1.  Describe the state of digitalisation of the civil justice system in your jurisdiction in general.
  2.  What types of digital or technical measures are currently available in litigation?1 How frequently do the courts use existing tools and technical capabilities?
  3.  Is the use of these instruments optional or mandatory for the parties and their counsel?
  4.  Do you consider your jurisdiction to have a fully digitalised litigation process in place? If negative, state which elements are lacking for fully digitalised litigation.
  5.  Are there specific rules in place that address the use of technology in litigation? Are such laws currently up for (legislative) debate?
  6.  Are there specific (pilot) projects (either planned or already set up) that aim at further fostering digitalisation in litigation?
  7.  Given the current rise of AI tools, are there specific rules that apply to the use of AI in litigation?
  8.  If digital tools are being used: What are the (technical) measures to prevent unwanted access/IT-security breaches? Are there specific rules in place that relate to the use of data?
  9.  Has the use of digital tools in litigation led to new risks for businesses, e.g. through the rise of legal tech companies collecting (consumer) claims and then jointly or individually filing them on a large scale, using digital and automated processes in this regard?
  10.  Are there specific tools or processes (either planned or already in place) aimed at improving accessibility to legal services (‘access to justice’), e.g. legal chatbots, centralised digital platforms, etc.?

jurisdiction

Slovenia
Add jurisdiction

1. Describe the state of digitalisation of the civil justice system in your jurisdiction in general.

Digital operations in the civil court proceedings are mainly regulated by the Slovenian Civil Procedure Act (“ZPP”) and the Rules on electronic operations in civil procedures and in criminal procedure (“Rules”). Specific rules are further stipulated by the Financial Operations, Insolvency Proceedings, and Compulsory Dissolution Act (“ZFPPIPP”), Non-Contentious Civil Procedure Act (“ZNP-1”), Enforcement and Security Act (“ZIZ”), Land Register Act (“ZZK-1”) and Collective Actions Act (“ZKolT”).

ZPP stipulates that electronic form shall be considered equivalent to the written form if the information in electronic form is suitable for processing at court, accessible and appropriate for later use. Its probative value should not be deprived due to its electronic form.

ZPP further stipulates that written submissions can be filed in paper or in electronic form. A submission signed with a qualified electronic signature has the same legal effect as a handwritten signature.

Electronic submissions can only be filed via the e-judicial information system (e-sodstvo). Since the e-judicial system technically allows filing of submissions only in certain proceedings (i.e. enforcement proceeding, insolvency proceedings, land registry proceedings), other submissions cannot be filed electronically despite the broad wording of the law.

Details of electronic filings (e.g., functioning of the information system, formats allowed, service of documents, etc.) are defined in the Rules.

The following rules regarding electronic filings apply for specific proceedings:

  • in the land registry proceedings the notary and some other authorized entities must file documents electronically;
  • in enforcements proceedings attorneys, notaries, enforcement agents and the State Attorney’s Office can file all applications and other documents (except the application for enforcement on the basis of a bill of exchange) electronically but are not obliged to do so;
  • in insolvency proceedings attorneys and official receivers must file all writings to the court electronically. Court decisions are also issued electronically.

ZKolT regulates electronic registry of all the class actions filed in Slovenia. The registry contains certain basic information about each proceeding as well as downloadable digital copies of submissions.

2. What types of digital or technical measures are currently available in litigation?1 How frequently do the courts use existing tools and technical capabilities?

Subject to consent by the parties, the litigation court may convey a hearing via videoconference and take certain evidence (i.e. inspection, documents, interrogation of parties and witnesses, and appointment of expert) via videoconference. In practice, videoconference hearings rarely take place.

A party may also petition the court to serve all documents in the proceeding to a secure electronic mailbox. In practice, most servings are still done via postal services.

Further, the Supreme Court of Republic of Slovenia is introducing a digital tool for transcription of audio recordings. Currently, the witness testimonies, parties’ statements and expert testimonies at court hearings are usually recorded and later typed by a court reporter. The new tool will replace typing by a court reporter which will speed up the process.

3. Is the use of these instruments optional or mandatory for the parties and their counsel?

The use of electronic filling in land registry proceedings, insolvency proceedings and some enforcement proceedings is mandatory.

In litigation, the use of secure electronic mailbox and videoconference hearing is optional.

4. Do you consider your jurisdiction to have a fully digitalised litigation process in place? If negative, state which elements are lacking for fully digitalised litigation.

While the Slovenian legislation provides a solid legal basis for digitalized litigation processes, digitalization is in practice still very limited due to technical obstacles. Namely, most of the court documents are still filed and served in paper form, the hearings are rarely conducted via videoconferences and electronic signing is rarely used in litigation proceedings.

5. Are there specific rules in place that address the use of technology in litigation? Are such laws currently up for (legislative) debate?

See our response to question 1. We are not aware of any relevant laws to be up for legislative debate.

6. Are there specific (pilot) projects (either planned or already set up) that aim at further fostering digitalisation in litigation?

Apart from the tool for automatic transcription of the hearing recordings, we are not aware of any ongoing projects that would aim at further fostering digitalisation in litigation.

7. Given the current rise of AI tools, are there specific rules that apply to the use of AI in litigation?

At EU level, the AI Act is in legislative proceeding. There are no specific local rules on the use of AI in litigation in Slovenia.

8. If digital tools are being used: What are the (technical) measures to prevent unwanted access/IT-security breaches? Are there specific rules in place that relate to the use of data?

At EU level, the AI Act is in legislative proceeding. There are no specific local rules on the use of AI in litigation in Slovenia.

So far, we have not identified any increase in risks for businesses due to digitalization of the litigation process.  

Apart from the already mentioned registry of class actions which facilitates affected individuals to enter the relevant proceedings, we are not aware of any specific tools or processes aimed at improving accessibility to legal services.

 

1e.g., videoconferencing, e-filing of claims/documents, digital platforms, document automation, knowledge management, data analytics, use of artificial intelligence (AI) or use of virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR).