Digitalization and Improvement of Legal Aid System (MK0193)

Brief Description of the Commitment

This commitment refers to the digitization and improvement of the free legal aid system (FLA) by upgrading and starting to put into practice the software for managing FLA cases, improving the system of collecting data and keeping statistics, ensuring interoperability for the exchange of data with other institutions included in the FLA system, as well as amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address?

The commitment for digitalization and improvement of the FLA system affects all citizens who, due to lack of financial resources, cannot exercise their rights and freedoms, and especially citizens who belong to the vulnerable categories. The absence of digitization, i.e. interoperable software for managing cases and collecting data affects the quality of the provided FLA, services, the duration of the procedure of collecting documents from the relevant institutions, the transparency and accountability of the Ministry of Justice and regional departments, which ultimately directly affects citizens' access to justice. In addition, with the entry into force of the new Law on Expertise, beneficiaries of the right to secondary legal aid lose their right to a free expert opinion and opinion that they are entitled to according to the Law on Free Legal Aid. Bearing this in mind, there is an urgent and immediate need to start a process for drafting amendments and supplements to the Law on Free Legal Aid in order to comply with the emerging situation with the adoption of the Law on Expertise. In addition to this issue, it is necessary to solve the problems related to several other areas for which the National Coordinating Body for Free Legal Aid has discussed on several occasions, and to overcome which amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid are necessary (such as FLA for victims of crimes, FLA for victims of family and gender-based violence, exemption from "other costs in the procedure", etc., explained in more detail below).

2. What are the causes of the problem?

Ø Problems arising from the provisions in the Law on Free Legal Aid The need for an urgent and immediate need to start a process for making amendments and supplements to the Law on Free Legal Aid arises primarily from the newly created situation with the adoption of the Law on Expertise. With Article 62 of the Law on Expertise, the Bureau of Forensic Expertise was transformed into the Bureau of Assessment. From July 29th 2023, it no longer performs expert opinions, but only assessments. On the other hand, in accordance with Article 13 paragraph 6 of the Law on Free Legal Aid, expert opinions for the needs of persons who have been granted secondary legal aid are provided through the Bureau of Judicial Expertise in accordance with the Law on Expertise. Considering that the Bureau of Forensic Expertise as such no longer exists, users of secondary legal aid were left without access to the services of an expert. In practice, this gap can have particularly severe consequences in relation to persons, because expert reports are a particularly important means of evidence in civil proceedings, which according to Article 235 of the Law on Civil Procedure is usually submitted with the lawsuit or with the response to the lawsuit. What is necessary to arrange are: a) the entities that will be able to perform expertise in cases for which FLA has been approved; b) the method of selection of the subjects in an individual case, taking into account the rules of procedural laws; c) the procedure for making a skilled finding and opinion as well as giving a statement in the context of the FLA; and d) the procedure for payment of the award and expenses of the expert. In order to regulate these circumstances, it is necessary to amend the Law on Free Legal Aid, which should be carried out by a working group in which all stakeholders, including experts, will participate, regardless of how they will be organized thereat. In addition to the problem of expert evidence, particularly important issues that should be regulated by the amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid are: - The absence of a clear and unequivocal right of FLA for the victims of crimes as damaged in the criminal procedure, which limits the possibility of the victims to protect and exercise their rights in the criminal procedure. This is contrary to EU law, in particular the Victims' Rights Directive; - Ensuring access to secondary legal assistance for victims of family and gender-based violence without determining property status; - The absence of provisions regulating the exemption from the so-called "other costs in the procedure" (eg. costs for a temporary representative, super expert evidence, inspection, etc.) which results in practice, although according to the law the beneficiaries are free of charge, they are still forced to pay them in order to continue the procedure. - Expansion of the legal issues for which a secondary procedure can be approved by including procedures that disproportionately affect poor people (eg. procedure for determining and collecting a debt before notaries i.e. executors, disputes regarding public and communal services, etc.); - Harmonize the approval terms and conditions for secondary legal aid with the standards established in the practice by the European Court of Human Rights; - Alignment of incomes that are not considered income with the new model of social protection established by the Law on Social Protection of 2019; - Deleting the engine displacement requirement and limiting the ownership of only one registered motor vehicle regardless of the vehicle's performance; - Beneficiaries of cash compensation from social assistance as a result of their financial situation when submitting a request for secondary legal assistance should not be subject to a financial inspection. Ø Lack of digitalization in the free legal aid system The process of developing software for managing FLA cases was started by the Ministry of Justice, but it is not functional and is not used in practice. The absence of such software makes it difficult to collect data, keep relevant statistics and plan policies. In addition, the absence of interoperability with other institutions complicates the process of the regional departments of the Ministry of Justice for obtaining data from other relevant authorities (such as the Center for Social Affairs, Public Revenue Office, Ministry of Interior, Cadastre, etc.), which significantly slows down and complicates the process of approving requests for secondary legal aid.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem?

