An e-justice pilot in Austria could show the way forward for the rest of Europe, according to both the CCBE and a senior EU official.


Austria is looking at going digital with nearly all legal communications and submissions to courts. It also intends to distribute and use smartcards holding digital signatures for all Austrian lawyers, and operate what is called 'single sign-on' (SSO) for them, starting in 2007. SSO is a method of letting users use one identity and one password, for example, in multiple, different electronic systems.


The pilot - a mixture of electronic court integration, standardised language and common systems for submitting electronic documents as paper equivalents - has lead to a raft of improvements and cost savings.


Wolfgang Heufler, who attended the CCBE's Madrid conference on e-communication as a representative of the Austrian bar and a member of the CCBE's IT law committee, told the conference that, despite setbacks, the system had achieved significant results. For example, the court publications system, in being moved to the Internet, has cut publication costs by 95%, he said.


Bernard Vatier, the outgoing CCBE president, applauded the scheme. 'It would be excellent to use the Austrian system,' he said, 'but we will have to wait and see.'


Paul Timmers, head of the European Commission's eGovernment unit, agreed that the Austrian model could lead the way. Interviewed by the Gazette last week, he outlined why it is important to look at other countries' models. 'It is quite interesting to study systems such as this, because they're comprehensive,' he explained.


'Looking at the examples from other countries can be quite an eye-opener. People have seen that the most sophisticated means is not always the right one at that moment in time.'



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