Ilić: A decade of Administrative Court- staff capacities increased, E-Court introduced

“Under its remit, the Ministry of Justice has been paying a great deal of attention to theadministrative judiciary, as evidenced by increased staff capacities and the newly-introduced e-Court system”, State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice Radomir Ilić said at today’s conference150 Years of the Administrative Judiciary and Administrative Dispute in Serbia, held inBelgrade.State Secretary Ilić pointed out that a few years earlier the Ministry had procured new ITequipment, whereas staff numbers had risen significantly from 124 in April 2019 to 174 inDecember 2019. He added that the e-Court system had become operational in 2018. Hedescribed it as an online platform developed by the Ministry of Justice, which allowed all parties,both attorneys and citizens, to conduct administrative proceedings fully electronically. He notedthat the system had been first launched with the Administrative Court, and that the plan was toexpand the platform to commercial courts, followed by courts of general jurisdiction. “Thebenefit to citizens and attorneys lies in courts running 24/7. They do not have to come to thecourt building in order to submit documents or access case files – everything is available to themonline”, State Secretary Ilić explained.The State Secretary observed that the specialisation of the administrative judiciary had for sometime been a topic of discussion, the idea being to establish a number of courts of first instance.This prompted considerations of legal remedies and the role and the jurisdiction of a second-instance administrative court (the future Administrative Court of Appeal). Accordingly, ananalysis of the current legal framework and a comparative research on have been underway.State Secretary Ilić congratulated the Administrative Court on its decade-long work and wishedit would continue to bring justice and to make the judiciary accessible to Serbian citizens, whileremaining a strong control mechanism for public administration authorities.In addition to Administrative Court President Jelena Ivanović and State Secretary Ilić, there wereother dignitaries who spoke at the conference: Acting President of the Supreme Court ofCassation and the High Judicial Council Dragomir Milojević, Head of the OSCE Mission toSerbia Andrea Orizio, and UK Ambassador Sian MacLeod.