.

On the federal legislative level, in December 2024, the Federal Parliament adopted the federal act on the platform for electronic communication in the judicial field. The act lays down the necessary framework conditions for electronic communication and consultation in the judicial sphere. It also contains the necessary amendments to federal procedural law. The cantons, for their part, will have to adapt cantonal law, in particular the law of administrative procedure.

The Conference of the justice system – which is made up of representatives of federal and cantonal judicial authorities – and the Conference of Cantonal Justice and Police Directors have also launched a national project called Justitia 4.0, to work together on the practical implementation of the digital transition of the justice system. In particular, the project aims to build a common platform for consultation and communication in the judicial field justitia.swiss.

The national project does not aim to achieve the digital transition of each judicial authority on its own. It is up to the cantons to implement the necessary projects to this end. The Geneva Judicial power is conducting an internal project called eDossier judiciaire, designed to adapt work processes, information systems, equipment, courtrooms and workstations for staff and magistrates.

Project planning is still provisional. It will depend on the date of entry into force of the federal act and the implementation timetable that the cantons will set, within a five-year timeframe from the date of entry into force.

The Electronic Communication Platforms in Judicial Matters Act (ACPJ), adopted on 20 December 2024, sets out the following provisions for electronic communication and consultation. It also adapts federal procedural law.

• The obligation of judicial authorities to keep judicial files in electronic form.
• The obligation of judicial authorities to communicate electronically with lawyers or other professionally qualified representatives.
• The obligation for lawyers and other professionally qualified representatives to communicate electronically with the judicial authorities, and also to consult court files in electronic form.
• The ability for natural and legal persons acting on their own to do the same.

The ACPJ also contains provisions enabling the Confederation and the cantons to create a public-law corporation by means of an agreement. This will be called justitia.swiss and will be responsible for operating the communication platform of the same name, as well as other IT applications developed jointly in the judicial field. It will be managed by a General Assembly comprising the Federal Councillor responsible for the Department of Justice and Police, the President of the Federal Supreme Court and two representatives from each canton, as well as by a Committee. The draft agreement is currently under consultation with the federal and cantonal authorities.

It will be up to the Federal Council to decide on the entry into force of the law in the near future. It is not excluded that it provides for an entry into force in two stages. First, the provisions relating to the creation of the public-law corporation could come into force, to enable the cantons and the Confederation to sign up to the agreement and create the corporation responsible for operating the platform justitia.swiss. The other provisions could come into force at a later date.

The cantons are free to decide whether they also wish to switch to electronic court files in administrative contentious proceedings. If necessary, they will have to amend cantonal law and set a timetable for implementation. It is highly likely that the canton of Geneva will adopt a system similar to that provided for under federal law and will amend the Geneva Administrative Procedure Law to this end. In any case, this is the intention of the Judicial power.

The ACPJ sets a deadline for implementation of the law by the cantons and the Confederation, which will have to set a date for their judicial authorities to switch to mandatory digital files. This date may be set no earlier than one year after the entry into force of all the provisions of the CPJA and no later than five years after the said entry into force. The cantons may also set a different date for criminal and civil proceedings. The aim is to enable a step-by-step transition to digital court files, so that the transition is as smooth as possible.

Since the ACPJ provides for the possibility of a gradual transition to digital court files in civil and criminal proceedings, and since the canton is free to decide on the transition to digital court files in proceedings governed by cantonal law, the digital transition of the justice system in Geneva could in principle take place in four distinct areas: civil proceedings, criminal proceedings, administrative proceedings and proceedings for the protection of adults and children.

In view of the above, and for illustrative purposes only, the main stages in the digital transition of the justice system in Geneva could be as follows:

• Entry into force in 2025 of the provisions of the ACPJ allowing the creation of the public law corporation (would require a decision to this effect by the Federal Council)
• Entry into force in 2026 of all the other provisions of the ACPJ (would require a decision to this effect by the Federal Council): from that time onwards, lawyers and parties acting in person will have the option (and not the obligation), throughout Switzerland, of communicating with the judicial authorities via the platform justitia.swiss. The judicial file will remain in paper form and the judicial authorities will continue to communicate by post.
• Transition to compulsory digital court files in Geneva in 2027, for example for civil procedures (would require a decision to this effect by the canton of Geneva): from that moment onwards, civil courts will be obliged to keep the file in digital form, communication and consultation will take place in this form and only parties acting in person will be able to communicate in paper format.
• Transition to compulsory digital court files in Geneva in 2028, for example for criminal procedures (would require a decision to this effect by the canton of Geneva): the effects will then be the same as for civil proceedings.
• Transition to compulsory digital court files in Geneva in 2029  for administrative procedures and in matters relating to the protection of adults and children (would require a decision to this effect by the canton of Geneva): the effects will then be the same as for civil and criminal proceedings.

