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Georgia

Publish Court Decisions (GE0074)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Georgia Action Plan 2018-2019

Action Plan Cycle: 2018

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: Supreme Court of Georgia

Support Institution(s): Common Courts, High Council of Justice of Georgia

Policy Areas

E-Government, Judiciary, Justice, Open Justice, Public Service Delivery

IRM Review

IRM Report: Georgia Design Report 2018-2019

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information , Technology

Potential Impact:

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

Commitment 9: Publishing court decisions in a unified database and creation of a retrieval system

Publishing court decisions in a unified database and ensuring their accessibility serve the improvement of the court system’s transparency, accountability and efficiency. The Supreme Court of Georgia started to work on the above within the framework of the OGP Georgia Action Plan 2016-2017.

Today, court decisions in Georgia are published by the Supreme Court of Georgia on own web-page. As regards common courts, a special web-page (http://info.court.ge) has been created for them, which, according to a decision by the High Council of Justice, shall function in the future as a unified registry of court decisions (the first and second court instances, as well as the Supreme Court).

The creation of a unified platform is important, although the quality of information accessibility placed thereon is more important. In this regard and taking into account the international experience, Georgia can introduce additional functions in the newly established registry. This primarily implies the placement of information about the participants in the process and proactive publishing of more information related to bookkeeping.

Under the given commitment, a united system with the following modules will be created:
- A module for searching cross-hatched/shaded court decisions and final documents;
- A module for publishing and searching of public announcements;
- The litigant’s web-space;
- A module for searching of scheduled sessions.

Commitment 9: Publishing court decisions in a unified database and creation of a retrieval system
Lead Agency Supreme Court of Georgia
Other Involved Actors Public Agencies Common Courts, High Council of Justice of Georgia
Civil Society /Private Sector
Issues to be Addressed Today, court decisions in Georgia are published by the Supreme Court of Georgia on own web-page. As regards common courts, a special web-page (http://info.court.ge) has been created for them, which, according to a decision by the High Council of Justice, shall function in the future as a unified registry of court decisions (the first and second court instances, as well as the Supreme Court).

The creation of a unified platform is important, although the quality of information accessibility placed thereon is more important. In this regard and taking into account the international experience, Georgia can introduce additional functions in the newly established registry. This primarily implies the placement of information about the participants in the process and proactive publishing of more information related to bookkeeping.

Main Objective
Proactive accessibility of court decisions is the most important component and prerequisite of the Court system. The existence of a unified standard of proactive publication of information about court decisions and proceedings is of importance in this direction.
OGP Principles Transparency Accountability Citizens Participation Technologies and Innovations
  
Milestones to Fulfill the Commitment New or ongoing commitment Start date: End date:
Development of a performance specification of a retrieval system for the unified database of court decisions. Ongoing July 2018 December 2018
Development and introduction of a retrieval system for a unified database Ongoing December 2018 September 2019
Publication of court decisions in a unified database Ongoing September 2019 December 2019
Activation of a search module for (1) public announcements (2) court litigant’s web-space and (3) scheduled sessions Ongoing September 2019 December 2019
Indicator - The module for searching cross-hatched/shaded court decisions and final documents has been activated;
- The module for publishing and searching of public announcements has been activated;
- The web-space of court applicant/litigant is accessible;
- The module for scheduled sessions is functioning.

IRM Midterm Status Summary

Commitment 9: Publishing Court Decisions in a Unified Database and Creation of a Retrieval System

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Publishing court decisions in a unified database and ensuring their accessibility serve the improvement of the court system’s transparency, accountability and efficiency. The Supreme Court of Georgia started to work on the above within the framework of the OGP Georgia Action Plan 2016-2017.

Today, court decisions in Georgia are published by the Supreme Court of Georgia on own web-page. As regards common courts, a special web-page (http://info.court.ge) has been created for them, which, according to a decision by the High Council of Justice, shall function in the future as a unified registry of court decisions (the first and second court instances, as well as the Supreme Court).

The creation of a unified platform is important, although the quality of information accessibility placed thereon is more important. In this regard and taking into account the international experience, Georgia can introduce additional functions in the newly established registry. This primarily implies the placement of information about the participants in the process and proactive publishing of more information related to bookkeeping.

