Provision of Open Data for Justice (GR0051)

Context The Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights (MoJTHR) has implemented actions for e-Justice which contribute to the upgrading of services provided, to the simplification and reduction of bureaucratic barriers, the provision of electronic services to citizens, businesses and to public services and to the strengthening of transparency in the justice area. For example: 1. Uploading anonymized Civil and Criminal decisions of the Supreme Court, with unrestricted access from mid-2006 onwards, to the site http://www.areiospagos.gr. 2. Uploading anonymized decisions of Maritime Law (ordinary Single-member and Multimember) of the First Instance Court of Piraeus, from 2015 onwards, to the site http://www.protodikeio-peir.gr. 3. Monitoring of the progress of cases by a litigant or an attorney or by the members of the Legal Council of the State, electronic submission of legal remedies and assorted aids from lawyers, electronic submission of applications for the issuance of certificates from citizens and lawyers through the portal of Administrative Justice (www.adjustice.gr). 4. Electronic submission / monitoring of the progress of judicial document from preauthenticated users of the Sites of the Court of First Instance of Athens (www.protodikeio-ath.gr), Piraeus (www.protodikeio-peir.gr) and Thessaloniki (www.protodikeio-thes.gr). 5. Electronic submission of request / download Criminal Records certified copy from authenticated citizens and institutions of Public Administration through the portal of the National Criminal Records (www.ncris.gov.gr). 6. Electronic submission / monitoring of the progress of the request for the issuance of certificates to the authenticated users of the sites of the Public Prosecutor’s Court of First Instance of Athens (www.eispa.gr) and of the Court of First Instance of Piraeus (www.protodikeio-peir.gr). Commitment description Administrative Justice: Case-law database which includes anonymized decisions of the Administrative Courts of the country, accessible to all interested parties through the portal http://www.adjustice.gr. Court of Audit: Legal database of Court Of Audit with anonymized content, accessible to all interested parties through the portal http://www.elsyn.gr. Civil and Criminal Justice: For the civil and criminal courts in appellate regions of Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki and Chalkida and the Supreme Court: Access of the citizen and of the legal professions to the information handled by these courts for their convenience during the monitoring of civil or criminal proceedings through a central portal. Availability of the system information among the public bodies with ex officio research for citizens’ convenience and their exception from the process of issuing certifications according to the existing institutional framework. Issuance of certificates upon citizens’ request with an automated manner and immediate response time with the minimum possible burden of court services through a central portal. Interoperability with bodies. In the country’s Courts of First Instance, Courts of Appeal and District Courts, electronic submission/monitoring the progress of the application for receiving copies of minutes of meetings and receiving them through a central portal. OGP Values Access to information, Inclusivity Implementing bodies Implementation: MoJTHR, Involved Legal Services, Public Bodies Contact info: Directorate of e-Government of MoJTHR - Telephone: ++302107767070 Objectives Easier communication between citizens and legal services; Access of citizens and legal professionals to the legal services for a facilitated exercise of their rights and fulfilment of their needs; Internal reallocation in a rational way of serving employees; More effective action of services; Citizen participates in the process of information management through the utilization of IT applications; Transparency in the justice area. Means of implementation of the commitment Administrative Justice, Court of Audit: The commitment will be implemented internally by the implementing bodies and in the framework of guaranteeing the good operation of the existing MIS. Civil and Criminal Justice: The commitment will be implemented in the context of implementation of project "Integrated Judicial Case Management System for Civil and Criminal Justice (OSDDY-PP)" and "Public - Private Partnership for Digital Recording, Storage and Disposal of Conference Practices (SDIT)". Cooperation with other institutions for interconnection and interoperability.

Commitment 21 and 22: Commitments on Justice

Commitment 21: Provision of open data for Justice

Administrative Justice: Case-law database which includes anonymized decisions of the Administrative Courts of the country, accessible to all interested parties through the portal http://www.adjustice.gr. Court of Audit: Legal database of Court of Audit with anonymized content, accessible to all interested parties through the portal http://www.elsyn.gr. Civil and Criminal Justice: For the civil and criminal courts in appellate regions of Athens, Piraeus, Thessaloniki and Chalkida and the Supreme Court:

