Courts to enter the digital era
Greece is going to spend more than 37 million euros on computerizing the judicial system in a bid to cut down on red tape and speed up the dispensation of justice, the government said yesterday. According to Justice Minister Haris Kastanidis, the money will be spent on, among other things, creating a system to scan case files and to have court minutes transcribed so that these are both available in digital format. Each year, some 1.2 million case files and 250,000 contracts are submitted to Greek courts, which means that court officials often have the laborious task of carrying mountains of paperwork with them. Kastanidis said the electronic system would allow judges to view case files via their computers and would also permit courts to provide interested parties with automatic updates on the progress of cases.