Ø In view of the required legal amendments The National Coordination Body for FLA (in which all stakeholders are members: MoJ and its regional departments, Bar Chamber, authorized associations and legal clinics) with the support of the European Council in 2022 identified problems in the Law on FLA arising from the practice of providers and prepared an Analysis on the need for amendments to the Law on FLA , which lists the key issues that the amendments should cover. The problem of expert evidences was discussed at the last 13-th meeting of the National Coordinating Body for FLA after the adoption of the new Law on Expert Evidence, which resulted in a recommendation for urgent and immediate amendments to the Law on Free legal Aid. A letter with the opinion of the National Coordinating Body for FLA was sent to the Minister of Justice and the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice. Ø In view of digitalization of the FLA system As mentioned above, case management software for the FLA was developed by the Ministry of Justice, but it was never put into practice. Some trainings on the application of the software were conducted for employees in the regional departments of the MoJ, but without much success (partly due to the insufficient IT skills of the employees in the regional departments, and partly due to shortcomings in the software itself).

2. What solution are you proposing?

Ø In view of legal amendments It is necessary to urgently and immediately establish a working group by the Ministry of Justice for amendments and supplements to the Law on Free Legal Aid with the involvement of all stakeholders and a discussion of all identified shortcomings that cause problems in the use of these services by citizens. The Council of Europe and authorized citizens' associations and legal clinics should be involved in this process thereat. In view of the digitalization process It is necessary to identify the problems of the already existing FLA case management software of the Ministry of Justice and upgrade it, as well as trainings for the employees of the regional departments (both for the acquisition of basic IT skills and trainings for the use of the software itself). In addition, it is necessary to ensure the interoperability of the software with the software of other institutions and to ensure the access of the employees in the regional departments to the relevant data necessary for deciding on the requests for the provision of secondary legal aid.

3. What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment?

The problems faced by citizens when using FLA services, access to justice for all is strengthened, data collection, statistics management, transparency of FLA providers are removed with this commitment, policy making in this area are improved, the confidence of citizens in the institutions/organizations that provide FLA is strengthened and the number of people who benefit from FLA increases.

Commitment Analysis

1. How will the commitment promote transparency?

Digitization in this area will significantly improve transparency in the management of FLA cases, the quality of annual reports and the possession of statistical data, which will significantly improve awareness among citizens. In addition, the proposed amendments to the legal solutions would improve the access to justice for the citizens, which would increase the range of users of these services, and thus the trust in the institutions.

2. How will commitment help foster accountability?

The digitization and revitalization of the FLA case management software will significantly help the tracking of cases and the preparation of reports, and thus the accountability of the Ministry of Justice and regional departments towards the citizens. In addition, this commitment is expected to support the accountability of the Ministry of Justice because it will launch an initiative to improve regulations, which in itself would mean bringing justice closer to citizens and especially to the poor population.

3. How will commitment improve citizen participation in defining, implementing, and monitoring solutions?

Associations of citizens registered for providing FLA as well as other relevant associations of citizens are actively involved in the work of the National Coordinating Body for FLA, from where the main proposals for amendments to the Law on FLA derive. It is expected that they will also be part of the working group for the preparation of the amendments to the Law, where the problems arising in practice for the citizens will be discussed jointly with all stakeholders.

Commitment Planning (Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date)

3.1.1 Formation of a working group for amendments and additions to the Law on FLA | Implemented amendments to the Law on FLA in the area of already identified problems | December 2024

3.1.2 Identifying the gaps in the existing software of the Ministry of Justice for the management of FLA cases and determining the problems for its nonfunctioning in practice | Clearly identified software gaps and suggestions for its upgrade | December 2024

3.1.3 Improvement and upgrade of the software of the Ministry of Justice for the management of FLA cases | Upgraded case management software, applicable in practice | December 2025

3.1.4 Trainings for MoJ staff (FLA Department and Regional Departments) on IT skills and application of FLA case management software | Trained employees to use the software and start using it in practice | January 2026

3.1.5 Informative activities for the promotion of the new amendments to the Law on FLA (after the implementation of activity number 1) | Various informative activities, promotional events, open days, micro promotions in different cities, promotions through social and traditional media | January 2026