Presented by

Nail Huseynli, M&E Manager, Azerbaijan, Judicial Services and Smart Infrastructure Project, Ministry of Justice

Judicial Reform in Improving Service DeliveryBreakout Session C - Governance of Service Delivery

Reforms during 2005 - 2019

With World Bank e-Court infrastructure was established, unified

standards were developed, "Electronic Court" and "Enforcement

Management" systems were implemented. Amendments made

to the Civil Procedure Code and to the Law "On courts and

judges" - establishing the electronic simplified (fast-track)

procedure for small claims; setting up the time standards for key

court events, including adjournment; automated random case

distribution;

e-filling & e-proceeding. Enactment of the Law on Mediation

World Bank

Moving Azerbaijan’s Judiciary into the

21st Century

Reforms in 2006

In partnership with

CoE CEPEJ

regional courts were

created, number of

judges, staff and

advocates was

increased

Reforms in 2004

In partnership with

Council of Europe the

status of the Judicial-

Legal Council was

renewed, Judge

Selection Committee

was established

Reforms before

2000

new constitution

was adopted,

judicial branch was

established,

judicial

independence

guaranteed

Reforms during

2000

Substantial

renewal of the

legislation, testing

system for the

selection of judges

was introduced.

April 3, 2019

Decree of the President of

the Republic of Azerbaijan

on deepening reforms in the

judicial-legal system: the

system of private bailiffs,

alternative expertise and

etc.

Main directions of project components

REVISION OF

REGULATORY

FRAMEWORK(mediation, advocacy

institute, court decision

enforcement system,

gender policy and

etc.)

COURT

INFRASTRUCTUR

E(design of court buildings,

definition of new standards,

construction of complexes)

ELECTRONIC

MANAGEMENT ANDE-SERVICES

(e-notary, e-court, e-

enforcement, electronic cabinet

and etc.)

(various trainings, surveys,

Promotions and et.c)

HUMAN CAPACITY

BUILDING

E-Services: Main achievements and developments

Unified Judicial Portal

Personal Electronic Cabinet for parties (e-

filling of claims, case progress tracking and

management)

“e-Questioning” System (remote

questioning of parties)

Acce

ss to

Ju

stice

e-C

ou

rt

infr

astr

uctu

re

e-M

an

ag

em

en

t an

de

fficie

ncy

“e-Court” System (AZEMİS)

Court hearings audio & video

recording system (Az-FEMİDA)

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Monitoring

board, e-Management & Predictive

justice

“e-Order» automated system

“e-Enforcement” System

“e-Notary” System

"e-Court" System is applied in all the courts

facing economic disputes in the country

Necessary conditions have been created

for the introduction of the "e-Court" System

in 68 courts

“e-Enforcement” System is applied in 34

agencies

Automated random case allocation

system

e-Publication of judgments and Unified

Database of Judgments

«e-Court fee» system (electronic payment

of court fees and fines)

Design of the court infrastructure for better

service delivery

COURT BUILDING

Ad

min

istr

ative

Co

urt

ro

om

Pe

nite

ntia

ry

Public

Restricted

Open Secured

Secured

Open

Main principles of the unified approachZoning (public and administrative zones)

➢ Introduction of the unified approach,

standards and zoning for the design of court

buildings, as well as special software for

automating this work;

➢ 22 modern designs (including 7 court

complexes and 14 court buildings) were

set up in 41 courts and 18 enforcement

agencies. 8 of these projects have been

completed and 3 of them are under

construction;

➢ Standards as the basis of the Unified

European Guidelines on "Access to Courts

and the Design of Court Buildings" adopted

by of Council of Europe in 2016.Administrative-

economical courts

Courts of appealFirst instance courts

Savings by building of the

Court Complexes:

USD 14.7 mln

(“Build four – save one!”)

✓ Saving on maintenance: 30% or

34,000 AZN per year

✓ Savings on keeping technical staff

approximately 30%

✓ Judges’ efficiency has increased

on 15%

✓ Post and other savings achieved

Selected Court buildings

Gu

ba

Dis

trict

Co

urt

Sheki C

ourt

Co

mp

lex

Sabunchu C

ourt

Co

mp

lex

Masally

Court

Co

mp

lex

Og

hu

z D

istric

t Co

urt

Gadabay

Dis

trict

Co

urt

Pro-Active ICT Infrastructure Monitoring

24 x7x365

Nation wide “Traffic Light”

monitoring of e-systems

availability

Quickly identify and predict

performance issues on MoJ

e-Services delivery

Main elements of the e-Court

,

E-CABINET (E-FILLING, CASE

PROGRESS TRACKING AND MANAGEMENT) FAST-TRACK

PROCEDURE FOR SMALL CLAIMS

“Paperless approach in commercial cases”

AUTOMATED RANDOM

ALLOCATION OF CASES

MONITORING BOARD:

Tracking the time standards for key court events and

preventing adjournment.

