Electronic Services for Judiciary Save Money and Time in Serbia

USAID Rule of Law Project in Serbia supports the introduction and upgrade of different electronic services for the Serbian judiciary. This includes the development of the electronic notice board for the enforcement procedure, the e-ZIO platform enabling direct exchange of documents between the Public Enforcement Officers and the Cadaster (so that real estate that is under an enforcement procedure can be properly registered as such), as well as upgrades to the existing case management system in courts, to ensure administrative streamlining with regard to court fees and service of process, and to the case management system of the State Attorney’s Office.

In addition to this, the project supported the Ministry of Justice in developing 9 data exchange protocols for the Judicial Information System (PIS), which allows judicial institutions, as well as other judicial professions such as notaries public and public enforcement officers, one-click access to a range of information necessary for efficient case management, especially with regard to service of process and enforcement. These include information on residence addresses, businesses, marital status, social insurance, real estate ownership, etc. which are contained within the registries managed by other state bodies such as the Business Registers Agency, the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Central Registry of Mandatory Social Insurance, Ministry of Interior, the Cadaster, etc. Widespread use of PIS replaces paper-based communication between institutions that would take up to two months for information to be provided to the institution who sought them.

According to the information presented by the Ministry of Justice several days ago, these services account for the following:

- since January 1, 2020, documents have been served electronically, via the electronic notice board, in more than 67,000 enforcement cases;

- more than 4,5 million queries have been made to the Judicial Information System (PIS), saving more than 1,1 billion dinars (more than 10 million USD).

This is of particular importance for the citizens of Serbia as their cases are processed more efficiently, with administrative steps disposed of by the courts and other judicial professions more efficiently, and with the data exchange taking place online, obviating the need for paper-based communication and in-person meetings, which is very relevant in the time of a global pandemic.