• Access of the citizen and of the legal professions to the information handled by these courts for their convenience during the monitoring of civil or criminal proceedings through a central portal;
• Availability of the system information among the public bodies with ex officio research for citizens’ convenience and their exception from the process of issuing certifications according to the existing institutional framework;
• Issuance of certificates upon citizens’ request with an automated manner and immediate response time with the minimum possible burden of court services through a central portal;
• Interoperability with bodies. In the country’s Courts of First Instance, Courts of Appeal and District Courts, electronic submission/monitoring the progress of the application for receiving copies of minutes of meetings and receiving them through a central portal

Responsible institution: Justice, Transparency and Human Rights;

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: June 2018

Commitment 22: Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

In 2016 the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights set up a Working Group to redesign the templates for the judicial data on the civil and criminal procedure for the interim period from the beginning of 2016 until the complete roll out of the Integrated Civil and Criminal Court Case Management System (ΟSDDY-PP). The new templates have taken into account:

• a) recent legislative developments (the new Code of Civil Procedure put in effect on January 1st 2016)
• b) national and international statistical needs
• c) the needs of the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT)
• d) the knowledge and experience on judicial procedures of the judges and administrative judicial staff who participated in the Working Group
• e) principles from the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the CoE
• f) expertise from the project of Technical Assistance on 'the Reform of the Greek Judicial System' coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Austria The Department of Strategic Planning and the Evaluation of Policies of Justice of the Hellenic Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights sent out on 30-6-2016 the new statistical templates to the civil and criminal courts of the country.

Responsible institution: Justice, Transparency and Human Rights

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: July 2016 End date: September 2016

Editorial Note: The action plan text has been abridged by the IRM. For the full version, please see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-national-action-plan-2016-2018/

Commitment Aim:

Commitment 21. Provision of open data for Justice

The Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights (MoJTHR), using National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) funding and additional EU technical assistance,^{[Note 180: Terms of reference for technical assistance to the Greek Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights,}

 http://www.ministryofjustice.gr/site/Portals/0/uploaded_files/uploaded_25/1B.%20ICT_expert_applications_ToR_Sep-Oct%202017.doc] has developed several online portals where citizens and legal professionals can access civil and criminal decisions of the Supreme Court,^{[Note 181: Supreme Civil and Criminal Court of Greece, http://www.areiospagos.gr/]} administrative courts,^{[Note 182: Council of State – Case Law Search, https://goo.gl/oejeyh]} and can submit various judicial requests electronically.^{[Note 183: National Criminal Records Portal, http://www.ncris.gov.gr; and Piraeus Court of First Instance, http://www.protodikeio-peir.gr  ]} Commitments under this theme are implemented in the context of the ongoing development of integrated case management systems for administrative, civil and criminal court cases which began in 2014 (Integrated Civil and Criminal Court Case Management System OSDDY/PP^{[Note 184: Integrated System for Penal and Civil Case Management (OSDDY/PP), http://www.solon.gov.gr]} and Integrated Administrative Court Case Management System; OSDDY/DD).^{[Note 185: Integrated System for Administrative Case Management (OSDDY/DD), https://goo.gl/1CCQyz]} The stated aim was to expand on these efforts by publishing information for administrative, civil court cases as well as improving the open availability of statistical judicial data.

Commitment 22. Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

The Ministry of Justice has been using a custom-made software application to gather statistical data from all the civil and criminal courts of the country since 2012. This is in effect a web form for collecting data, some of which is released at quarterly intervals on the Ministry’s website.^{[Note 186: Ministry of Justice statistical datasets, https://goo.gl/4kZv4o and https://goo.gl/R8bZei]} This commitment aimed to simplify statistical data collection and allow case load information to be collected in near real time. Once complete, the system would assist in making the statistical data accessible to citizens and members of legal professions. It would also help provide consistent, reliable data to policymakers to make sound decisions on resource allocation. The commitment remained unclear on which court data the public would have access to (e.g. full decisions, court transcripts, court efficiency information) or if this would be used to inform managerial decisions.