E-PUBLICATION OF THE JUDGMENTS

AND JUDICIAL STATISTICS

MEDIATION

e-Court

Paperless document flow for efficient and

transparent interaction with citizens and

businesses

Paperless electronic

case flow between

Court Instances

Supreme Court

Courts of

Appeal

1-st

instance

courts

e

e

e

Paperless

electronic case

flow between

State Institutions

(e.g. courts and

enforcement

agencies)

e

Paperless electronic

document flow

between

Judge and Business

Entity

Completely

electronic

interaction between

the judge and the

party

Impact of the e-Cabinet on court

proceedings and increased opportunities

for parties

E-filling of claims and other documents, e-document

flow – cost savings on post, time, travel and other

expenses

Access to court - 7/24/365 More than

40,000e-Claim – 68 court

Review status of the cases, information about the scheduled hearings,

access to case documents and tracking the case review status in higher

instances, possibility to see judge’s productivity reports (clearance rate, on

acquittals, resolution ways and etc.)

e-Access to all related cases More than

810,859Cases – 68 court

More than

907,703Hearings – 68 court

By electronic cabinet and Unified Database of Judgments – signed by

judge’s e-signature

e-Delivery of judgments and e-Tracking of the status of the

enforcement of judgments

More than

90,000Judgments – 68 court

More than

1,000,000Enforcements – 34

agenciesBy electronic cabinet, SMS and e-mail

e-Notification about the case review process

Automated “Fast Track” procedure for small

claims

➢ Maximum money claim limit (“Small Claim”) - up to 2000 AZN (aprx.

1.200 USD) for civil cases and up to 10000 AZN (aprx. 6.000 USD) for

commercial cases;

➢ Applicable to all civil cases, including commercial cases.

Main criteria

Fast-track VS Standard case

flowTaking case on review

(in days)

1 VS 10

Reviewing the case

(in days)

30 VS 90

Accepting

documents only

electronically VS

Requesting the

original

hardcopy of

documents

Written proceeding –

completely

electronically(without court hearing)VS

Court hearing is

mandatory

Positive impacts of the implementation of the

Automated e-Fast-Track System for small

claims (The SilkWay Project)

Case review

Within 1 business

day

More than 60 banks

and Business entities

use the online system

Increasing confidence in

courts

About the 7%

disputed court

decisions

Speed up the enforcing

process by e-

Enforcement

Cost and time

savings for Business

Environment (lawyer

and post services)

Smart courts VS Classic courts

Classic Court Smart Court

Filing hardcopy of the documents

and getting information about the

case in person, by phone and by

post with delays

Electronically (e-filing of the

documents, e-notifications, e-

access to all related cases)Access to Justice

Manual (about 30 minutes)

registering of the each civil case

in more than 20 types of paper

logs

Processing of the civil case

registration in 10 minutes (in

average), rejection of register

paper logs

Case registration

process

On paper, human factors on

tracking the information about

the case, spending more time on

document preparation

More than 1000 e-templates,

audio & video recording of the

court hearings, real time

tracking of the case information

and etc.

Working on case

Increasing tendency Decreasing tendency Backlogs

On paper and using incomplete

data, the presence of

unreasonable pressure from the

parties

E-Monitoring of the productivity

in real time (e-management), e-

reports, effective space zoning

and planning

Management

Main achievements of the e-Court»

information system

Speedy case review process by implementing the e-

management of cases and automatization of the operations

e-Registration of cases, e-scheduling of hearings, producing of court documents

automatically (more than 1000 templates), e-notification about the court review process

(e-cabinet, SMS and e-mail), tracking of the procedural timeframes and preventing of

violations, audio & video recording of court hearings

Electronic verification of the submitted documents and

information in other state information systems

Possibility for key stakeholders to see judge’s productivity

reports (clearance rate, on acquittals, resolution ways and etc.)

Paperless electronic document flow between Judge and Party

Completely electronic interaction between the judge and the

party on economic disputes

Promoting Mediation for Efficient Service

Delivery and Public Trust

Ministry of Justice in

cooperation with

World Bank has started

Mediation Project

February,

2018

May, 2018

The first trainings for

mediators and judges

June, 2018

Pilot Mediation Center

at the Baku City

Yasamal District Court

November, 2018

Pilot Mediation Center

at the Baku

Administrative-

Economical Court No2

February,

2019

Pilot Mediation Project

successfully finished

March 29,

2019

The Law “On

mediation”

was adopted

61%39%

Conciliation of parties in pilot mediation centers

Achieved

Not achieved

The draft Law “On

mediation” was developed

within the World Bank

“Judicial Services & Smart

Infrastructure” Project jointly

with Council of Europe

European Commission for

the Efficiency of Justice

(CEPEJ)

Court Pulse: The Management Revolution for

evidenced-based policy decision making

COURT PULSE

The Management Revolution

Integration of scientific principles in court

operations covering time, cost efficiency /

productivity and quality;

Dramatic improvement in management of court

resulting in proactive role of court president and

judges, allowing for evidence-based decision-

making;

Combination of Data Science and ICT resulted

in court management revolution and significant

improvement in service to society.