Under the given commitment, a united system with the following modules will be created:

  • A module for searching cross-hatched/shaded court decisions and final documents;
  • A module for publishing and searching of public announcements;
  • The litigant’s web-space;
  • A module for searching of scheduled sessions.”

Milestones: 

  1. Development of a performance specification of a retrieval system for the unified database of court decisions. 
  2. Development and introduction of a retrieval system for a unified database
  3. Publication of court decisions in a unified database 
  4. Activation of a search module for (1) public announcements (2) court litigant’s web-space and (3) scheduled sessions

Start Date: July 2018

End Date: December 2019

Editorial note: For the full text of this commitment, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/georgia-action-plan-2018-2019/.

Context and Objectives

This commitment continues the goals of Commitment 10 from Georgia’s third action plan (2016–2018). [51] Under the previous commitment, the Supreme Court aimed to develop key directions and unified standards for publishing court decisions of all three instances (Supreme, Appellate, and District Courts) online, to allow easy reuse of this data. However, due to the lack of funds and complexity of refining technical procedures for publishing decisions online, the unified portal was not launched by the conclusion of the third action plan period. [52]

Currently, the decisions of common courts (first and second instances) are published at http://info.court.ge The Supreme Court publishes its own decisions on its webpage. However, according to representatives from Transparency International (TI)–Georgia and Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), increasing access to court decisions still remains a challenge in Georgia. [53]

First, the fact that no unified registry of court decisions exists, and that common courts and Supreme Court decisions are published on different webpages, limits accessibility to these decisions. In addition, as outlined during interviews, the http://info.court.ge webpage has several technical flaws that render it difficult to use. [54]

Through this new commitment, the Supreme Court aims to upgrade the recently created electronic registry that will function as the unified registry for the decisions of common courts and the Supreme Court. To do this, the Supreme Court will create modules for 1) searching for redacted (“cross-hatched/shaded”) court decisions and final documents; 2) publishing and searching for public announcements, 3) creating the litigant's web space, and 4) searching for scheduled sessions.

This is relevant to the OGP values of access to information and technology and innovation. It employs web technologies to proactively publish information and provides a tool for monitoring court decisions by establishing a mechanism for analyzing big data. This commitment is specific enough to be verified. It has four clearly stated deliverables, including deliverables to develop specifications for the retrieval system and deliverables addressing the functionality of each of the prospective modules. 


This commitment could have a moderate impact on improving the accessibility of court decisions. IDFI believes this commitment could substantially improve access to court decisions, a problem it previously identified as a major transparency challenge in Georgia. [55] Further, according to a former IDFI representative, [56] this commitment addresses the bottleneck of the existing system and solves several technical issues. In addition, TI noted that improved accessibility to court decisions would be beneficial for lawyers who have had difficulties dealing with the existing system. [57]

Next steps

Based on feedback from stakeholders, and considering that this commitment responds to the high public interest in access to court decisions, the IRM researcher recommends continuing this commitment, with specific improvements in its design. Specifically, once the portal is activated and fully functional, the government should carry out a wide awareness-raising campaign to ensure that all the interested parties and citizens are familiar with the availability of the online registry and the opportunities it provides.

[51] Open Government Partnership, “Georgia National Action Plan 2016–2018,” https://bit.ly/2YRRUN7.

[52] Open Government Partnership, IRM End-of-Term Report, p. 35. 2019, https://bit.ly/2OJW5HQ

[53] Information for Development of Freedom of Information proposed commitments for the 2018–2019 OGP national action plan. See https://bit.ly/2J25icT.

[54] Saba Buadze, former Anti-Corruption Direction Lead, Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, interview with the IRM researcher, 22 May 2019.

[55] Information for Development of Freedom of Information, Study on Best International Practice on Proactively Publish on Court Decisions, 2017, https://bit.ly/2G9qYRS.

[56] Saba Buadze interview, 22 May 2019.

[57] Giorgi Topuria, Senior Analyst at Transparency International–Georgia, interview with the IRM researcher, 22 May 2019.

