The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the federal government are said to be largely responsible for the fact that the introduction of the e-file in Hesse is delayed and the costs for the e-justice project are getting out of hand.

Justice Minister Eva Kühne-Hörmann (CDU) announced this on Monday in Wiesbaden and went on the offensive after the allegations against her.

She warned that design errors in the e-file could lead to difficulties within the judiciary because the files of one state are not always compatible with the software platform of another.

According to Kühne-Hörmann, the Hessian State Audit Office rejected her request for advice on the introduction of the project in 2017.

According to a report by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on March 24, the six-year delay in introducing the e-file and the fact that costs have risen from originally 37 million to now 168 million euros led to massive criticism of the justice minister.

In addition, other federal states are more advanced than Hesse in converting to e-files.

In its annual report, the state audit office stated that expectations were not defined and attested that the Ministry of Justice had "inadequate" project management.

The opposition in the state parliament accused Kühne-Hörmann of failure and irresponsibility.

Kühne-Hörmann did not want to let these allegations stand and presented their view of things on Monday together with State Secretary Thomas Metz (CDU) and several employees of the Ministry of Justice implemented by 2022.

The federal government also estimated costs of 37 million euros, which did not include the e-file.

In 2017, the federal government legally regulated the introduction of the electronic file by the beginning of 2026.

“This means that the costs in every federal state have increased more than was calculated.

This is not a Hessian phenomenon,” explained the minister.

In addition, the project has changed as a result.

Because it was clear that the costs would increase

she wrote a letter to the state audit office and asked him for advice.

The Court of Auditors rejected the request because the project was too complex.

Six years delay

Kühne-Hörmann addressed serious allegations to the federal government, which did not accompany the introduction of the electronic file and left the rules to the federal states.

"That was a serious mistake," said the minister and made it clear: "No federal state can introduce the e-file completely on its own." Three large groups had already formed as part of the e-justice project.

Hesse is a member of the so-called E-2 association, which also includes North Rhine-Westphalia, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Saarland and Saxony-Anhalt.

Within the association, each federal state should get involved with the project that it has mastered best.

According to Kühne-Hörmann, Hesse contributed the digital inbox, Lower Saxony the word processing and North Rhine-Westphalia the e-file module was expected.

According to Kühne-Hörmann, however, North Rhine-Westphalia did not deliver

individual sub-modules are now being made available after a four-year delay.

According to her information, this delay means that the entire project in Hesse has been delayed by six years.

"We still don't have everything," she complained, although the introduction of the e-file in North Rhine-Westphalia is more advanced than in Hesse.

There were "nickelties".

The sub-modules would now first have to be set up on the Hessian platforms.

This also explains why the countries that are in charge of developing e-files are at the forefront when it comes to implementation.

You can also see that in Bavaria, which is developing the e-file in its network.

There are currently four pilot projects for e-files in Hesse, the minister promised that there will be more over the course of the year. According to Kühne-Hörmann, the e-files of the three federal state associations are also not compatible, which leads to difficulties in processing could.

In addition, the entire federal jurisdiction is not included in the project.

She complained that it was the federal government's conscious decision not to coordinate the introduction of electronic files.

"The federal government must finally devote itself to this process."