(Sarajevo, September 11, 2020) - European Union's continuous support to the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina enabled linking of all judicial institutions through a Wide Area Network (WAN), providing quick judicial communication and faster information exchange.

The most significant result of the informatization process was the establishment of the Case Management System (CMS/TCMS) that is being used by more than 6 000 users in courts and prosecutors’ offices on a daily basis. Automatic assignment of cases and their electronic recording made the management of court cases easier and faster.

“Various court reports can be prepared through the CMS System, allowing me as the Court President to make better managerial decisions on allocation of human and material resources, as well as easier monitoring of the achieved results. Moreover, the work of judges was made easier by granting them access to documents in the case files at any given time, allowing them to perform certain legal analyses, prepare records for trials and reach final decisions," said Muhamed Tulumović, President of the Municipal Court in Tuzla.

The ultimate goal of the judicial institutions’ informatization process is to provide citizens with a better service. The benefit of the CMS System is to enable citizens, after filing a lawsuit, to receive a case number, the name of the presiding judge and, if requested, an access code to services called "Access to the court cases via Internet" and the mobile application “e-SUD”.

These services allow citizens to follow from distance the status for their respective case in court, thus reducing the number of visits to courts, which became particularly important during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

​Thanks to the Module for estimating the approximate cost of a court proceeding, developed within the CMS System, citizens have for the first time the opportunity to check the approximate cost of a court proceeding before filling a claim.

Citizens also benefit from the Module for issuing criminal status certificates that accelerated and decreased costs of the process of issuance of a “certificate of good conduct”, because the entire process can be completed in the nearest Basic or Municipal Court.

The “certificate of good conduct” is to confirm that there are no past or ongoing criminal proceeding against an individual and are often requested by employers, banks, etc.

The Web portal www.pravosudje.ba was also developed with the support of the European Union, providing citizens with needed information about work and jurisdiction of 110 judicial institutions.

“The judiciary today would not be able to function without information and communication technologies. There is a demand for constant improving of these technologies, in order to ensure the efficient functioning of the judiciary“, said by Darko Savić, the ICT Officer in the Basic Court in Gradiška.

The European Union also financed construction and reconstruction of judicial buildings, as well as technical equipment for all courts and prosecutors’ offices in BiH. The EU allocated  substantial amount in grants for the rehabilitation and modernisation of 32 courts and prosecutors’ offices in 17 cities across BiH, as well as significant amount of technical equipment (computers, printers, scanners, audio and visual equipment, servers, network equipment, computer data centre). As a result, the employees of judicial institutions are provided with working conditions in accordance with modern standards.

Financing the development of information and communication technologies for the justice sector, as well as constructing and reconstruction of judicial buildings is a part of steady support of the European Union for the modernisation of BiH’s judicial and prosecutorial system to deliver effective justice.

For more information, please contact: Dalila Hadžić, IPA Communication and Visibility Officer at 033 704 601.