It will therefore be up to the Geneva authorities, after the Federal Council has scheduled the entry into force of the ACPJ, to set the timetable and order in which the various types of procedure will be involved, with other combinations obviously being conceivable. The only constraint imposed by federal law on civil and criminal proceedings is that all cantons must switch to the mandatory digital court file five years after the entry into force of the ACPJ, i.e., in the example given above for illustrative purposes, in the course of 2031.

The project Justitia 4.0 is particularly concerned with the development of the secure platform justitia.swiss, which will enable electronic communication with judicial authorities, as well as online consultation of court files. Initiated at the end of 2022, the new project is currently underway. The Geneva Judicial power is contributing actively to this project.

The project Justitia 4.0 is also planning to make available a digital court file management application, which cantonal and federal judicial authorities will be able to acquire. In 2022, the Geneva Judicial power took part, alongside Berne and Aargau, in the feasibility study conducted by the national project.

The project Justitia 4.0 also proposes measures to support implementation of change to federal and cantonal judicial authorities. These measures form a central axis. They will need to be adapted and supplemented by a change management plan specific to the Geneva Judicial power.

The Justitia 4.0 national project has developed a first version of the Justitia.Swiss platform, with basic functionalities. It has expressed the wish to launch its operation with pilot judicial authorities, so as to obtain the feedback needed to finalize the work.

The Geneva Judicial Power has proposed that the Tribunal Civil acts as a pilot court, testing this first version of the platform in real conditions.

From September 2024, three Divisions of the Tribunal de Première Instance will select proceedings in order to test some of the platform's functionalities in real conditions:

• the communication of correspondence, written submissions and documents to the court by lawyers
   
• service of documents and decisions by the court
   
• to a certain extent, making the case file available online for consultation.

This test period will enable us to check how well the platform works in these areas and how satisfied users are.

The Ordre des avocats is supporting and collaborating with this initiative. It is fully committed to helping lawyers through the major changes ahead.

The Justitia 4.0 national project has developed a first version of the Justitia.Swiss platform, with basic functionalities. It has expressed the wish to launch its operation with pilot judicial authorities, so as to obtain the feedback needed to finalize the work.

The Geneva Judicial Power has proposed that the Tribunal Civil acts as a pilot court, testing this first version of the platform in real conditions.

From September 2024, three Divisions of the Tribunal de Première Instance will select proceedings in order to test some of the platform's functionalities in real conditions:

• the communication of correspondence, written submissions and documents to the court by lawyers
   
• service of documents and decisions by the court
   
• to a certain extent, making the case file available online for consultation.

This test period will enable us to check how well the platform works in these areas and how satisfied users are.

The Ordre des avocats is supporting and collaborating with this initiative. It is fully committed to helping lawyers through the major changes ahead.

Vidéos de Justitia 4.0

The project eDossier judiciaire is developed by the Judicial power to complete the digital transition of Geneva's justice system. It complements the national program, which is not intended to support the judicial and cantonal authorities in the concrete implementation of this reform.

The draft act on the investment for the project eDossier judiciaire, designed to finance the digital transition of the justice system in Geneva, was unanimously accepted by the working group Committee and then, by the Cantonal Parliament, on January 27, 2023.

In addition to Geneva's contribution to the project Justitia 4.0, the project’s credit voted by the Cantonal Parliament aims to finance the adaptation of:

• The Judicial power's information system, i.e. the redesign of existing applications, the integration of the future electronic judicial file application and their connection to the future national platform justitia.swiss,
• Workflows processes generated by the transition from paper to electronic court files,
• Software and equipment required for digitization,
• Workstations and courtrooms, in collaboration with the office cantonal des bâtiments,
• The infrastructure of the Office cantonal des systèmes d'information et du numérique, in particular, data storage capacity in anticipation of the transition to electronic court records.

It will also provide funding for:

• The transition to electronic archiving
• The digitization of ongoing legal proceedings and

• Measures to support change management.