Status

Commitment 21. Provision of open data for Justice

Midterm: Substantial

By the middle of the action plan implementation period, the Ministry of Justice had provided access to court decisions to those citizens with specific legal interest. The Court of Audit also provided access to selected anonymized judgments of the Court. The online portal for the Administrative Courts also gave direct access to anonymized case law of the Administrative Courts.^{[Note 187: Council of State, http://www.adjustice.gr]} Additionally, civil court decision text and transcripts became available to parties with legal interest on a case.^{[Note 188: Integrated Court Transcripts System, https://www.ospd.gr/]} Although access was not comprehensive, this was the first time such decisions were made available in digital form without requiring prior explicit Ministry consent. For more information, please see the 2016-2018 midterm IRM report on the Greek action plan.^{[Note 189: OGP, “Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) Progress Report 2016–2018: Greece”, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/greece-mid-term-report-2016-2018-public-comment]}

End of term: Substantial

The Ministry of Justice continued updating the relevant portals and websites with new decisions. The anonymization procedure concerning judicial decisions was modified to be compliant with the EU GDPR directive. The Ministry states that this data is already being used by the most important stakeholders (judges, lawyers, clerks, employees, journalists, academics) and has significantly impacted transparency but no official usage statistics were released.^{[Note 190: Maria Toula, E-Government Department, Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, written answers to IRM researcher interview questions, 25 September 2018.]}

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 21. Provision of open data for Justice

Access to Information: Marginal

Before the creation of these web portals, access to Ministry of Justice information was severely limited, being available only to stakeholders directly connected to each case or procedure. Since the implementation of this commitment, web portals have been updated with civil court decisions and transcripts. However, as information is still limited and there are no official usage statistics the changes remain marginal in terms of access to information.

Commitment 22. Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

Midterm: Limited

At midterm evaluation the IT systems (OSDDY/PP, OSDDY/DD) necessary for providing statistical information on court decisions were only available at specific courts in six Greek cities. OSDDY/PP system adoption, especially, was an issue among Greek judges and court clerks and the corresponding statistical information had not been made available. The Ministry, in trying to address the problem, had attempted to provide additional training for the systems.^{[Note 191: Ibid.]} Up to date, statistical information regarding case load and types of decisions, were not widely available.^{[Note 192: Court of Audit Statistics, https://www.elsyn.gr/el/statistika-stoixeia]}

End of term: Limited

The Ministry continued publishing court-related statistical data on its main website via amended collection templates.^{[Note 193: Ministry of Justice statistical datasets, https://goo.gl/4kZv4o and https://goo.gl/R8bZei]} The Ministry is still largely relying on its older methods that were already in place before the adoption of the present commitment to collect statistical information.^{[Note 194: Maria Toula, E-Government Department, Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, written answers to IRM researcher interview questions, 25 September 2018.]} No statistical data is yet publicly available through the OSDDY/PP system.^{[Note 195: Integrated System for Penal and Civil Case Management (OSDDY/PP) statistics (in Greek), https://goo.gl/nCvKNA]} Despite the Ministry’s support efforts, problems with IT system adoption continued, with court clerks requesting a transitional period for introducing the systems, as well as more training, which hampered the ability to produce reliable statistical information directly from these systems.^{[Note 196: Athens Court Clerks Union communique to the Minister of Justice, “Problems with OSDDY/PP”, https://www.sdya.gr/osddy-pp/]}

Did It Open Government?

Commitment 22. Enhanced statistical data of justice open to the public

Access to Information: Did Not Change

For both commitments, access to the relevant information is tied to the completion and adoption of complex IT systems which are accompanied by significant resistance to change issues.^{[Note 197: Deligiannis, Athanasios P., and Dimosthenis Anagnostopoulos. "Towards Open Justice: ICT Acceptance in the Greek Justice System the Case of the Integrated Court Management System for Penal and Civil Procedures (OSDDY/PP)." E-Democracy and Open Government (CeDEM), 2017 Conference for. IEEE, 2017.]} Since only a few courts have implemented these systems, impact is limited and there have been no changes in opening government so far.

Carried Forward?

The Ministry of Justice gave no clear indication to the IRM researchers that there are plans to carry these commitments forward to a next action plan.^{[Note 198: Maria Toula, E-Government Department, Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, written answers to IRM researcher interview questions, 25 September 2018.]} The Ministry has entered into an agreement with the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media to use NSRF funds to expand the OSDDY/DD and OSDDY/PP systems to all courts in Greece. The system will also be upgraded to become interoperable with EU systems. The existing system for court transcripts will also be upgraded to support real time publication and direct citizen access via mobile and web applications.^{[Note 199: Cooperation Agreement between Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Digital Policy on the modernization of the judicial process using digital technologies, https://goo.gl/aRNDWy]}