“By establishing the Judicial Information System (JIS), the Ministry of Justice hasinterconnected 19 databases maintained by 14 government and judicial authorities, thus replacingthe earlier paper-based data exchange”, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović said today at 7 th LapTime Conference organised by the AmCham Serbia. “Since the introduction of the JIS to date,more than four million e-queries have been made which replaced more than eight million lettersof correspondence.
This has saved the Government, citizens and economy nearly RSD 1.1billion”, Minister Kuburović specified.Minister Kuburović revealed that the use of the JIS by judicial and government authoritiesconsiderably reduced the time required for data exchange by three to six months, which furtherimproved the efficiency of court proceedings.
“At the time I took office, the average length ofproceedings involving commercial disputes was more than 600 days – today it is just under 300days”, Minister Kuburović stressed.
Minister Kuburović touched upon the cadastre development which had gone hand in hand withimproving the work of notaries public owing to the introduction of the ProNep system whichallowed citizens to complete real-estate transactions by going to the notary public’s office. “Onevisit to a notary public replaces visits to six different counters, which means that registration ofprivate property is now faster, and the entire process of property sale and purchase has beenaccelerated”, Minister Kuburović said.
Discussing the e-Court application, which allows for an administrative dispute to be conductedfully online, the Justice Minister revealed that commercial courts would be added to the systemin the near future.
Minister Kuburović was proud of the results achieved by special anti-corruption departments,formed on the basis of the Organisation and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in theSuppression of Organised Crime, Terrorism and Corruption Act, indicating that in just over ayear 750 final judgments had been pronounced.
She added that proceedings were also beingconducted against judges, prosecutors, court presidents and other officials.Minister Kuburović confirmed that the amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act – thedevelopment of which involved a representative of the AmCham Serbia – would enter into toforce on 1 January 2020. She explained that one of the most significant novelties was going to bethe setting up of the e-Auction platform which would facilitate an online sale and purchase ofreal estate and movable property as part of the enforcement proceedings.
She stressed that, owingto this platform – which significantly increased transparency – all interested parties would beable to participate in auctions on equal terms, as the anonymity of the participants would beensured until the end of the sale process, thus fully eliminating any corruptive behaviour.
The Minister concluded by saying that the Ministry of Justice would continue strengthening thejudicial infrastructure, the construction of a new building of the Kragujevac Palace of Justice ofabout 25,000 square metres being underway.
Aside the Justice Minister, there were others whospoke at the conference, namely the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Construction,Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlović, Minister of Education, Science andTechnological Development Mladen Šarčević, and AmCham Serbia Deputy Executive Director Amalija Pavić.