Supreme Court leads the way for electronic justice in Cyprus

By: N. Pirilides & Associates LLC

On 15/09/2021 the Supreme Court issued a court regulation, the so-called e-Justice Procedural Regulation (Ο παρών Διαδικαστικός Κανονισμός θα αναφέρεται ως ο περί Ηλεκτρονικής Δικαιοσύνης (Ηλεκτρονική Επικοινωνία Διαδικαστικός Κανονισμός του 2021), which regulates the handling of cases through electronic communication with the Court, allowing judges to handle cases without any physical presence.

The pilot version of the e-Justice platform system was launched with the objective of streamlining legal processes in Cyprus six months ago. The e-Justice platform aims to bring together litigants, advocates, law firms, court staff and clerks, judges, the police and relevant governmental authorities so that justice is administered in an effective and practical digital environment.

Under the new Regulation, without prejudice to the current procedural practice, the Court may, if it considers it appropriate and the parties consent, handle a case in their absence. In such an instance, the proper, legally and economically, handling of the case will not be affected. In this instance, the correct handling of the case would not be affected in any way, either legally or procedurally.

These Rules of Procedure do not annul the obligation of the parties to appear before the Court if:

(a) they are instructed to do so by the Court, or
(b) the Court does not respond to a request made by e-mail; or
(c) the instructions of the Court were not posted on the board.

The Rules of Procedure shall apply to all proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Courts of First Instance, including the Special Courts.

The Regulation has entered into force on 17/09/2021, the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic.

N. Pirilides & Associates LLC has successfully created a corporate profile and registered with Ariadni governmental portal. The firm has given access to its legal team to view and administer the portal’s information and is now in a position to start using the e-justice service portal (“E-Justice”).

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact our Head of Litigation, Mr. Kyriakos Karatsis.