’Next year ought to be the year when the entire enforcement proceedings will be conducted electronically in commercial courts’, Justice Minister Nela Kuburović has declared at the Judiciary and Commerce round table organised in Belgrade by the American Chamber of Commerce in Serbia (AmCHam) with the support of the Ministry of Justice. ‘It is hoped that the time required to complete enforcement proceedings would be cut in half. This would not only help Serbia improve its ranking on the World Bank’s Doing Business List, but also create greater interest among commercial courts to use the system’, Minister Kuburović stressed.
Minister Kuburović added that the plan was to expand the e-Court system − at present only used in the Administrative Court − by incorporating it into every commercial court in 2021, and finally all the remaining courts of general and special jurisdiction. She noted that the electronic notice (bulletin) board would become operational on 1 January 2020 − when the Amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act would enter into force −, in order to facilitate quicker case submissions, and the e-Auction launched on 1 March 2020.
Minister Kuburović said that never had more funds been allocated for the advancement of the ICT system in courts than in 2020 budget. She explained that in addition to being digitally advanced, the courts were being refurbished and the staff trained to prepare them for all the innovations coming. She noted that according to the Council of Europe data, Serbia’s judiciary employed 9,700 administrative assistants in 2016, and 11,980 today despite the recruitment ban, which showed the Ministry of Justice had tried to provide better work conditions for courts and other organs.
Minister Kuburović went on to commend the long and fruitful cooperation between the Ministry of Justice and AmCHam, highlighting their recent collaboration on the Amendments to the Enforcement and Security Act. AmCHam Deputy Executive Director Amalija Pavić said that the series of round table discussions had resulted in many specific proposals on how the courts could become more efficient, the decision-making and the conducting of the proceedings could become more uniformed, and especially on the content of the judges’ training and specialisation. In conclusion, she expressed hope that some of those proposals would be applied in practice or incorporated into the right regulations so that already within a year actual progress would become apparent.