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CONCLUSIONS
The participants of the
15th Colloquy on Information Technology and Law in Europe,
organised by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the Swiss
Federal Office of Justice in Macolin (Switzerland) from 3 to 5 April
2002, on the subject of "e-Justice: Interoperability of
Systems":
- Considering interoperability as a key
precondition for the efficiency of justice in the information age,
in particular, to meet the requirements of the European Convention
on Human Rights in the field of access to justice,
- Recalling the Declaration on a
European policy for new information technologies, adopted by the
Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Budapest in May
1999, and Resolution No.1 "Delivering justice in the 21st
century", adopted at the XXIII Conference of the Ministers of
Justice in London in June 2000,
- Taking into account the potential of
interoperability for facilitating transborder legal co-operation to
meet the increasing practical need for closer co-operation between
countries in the justice sector;
- Recognising the benefits and role of
interoperability in delivering transparency and access to
information in the justice sector for public and private
organisations and citizens,
- Aware of the necessity to ensure legal
security in relation to the application of modern information
technology in the justice sector;
- Having deliberated on strategic,
organisational and administrative preconditions for interoperability
in different areas of the justice sector such as civil and criminal
justice systems and public registers;
- Having reviewed the current
interoperability problems in the justice sector and the various ways
and experiences of tackling them within and between member states;
- Bearing in mind the need for changes
to working procedures and inter-institutional relations in the
justice sector resulting from interoperability;
- Having examined the emerging document
and communication standards in the justice sector;
- Having reviewed, in addition, the
present state and recent results of the Council of Europe’s
intergovernmental work concerning interoperability of information
systems, archiving of electronic documents and use of electronic
documents in the justice sector;
Have adopted the following Conclusions
of the Colloquy:
- Interoperability is essential to
ensure efficient and secure electronic data and information
exchanges between different organisations and for addressing
problems posed by the growing complexity of information systems in
the justice sector,
- To facilitate interoperability,
information technology projects in the justice sector should be
implemented with due coordination involving different partners and
across several fields. The interoperability needs of the justice
sector should be taken into account also in the framework of
nation-wide information technology strategies such as e-government;
- Interoperability solutions for the
justice sector should be adapted to the specific requirements of
individual member states and individual justice sector
organisations. The level of interoperability in each particular case
should be established on the basis of cost-efficiency
considerations;
- Interoperability should be accompanied
and supported by appropriate changes to the relevant law and
regulations governing the operation of justice sector organisations
in order to draw maximum benefits from the new inter-organisational
co-operation opportunities offered by interoperability. These
changes in the working procedures in the justice sector must not,
however, affect the constitutional guarantees of the independence of
the judiciary in the process of administration of justice;
- In the interoperability context,
special attention should be paid to the development of human
resources in the justice sector. The personnel of justice sector
organisations should be trained in new information technologies, in
particular, in those aspects concerning efficient and secure data
exchange techniques;
- Interoperability should facilitate
electronic data exchanges between the public and private
organisations in the justice sector. The interoperability solutions
should, nevertheless, take into account the potential risks with
regard to information security and protection of privacy, which
require adequate organisational and technical security measures;
- The interoperability of information
systems in the justice sector should be facilitated by applying
modern emerging document and communication standards such as XML and
authentication techniques such as Public Key Infrastructure and
electronic signatures;
- The participants welcome the work of
the Council of Europe on the draft Recommendation on the
"Interoperability of information systems in the justice
sector";
- With a view to ensuring continuing
improvements in the efficiency of justice, the participants
underline the usefulness of regular meetings of information
technology and law specialists to facilitate co-ordination and
information exchanges among Council of Europe member states in this
rapidly evolving and increasingly important field;
- The participants, finally, express
their most sincere thanks to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice for
the excellent organisation of the Colloquy and the great hospitality
offered to the participants.
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