The rapid development of public life and the challenges that have arisen this year not only for Ukrainian society but also for the whole world, inevitably require the introduction of technological solutions, regardless of the will of the authorities and the state’s readiness for such transformations.
On June 1, 2020, the State Judicial Administration of Ukraine issued Order №247 on the introduction of the “Electronic Court” and “Electronic Cabinet” subsystems into trial operation. Trial operation will be conducted in pilot courts — all local and appellate courts of Ukraine (except for the Kiev Court of Appeal and the Administrative Court of Cassation within the Supreme Court). In the process of subsystems usage, the pilot courts must be guided by the requirements defined in the Regulations on the automated document management system of the court, approved by the decision of the Council of Judges of Ukraine dated on November 26, 2010 №30 with changes regarding the functioning of the subsystems.
Despite the real necessity to carry out legal proceedings in electronic form, in particular, at least to accept documents in electronic form, some courts still refer to the absence of the fact of the beginning of the UJITS (Unified judicial information and telecommunications system) full functioning and thereby suspend the statements of claim and appeals, providing time limit for the submission of procedural documents together with paper evidence. According to some judges, all documents must besubmitted in paper form, and written applications must have the applicant’s handwritten signature.
This position cannot be considered as such that meets the objectives and basic principles of legal proceedings, since in this way the court by its actions not only does not protect the rights, but also demonstrates its inability to conduct court proceedings. Moreover, the relevant practice of the Supreme Court has been formed clearly and unambiguously emphasizes that the absence of the fact of the beginning of the full functioning of the UJITS cannot be an obstacle to the operation of its “Electronic Court” subsystem and, accordingly, the human right to submit procedural documents through this subsystem in electronic form (Ruling of the Cassation commercial court Supreme Court dated on July 20, 2020 in case №910/1386/20, Ruling of the Cassation Central court Supreme Court dated on July 29, 2020 in case №629/740/19, Regulation of the Cassation administrative court Supreme Court dated on October 15, 2020 in case №520/2863 / 19).
Referring to the absence of functioning of the UJITS, Ruling on suspend of procedural documents submitted through the “Electronic Court” subsystem are still sent by the courts to the “Electronic Court” subsystem.
From our own experience, we can advise plaintiffs and appellants, whose procedural documents are submitted by them through the “Electronic Court” subsystem, to immediately submit an application for the removal of «disadvantages» with reference to the practice of the Supreme Court. For a more successful adoption of procedural order by the courts for accepting for consideration of documents submitted through the “Electronic Court” system, it is advisable to add printouts from the Unified State Registry of Judicial Decisions of judicial acts of highest instance on the cancellation of illegal decisions, in accordance to which the procedural documents have been returned without consideration for reasons of not removal of «disadvantages» by submitting its copies and the documents attached to it in paper form.
