The ongoing Covid-19 virus is already changing our everyday lives. Despite all the negative aspects of this pandemic, it could also bring about some long-awaited positive changes in public administration and the justice system.
\n1. Court Hearings by Video Conference
\nAs lawyers, we have already been in digital contact with the courts for some time. Nevertheless, certain very old traditions, such as the black robe or the wig in the United Kingdom, have still been preserved.
\nIn Hungary, it is already possible to conduct the taking of evidence or hearings via an electronic communications network. We would welcome this becoming possible in Germany soon as well.
\n2. Electronic Case Files
\nSince there are still far too many files in paper form, there has long been hope for an electronic form of case management in courts.
\nIn some German courtrooms, we have already seen a proven method of displaying records \u2014 automatically generated by speech recognition software \u2014 or other documents on a screen or wall, visible to all parties and to the public. These files could then also be accessed on lawyers\u2019 laptops.
\n3. Digital Contract Signing with Electronic Signatures
\nAs few people know, many European legal systems require the traditional written form, for example a handwritten signature below the text, only in a limited number of cases. In the vast majority of cases, the law does not impose any formal requirements, meaning that contracts can be validly concluded by email or even through messaging systems such as WhatsApp or Messenger.
\nWhere the law continues to require the traditional written form, we now expect digital solutions that enable end users to validly and easily sign digital files with a qualified electronic signature to spread rapidly.
\n4. Electronic Voting
\nStates complain about low voter turnout and a lack of political interest, particularly among young people. In Germany, for example, voters over the age of 60 effectively have twice the voting weight of 18- to 30-year-olds. It is therefore a legitimate proposal, especially among younger voters, to offer online voting, as is already done in Estonia.
\n5. Virtual Identity Documents
\nOur wallets are becoming increasingly full due to the large number of important documents and identity cards, even though it would be possible to access them in virtual form through a secure data package whenever required.
\nThe files could be stored on our smartphone or on a single chip card and opened using our fingerprint. The state or other authorities would only have access to individual data if specifically authorised by us.
\nCan you think of any further suggested changes?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ongoing Covid-19 virus is already changing our everyday lives. Despite all the negative aspects of this pandemic, it could also bring about some long-awaited positive changes in public administration and the justice system. 1. Court Hearings by Video Conference As lawyers, we have already been in digital contact with the courts for some time. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":55205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t