Shift in mind-set and move from endless

debates describing symptoms of a problem

(backlogs, excessive length of court

proceedings) and providing excuses to

ability to make evidence based

diagnostics and agreeing on a treatment

(corrective actions);

Fair allocation of financial and human

resources in court;

Awards & International Recognitions of

Azerbaijan’s justice reforms

Council of

Europe

World Bank

Project:

“Court Pulse – The

Management Revolution”

was awarded with

SPECIAL MENTION

at the Crystal Scales of

Justice Prize awarding

ceremony in Edinburgh,

Scotland on 27 October

2017.

“e-Order” automated

system –

International

recognition of use of

artificial intelligence

in Azerbaijan (“Silk

Way” Project)

Visit

www.courts.gov.az

Questions?

nail.huseyn@gmail.com

THANK YOU!

Supporting Slides: “e-Order” automated system:

Initial implementation of the Artificial Intelligence

• Banks;

• Mobile operators;

• Business entities.

e-Signed applications

(bulk or through e-

cabinet)

e-Signed judgments

(orders)

Validations the

submitted

information:

• State Registry of

Population;

• Credit bureau;

• Automated

Information

System of Taxes;

• e-Notary

e-Signing of the

judgments (orders)

by the judge

“e-Order” automated system

COURTENFORCEME

NT AGENCY

e-Enforcement

order

Supporting Slides: MANAGEMENT PANEL: Tracking

the time standards for key court events and preventing

the adjournment

• Alerts on mandatory actions within the

case;

• Status notification on highlighted

mandatory actions;

• Number of the procedural violations;

• Non-procedural applications and status of

their review;

• Number of the cases with delays;

Mo

nit

ori

ng

info

rmati

on

• Information on finalized cases;

• Information about the corrected judgments;

• Information on allocation of cases in court;

• Information about status of appealed

judgments: dismissed, quashed and kept

without changes;

• Complaints regarding the judge;

• Monitoring the enforcement of judgments.

• Scheduled hearings;

Supporting Slides: MONITORING DASHBOARD:

Tracking the time standards for key court events

and preventing the adjournmentMonitoring information:

Alerts on mandatory actions within the case

Alerts about the

necessity to

schedule the

hearing

➢ Green – number of the

existing actions within

the allowed time period;

➢ Yellow – number of the

existing actions are

close to pass the

allowed time period

(final day);

➢ Red - number of the

expired actions.

Supporting Slides: Impact of the e-

Cabinet to court proceeding and

opportunities for parties

Access to Justice (24/7):

• e-filling;

• e-Payment of court fees;

• e-Access to all related cases (case documents,

hearings, judgments and etc).

Completely electronic interaction between the judge and

the party:

• e-Communication between judge and party;

• e-Document flow (submitting and getting documents);

• Automatic publication of judgments;

• e-Tracking the status of the enforcement of judgments.

Transparency and efficiency:

• Speed-up the court proceedings and getting the court

documents on time;

• Elimination of delays and fraud.

Cost and time saving:

• No post expenses;

• No need to visit court before or after hearings;

• No any direct interaction with court staff and waiting for their

response.

Partiesplaintiff,

defendant,

lawyer, victim &

etc.

Supporting Slides: Selected court

buildings

Ga

nja

City

Niz

am

iD

istric

t

Co

urt

Sum

gait C

ourt

Co

mp

lex

Baku C

ity Y

asam

al

Dis

tric

t C

ou

rt

Baku C

ity

Su

rakh

an

y

Dis

tric

t C

ou

rt

Ba

ku

City

Na

rima

no

v

Dis

trict C

ou

rt

Ba

ku

City

Bin

ag

ad

i

Dis

trict C

ou

rt

Supporting Slides: Reserve (Full-Backup) Tier III Data

Center

State-of-the-art Data Center solution Certified by the

Global Uptime Institute Data Center AuthorityMinistry of Justice (MoJ) first to implement

POD Containerized Datacenter in

Azerbaijan

(Uptime Institute Tier III Certified)

Airbus – Up in the air with containerized

Performance Optimized Datacenter

(POD) solution in Toulouse, France

Supporting Slides: Automated random

allocation of cases

New cases are filed

e-Cabinet

MAIN ALLOCATION PRINCIPLES (CRITERIAS)

By case types – civil,

commercial, administrative

and etc..By dispute categories –

insolvency, contract

enforcement, debts and etc..

Weight of the case–

dispute types grouped

by panel of expert

judges.

On the basis of

the

court's/judge’s

caseload

Rando

m

AutomatedCourt

No human

involvement

• February 13, 2014 – Presidential decree on developing of «e-Court» information

system

• December 28, 2018 – The law about the amendments to Law "On courts and

judges";

• April 3, 2019 – Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on

deepening reforms in the judicial-legal system.

Cases are allocated

equally among the

judges