Publish Court Decisions (GE0074)

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.

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.

9. Publish court decisions in a unified database and create a retrieval system

Theme II: Increasing Public Integrity

Complete

Aim of the commitment

Under this commitment, the Supreme Court of Georgia aimed to upgrade the electronic registry http://info.court.ge so that it functions as a unified registry for the decisions of common courts and the Supreme Court. To do this, the Supreme Court committed to 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.

Did it open government?

Marginal

The High Council of Justice of Georgia took over this commitment from Supreme Court of Georgia and developed a unified registry of court decisions, integrating decisions from the common and supreme courts under the single online platform ecd.court.ge. [1] It also activated different search modules for easy access to different types of data, such as court decisions and final documents (including decisions redacted due to personal data considerations), public announcements, and the schedule of court sessions. The new platform functions without technical flaws and allows for easier re-use of data, especially for law practitioners who experienced difficulties with the previous system.

While the new unified registry consolidates previously dispersed information from the courts into a single platform, the main part of the registry (publishing the decisions of all courts) remains on hold since May 2020 and respective data on court decisions since that date are not available online. This was due to a separate process, independent from this commitment, where the Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled (7 June 2019) that it was unconstitutional to prohibit access to the full text of court decisions delivered within the scope of public hearings. [2] The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) had appealed against the Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection that prohibited access to the full texts of court decisions delivered within the scope of public hearings. IDFI saw this restriction as a significant issue affecting the overall transparency of the judiciary.

Accordingly, the courts have put this module of publishing of court decisions with redacted personal information (what the commitment refers to as cross-hatched/shaded decisions) on hold since May 2020, until parliament harmonizes existing legislation with the requirements of the constitution, as ruled by the Constitutional Court. Parliament has not adopted appropriate amendments to date. [3]

While the Constitutional Court’s ruling widens access to information contained in court decisions beyond the original scope of this commitment, the absence of transitional measures (as called for by the Court) has effectively halted the ongoing publication of decisions, until these measures are agreed upon in legislation. The system is currently awaiting legal amendments to be adopted by parliament in order to operate fully. This means there has only been a marginal increase in access to information at this time.