Commitments

  1. Improved Public Services

    GE0066, 2018, Capacity Building

  2. Citizen Engagement Platform

    GE0067, 2018, Capacity Building

  3. Unified Authentication System

    GE0068, 2018, E-Government

  4. Economic Governance

    GE0069, 2018, E-Government

  5. Environment Portal

    GE0070, 2018, E-Government

  6. Strengthen Anti-Corruption Institutions

    GE0071, 2018, Anti-Corruption

  7. Monitor SDGs

    GE0072, 2018, Capacity Building

  8. Citizen Engagement Legislation

    GE0073, 2018, Legislation & Regulation

  9. Publish Court Decisions

    GE0074, 2018, E-Government

  10. Increasing Transparency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

    GE0075, 2018, E-Government

  11. Citizen Participation in Public Finance

    GE0076, 2018, Anti-Corruption

  12. Transparent Public Funding System

    GE0077, 2018, Fiscal Openness

  13. Public Procurement Improvements

    GE0078, 2018, Access to Information

  14. Housing Policy Planning

    GE0079, 2018, Land & Spatial Planning

  15. Openness and Accountability of State-Owned Enterprises

    GE0080, 2018, E-Government

  16. Transparency and Good Governance

    GE0081, 2018, Legislation & Regulation

  17. Open Data Collection and Publication

    GE0082, 2018, Access to Information

  18. Participation for Disabled Individuals

    GE0083, 2018, Infrastructure & Transport

  19. Participatory Budgeting

    GE0084, 2018, Capacity Building

  20. Your Idea for the Zugdidi Mayor

    GE0085, 2018, Capacity Building

  21. Electronic Services

    GE0086, 2018, E-Government

  22. I. Gov. Zugdidi

    GE0087, 2018, Capacity Building

  23. Service and Citizen Satisfaction Assessment

    GE0088, 2018, Capacity Building

  24. Promoting and Monitoring SDGs

    GE0089, 2018, Legislative

  25. Citizen Involvement in Budget

    GE0090, 2018, E-Government

  26. Technology for Transparency

    GE0091, 2018, E-Government

  27. Citizen Engagement Center

    GE0092, 2018, Capacity Building

  28. Raising Public Awareness About Parliamentary Democracy

    GE0093, 2018, E-Government

  29. Electronic Innovations for More Transparency and Efficiency of Public Procurement

    GE0056, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  30. Starred commitment Adoption of the Environmental Assessment Code

    GE0057, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  31. Introduction of a Mobile App as an Alternative Channel to Connect to “112”

    GE0058, 2016, E-Government

  32. Development of Local Councils for Crime Prevention

    GE0059, 2016, Justice

  33. Development of a Guidebook for Economic Agents

    GE0060, 2016, Capacity Building

  34. Development and Introduction of the Quality Control Program of Commercial Service

    GE0061, 2016, Capacity Building

  35. Presentation of Company Reports in an Electronic Form and Provision of Their Accessibility

    GE0062, 2016, Capacity Building

  36. Introduction of an Electronic Petition Portal and “Zugdidi-INFO” on the Webpage of Zugdidi Municipality Assembly

    GE0063, 2016, Capacity Building

  37. Transparency of Ozurgeti Municipality Assembly Meetings

    GE0064, 2016, Capacity Building

  38. Creation of Electronic Mechanism for Local Budget Planning in Kutaisi, Ozurgeti, Batumi and Akhaltsikhe

    GE0065, 2016, E-Government

  39. Adapting the Public Service Hall to the Needs of the People with Disabilities

    GE0042, 2016, Capacity Building

  40. Launch of the Unified Healthcare System Information Portal

    GE0043, 2016, Capacity Building

  41. Introduction of Electronic Licensing System in the Field of Natural Resources Application

    GE0044, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  42. Creation of Spatial (Geographic) Data Web-Portal for the Energy Sector

    GE0045, 2016, Capacity Building

  43. Creation of Innovation Ecosystem

    GE0046, 2016, Capacity Building

  44. Electronic Portal for Registering and Disposal of State Property – Customer’S Module

    GE0047, 2016, E-Government

  45. Development of the Freedom of Information Law

    GE0048, 2016, Access to Information

  46. Development of a Monitoring and Assessment System of the Government Policy and Legislative Acts

    GE0049, 2016, Capacity Building

  47. Starred commitment Introduction of the Public Officials’ Asset Declarations Monitoring System

    GE0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  48. Establishing Unified Regulations to Publish Court Decisions

