Justice tries to catch up

On 20 December 2023, Royal Decree-Law 6/2023 of 19 December was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), approving urgent measures for the implementation of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the public service of justice, the civil service, local government and patronage (the "RDL").

The RDL will be the subject of many articles and training seminars, highlighting in general terms that its main purpose is twofold. On the one hand, to promote the process of digitalisation of the administration of justice, and on the other, to implement procedural efficiency measures in the areas of civil, criminal, labour and contentious-administrative jurisdiction, aimed at reducing litigation and speeding up procedures.

Curiously, despite the aim of modernising and streamlining justice, the RDL does not include the so-called appropriate methods of dispute resolution ("ADR") and, in particular, does not include the procedural requirement of having used these mechanisms prior to the filing of the lawsuit. It is to be expected that this issue, which can undoubtedly help to reduce the volume of legal proceedings in our country, and which is of unquestionable importance, will be addressed and introduced in the future by the legislator.

It is also important to highlight the introduction of a system for evaluating the performance and professional career of justice officials. This is a key element to promote the momentum and dynamism of judicial procedures, which are in the hands of the officials once the demand enters the justice administration system. Although, among other things, the motivation of people will be sought through their involvement in the achievement of objectives, teamwork and professional development and promotion will be encouraged, all of this will be subject to collective bargaining, which will specify the rules that establish these criteria and mechanisms, so that their effectiveness will depend on what is finally agreed by agreement.

On a digital level, and going further with the measure to eliminate physical paper, the aim is to take a further step forward in what is understood and applied as an electronic judicial file. The RDL seeks to provide the means for all the data in the file to be structured in such a way as to provide global information on the judicial procedure, including documents, formalities, electronic actions or audiovisual recordings. There are even plans to strengthen the current technical committee and create an advisory council to achieve full implementation of digital justice.

It is important to see how the RDL, in line with the recent modifications of the last year, establishes that this modernisation, which allows permanent digital access to the administration of justice, must be implemented taking into account the right of lawyers, solicitors and social graduates for these systems to enable and favour digital disconnection and the reconciliation of work, personal and family life, as long as the provisions of procedural legislation are respected.

In the area of civil procedure, the essential new feature is the modification of the amount for which proceedings are processed, and the implementation of the witness procedure. All cases with a value of less than fifteen thousand and one euros will be processed by verbal trial. It is conceivable that with the reduction of hearings for a large number of cases, the procedural files will be completed earlier. This leads us to reflect on whether it would not even have been necessary to raise the amount above the fifteen thousand euros. In mass litigation, as has been the case before the Court of Justice of the European Union, the choice of a series of procedures known as witnesses is implemented so that the resolution of one or more of them can serve as a model for the rest. 

Although the RDL came into force on 21 December, each of the novelties it contains comes into force on different days. The digital efficiency measures will enter into force on 9th January 2024, while the procedural amendments will enter into force three months after the date of publication in the Official State Gazette, i.e. on the 15th March 20, 2024.

In conclusion, these are a series of measures that are welcome and necessary to try to ensure that the administration of justice ceases to be the worst rated by all citizens. This will require the will and effort of all legal operators. Let us hope that this time it will serve to achieve the ends it sets out to achieve.