TRANSPARENCY OF CIVIL PROCEEDINGS IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Abstract

This paper examines the significance of the principle of publicity in civil proceedings, highlighting its role in promoting transparency, accessibility, and the openness of the judiciary. The principle of publicity enhances the efficiency of the judicial system and fosters public trust in the courts by enabling citizens to monitor court operations, thereby ensuring societal oversight of judicial processes. Public access to court proceedings and judgments also has a positive impact on judges, contributing to their accountability and compliance with the rules of civil procedural law. Court hearings and judgments are public, except in cases involving the protection of privacy, national security, or other exceptional circumstances. In such instances, the court may decide to exclude the public to safeguard the interests of justice. The digitalisation of court proceedings represents a crucial step toward the modernisation of European judiciary systems, significantly enhancing the transparency of the judicial system and enabling faster and easier access to court information, thereby promoting a more efficient realisation of the principle of publicity. Through digital tools, courts can reduce administrative obstacles and expedite case processing, contributing to more efficient proceedings and reducing the workload of judges and other judicial personnel. Additionally, digitalisation provides citizens with easier and more direct access to court processes, further strengthening their trust in the judicial system. However, due to the digitalisation of judicial proceedings, modern challenges arise, where such digital tools sometimes allow access to a larger number of individuals, despite confidentiality markings on documents. This presents a challenge in terms of data protection and information security in civil proceedings. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the use of digital technology does not undermine the procedural guarantees of other, diametrically opposed rights. In conclusion, the need for further improvement and more precise legal solutions is therefore emphasized to ensure effective protection of privacy and confidentiality of data in the context of digitalisation.