    GE0051, 2016, Judiciary

  49. Development of Transparency and Integrity Strategy and Action Plan in the Field of Regional Development and Infrastructure

    GE0052, 2016, Capacity Building

  50. Improvement of the Database of the Convicted and Transfer of the Penitentiary Department Entirely Onto the Electronic Workflow Management

    GE0053, 2016, Capacity Building

  51. Publication of Phone Tapping Data According to the Nature of the Crime and Geographic Area

    GE0054, 2016, E-Government

  52. Starred commitment Increasing Citizen Participation in Supervision of Public Finances (Public Audit)

    GE0055, 2016, Capacity Building

  53. "Voice of the Consumer"

    GE0013, 2014, Public Participation

  54. JUSTdrive

    GE0014, 2014, Public Service Delivery

  55. Educational Services

    GE0015, 2014, Education

  56. Citizen's Portal (Www.Mygov.Ge)

    GE0016, 2014, Capacity Building

  57. Transformation of Public Libraries for Regional Development

    GE0017, 2014, Capacity Building

  58. Digital Signature and Online Authentication

    GE0018, 2014, E-Government

  59. Open Data Portal (Data.Gov.Ge)

    GE0019, 2014, Access to Information

  60. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Draft

    GE0020, 2014, Access to Information

  61. Georgia's OGP Forum

    GE0021, 2014, Public Participation

  62. I-Change.Ge

    GE0022, 2014, E-Government

  63. Transparency of Public Service Recruitment

    GE0023, 2014, E-Government

  64. Asset Declaration Monitoring System

    GE0024, 2014, Anti-Corruption

  65. Starred commitment Political Party Financial Declarations

    GE0025, 2014, Access to Information

  66. Accessibility of Ministry of Interior's Webpage to People with Special Needs

    GE0026, 2014, E-Government

  67. Starred commitment Proactive Publishing of Surveillance Data

    GE0027, 2014, Civic Space

  68. Public Awareness of the Electoral Process

    GE0028, 2014, Capacity Building

  69. Transparency of Budgetary Processes

    GE0029, 2014, E-Government

  70. Electronic System of Procurement

    GE0030, 2014, Anti-Corruption

  71. Digital Human Resource Management System

    GE0031, 2014, E-Government

  72. Digital Preservation System: E-Archive

    GE0032, 2014, E-Government

  73. Openness and Accessibility of National Archives

    GE0033, 2014, E-Government

  74. Electronic Catalogues of Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) Archives

    GE0034, 2014, E-Government

  75. Public Finance Management System

    GE0035, 2014, E-Government

  76. Alternative Channels to "112"

    GE0036, 2014, E-Government

  77. Interactive Statistics and Crime Mapping

    GE0037, 2014, E-Government

  78. Travel Insurance Services

    GE0038, 2014, Citizenship & Immigration

  79. State Property Registration

    GE0039, 2014, Public Service Delivery

  80. Development of Community Centers in Georgia

    GE0040, 2014, E-Government

  81. Introduction of e-Governance in Local Self-Governments

    GE0041, 2014, E-Government

  82. Public Service Hall-Hub of Public Services

    GE0001, 2012, Access to Justice

  83. e-Governance in Local Governments

    GE0002, 2012, E-Government

  84. Citizens’ Portal

    GE0003, 2012, E-Government

  85. Easily Accessible and Better Healthcare

    GE0004, 2012, E-Government

  86. Launch Ichange.Ge and Data.Gov.Ge

    GE0005, 2012, E-Government

  87. Platform for Participating in the Legislative Process

    GE0006, 2012, E-Government

  88. Citizens and Justice

    GE0007, 2012, Access to Justice

  89. Starred commitment Transparent Party Financing

    GE0008, 2012, Political Integrity

  90. Home-Grown Concept of E-Procurement

    GE0009, 2012, Anti-Corruption

  91. e-Declarations

    GE0010, 2012, Anti-Corruption

  92. Technology Cares for Safety: ICCMS, Crime Mapping, and Safety in Your Neighbourhood

    GE0011, 2012, E-Government

  93. NGO Forum

    GE0012, 2012, Capacity Building

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