From Papers to Registers: How They Want to Modernize the Work of Judges

According to hvylya.net: A bill No. 13448 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, which provides judges access to state registers for the rapid identification of participants in court proceedings. The initiative aims to reduce bureaucratic burdens on judges and enhance the efficiency of court operations, writes YurLiga.

Main Provisions of the Bill

The document titled 'On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Regarding the Improvement of Organizational Support for Court Proceedings' proposes several key innovations.

First, procedural codes will be supplemented with provisions stating that a judge, for the purpose of identifying participants in court proceedings, may use data from the Unified State Demographic Register, other automated information systems, registers, and data banks of state authorities or local self-government bodies.

Secondly, the judge's assistant or secretary of the court session will gain the authority to send requests and obtain data from registers to which the judge has access. This will relieve judges from routine organizational procedures.

Flexibility in Accessing Registers

The authors of the bill deliberately do not specify a concrete list of registers in the procedural codes to which judges are provided access. This is due to the gradual expansion of the corresponding list and granting judges access to new databases.

The bill also clarifies the norms of the Law of Ukraine 'On the Unified State Demographic Register', stating that a judge in the course of proceedings has access to information from the Register to the extent necessary for determining jurisdiction and identifying participants in court proceedings.

Justification for Changes

According to the head of the Committee on Legal Policy Denis Maslov, the current law restricts judges' capabilities to specific cases - for example, determining jurisdiction or participating in a video conference.

'Often, a judge is forced to personally prepare requests, wasting working time on purely organizational procedures', Maslov noted.

The deputy emphasized that the adoption of the bill will significantly reduce bureaucratic burdens, increase the efficiency of court operations, and allow judges to focus on the main task - administering justice.

Thus, the bill aims to modernize the judicial system by simplifying access to necessary information and optimizing work processes in courts.

A team of deputies submitted the bill, which proposes granting judges access to state registers for quicker identification of participants in court proceedings. This will simplify their work and reduce bureaucracy, allowing judges to pay more attention to justice.