Civil Trial Procedures Web conferencing surges with the new Corona

Civil Trial Procedures Rapid increase in web conferencing at the new Corona October 26, 6:14

The number of web conferences introduced in February for procedures such as arranging issues in civil courts was 400 at the Tokyo District Court last month, which is 10 times the number at the beginning of the introduction.

The Tokyo District Court believes that the background is changes in the consciousness and behavior of those involved due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.

It has been pointed out that the introduction of IT in the procedures for civil trials in Japan has been delayed compared to overseas, and the government plans to promote online oral argument and filing of complaints for full implementation in 2025.

As part of this, from February this year, some courts introduced web conferencing for private procedures such as arranging issues in civil trials, but the number of cases held last month at the Tokyo District Court was 400 in preliminary figures. It turned out that the number of cases increased to 10 times that of March, which was 40.

The Tokyo District Court considers that the increase in web conferencing is due to changes in the consciousness and behavior of the parties concerned due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection, and plans to further utilize it.

Ken Goto, acting director of the Civil Affairs Department of the Tokyo District Court, said, "The influence of the new coronavirus may have changed the consciousness of lawyers and helped them to use it. It will be possible to make quicker and more appropriate trials. I'm looking forward to that. "

Web conferencing has been introduced in 13 district courts such as Tokyo and Osaka and the Intellectual Property High Court, and is scheduled to start operation in the main offices of all district courts within the year.

IT of trials that lag behind overseas

With the spread of online economic activities across national borders, it has been pointed out that the introduction of IT in civil lawsuits in Japan is behind that in other countries, and the government has positioned the introduction of IT in court procedures as an urgent issue.

In Japanese civil courts, complaints, evidence documents, judgments, etc. are all exchanged on a paper basis, and witnesses also appear in court and testify in front of judges in principle.

Japan ranks 48th out of 190 countries and 23rd out of 35 OECD member countries in the "Court Procedures" section of the World Bank's 2017 "Ease of Business" ranking. It was said that the business community said, "Japan's judicial procedures are too biased toward writing and face-to-face principles, and the introduction of IT is delayed compared to overseas."

According to Professor Junko Sugimoto of Nihon University, who is a member of the government's study group on the introduction of IT in court procedures and is familiar with overseas circumstances, in the United States, Singapore and South Korea, he submits civil court complaints online and records cases. It means that the system for checking is already in place.

Professor Sugimoto said, "Compared to other countries, the introduction of IT in Japanese court procedures is delayed by about two laps rather than laps, but I feel that we have taken a step forward due to the influence of the new coronavirus. It should be an opportunity to promote IT suitable for Japan by referring to cases from other countries. "

Future and challenges

The government is aiming for full IT of civil trial procedures by 2025, and from February, web conferencing was introduced in some courts such as Tokyo and Osaka for private procedures such as arranging issues. It was.

In the future the aim of such realization of oral argument using the electronic web conference of the complaint and the case record and the ruling of the online, is scheduled to perform the legal changes necessary to prospect the 2022 fiscal year.

On the other hand, in Japanese civil courts, "personal proceedings" that file a lawsuit without an attorney are allowed, so how to support people who cannot use a personal computer due to old age or financial reasons, electronic Security measures to prevent falsification of digitized records and information leakage are issues.

Attorney Shinya Takatori, who is familiar with the issue of IT in trials, said, "How to support so-called IT vulnerable people such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged people is a very big issue. Even so, I think there are many problems that need to be resolved, such as location and cost issues. "