On Monday 7 June, the European Ministers of Justice, meeting in Luxembourg in person, reached an agreement on the proposal for a regulation that aims to transfer the management of the e-CODEX computer system to the EU Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), starting July 2023 (see EUROPE 12614/12).
The e-CODEX system (‘e-Justice Communication via Online Data Exchange’) makes it possible to interconnect different national digital justice systems in order to carry out cross-border procedures in civil and criminal matters. Users can, in particular, send and receive documents, legal forms or evidence electronically in a fast and secure way.
The system is currently managed by a consortium of twenty Member States until 2024. The regulation aims to ensure a sustainable legal framework for the system by entrusting its management to the eu-LISA agency.
“I strongly believe in the potential of the e-CODEX system to contribute in a concrete way to the modernisation of judicial cooperation in the European Union”, said EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders during the meeting. According to him, the use of the system will be gradually extended to other areas of judicial cooperation, both in civil and criminal matters.
The European Commission intends to propose three further legislative proposals this year to modernise judicial cooperation in the EU (see EUROPE 12614/12). And, in this context, e-CODEX appears to be “the most natural technical solution”, Didier Reynders pointed out.
The compromise text approved by the ministers validates this transfer of management, but it makes it clear that “the regulation does not contain rules on the mandatory use of the e-CODEX system”.
In addition, it introduces additional guarantees for the independence of the judiciary regarding its functioning (see EUROPE 12732/10) and details the governance and management structure to be implemented within eu-LISA.
e-Codex location
At the meeting, Estonia announced that a bilateral agreement between the Estonian and French delegations had been reached on the installation of the e-CODEX system in Tallinn. The Estonian capital is home to the headquarters of eu-LISA, while the Agency’s operational site is in Strasbourg. A joint statement by Estonia and France on this subject was added to the minutes of the ministerial meeting.
It should be recalled that the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council had made this issue one of its priorities. An ad hoc working group on the e-CODEX Regulation was set up in the EU Council in February to make rapid progress (see EUROPE 12650/32).
The quick adoption of this text is all the more important as implementing acts will have to be drafted and adopted before the actual transfer of the management of the system. And the eu-LISA agency will need to ensure that it has the resources and staff to carry out this new task.
Slovenia, which will hold the Presidency of the EU Council from 1 July, has confirmed its goal of concluding negotiations with the European Parliament on the text.
See the EU Council mandate: https://bit.ly/2T5R5SS (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)