Supreme Court President Tewodros Mihret has approved a directive that aims to take the Ethiopian judicial system digital in a bid to cut spending and improve efficiency.
The ‘Electronic Appeals and Litigation Format’ directive will come into effect in November and applies to all federal courts and regional courts which handle federal cases.
The directive officially authorizes the use of a digital platform to handle court cases. Parties to a given case, including judges, attorneys, litigants, or other stakeholders will be required to submit case documents and signatures electronically.
Oaths and testimony from witnesses can also be recorded via the platform, which also enables courts to conduct hearings remotely.
Confidential documents relating to a case being handled digitally, however, must be submitted physically, according to the directive. The digital platform has a feature that allows for the blurring or redaction of sensitive information (such as bank accounts or ID numbers) on documents submitted electronically.
A national ID number is required to use the platform.
The directive requires all documents uploaded to the platform to be in searchable PDF/A format readable with the latest Adobe Reader. It also places a five megabyte size limit on uploads. Video and audio files must be uploaded in MPEG Layers-3 (mp3), Audio Video Interlative file (avi), or Windows Media Video file (.wmv) format.
Judicial officials hope to see the electronic court platform reduce the time and resources it takes to process court cases and minimize problems related to the handling and loss of files and documents.
