Today, the German Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection (BMJV) together with 'Tech4Germany' launched the ‘Digital Legal Action’ project to develop a prototypical online tool for filing lawsuits.
As a modern offer on behalf of the justice system, this online tool is intended to enable citizens to assert their legal claims online and directly with the courts.
This project takes place in cooperation with the 'Tech4Germany' fellowship program, which aims to advance digitalization in Germany. Actors from the fields of technology, product development and design are working together to create user-centric and prototype software solutions for the day-to-day tasks of public authorities.
These are further details:
- The online tool is to be developed within 12 weeks with the aim of providing citizens with a digital tool for filing lawsuits, so they can take legal action online and directly with the courts.
- The online tool will also serve to record new legal claims and process them further. In this way, courts should be able to process similar cases, which occur very frequently and require highly standardized review, more quickly and by using less resources.
- Current surveys show that citizens often only go to court when they have suffered financial damage of more than 2,000 Euros, because the effort and cost required seem to high for smaller amounts.
- The conventional way of filing a lawsuit is moreover perceived as cumbersome, and citizens have not yet had the opportunity to file their claims with the court online using simple digital tools.
Dr. Margaretha Sudhof, German Secretary of State for Justice, commented: "Citizens have become accustomed to handling many of their affairs online from home. Today, they rightly expect to be able to assert their claims quickly and easily in the event of a dispute. We want to use the opportunities offered by digitization to further simplify and improve access to justice. Digital tools open up new ways of interaction between the judiciary and people seeking justice. They also promise to make the work of the courts more resource-efficient, so that they can focus primarily on the needs of those seeking justice. That's why it's important to also learn from practical testing of online tools how we can best use these tools in the interest of citizens seeking justice and a well-functioning justice system."
Source: BMJV
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