On Friday 16 July, EU Justice Ministers will meet again for an informal meeting in Slovenia, organised by the new EU Council Presidency.
The meeting will begin with an exchange of views on the impact of the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the judicial sector.
On this first point, Ministers will be invited to share their views on the impact assessment of the legislative proposal on the use of AI in judicial proceedings.
The focus is expected to be on the safeguards and other measures that need to be put in place in order to achieve a practice based on trust, reliability and humaneness.
The question of the relationship between the processing of biometric data by AI for identification and categorisation on the one hand and fundamental rights, privacy and data protection on the other will also be discussed by the ministers.
Finally, in light of the discussions held, the latter will be invited to present their priorities and other issues on which attention should be focused in the field of fundamental rights.
Digital heritage. This first exchange will be followed by a working lunch, which will be devoted to the issue of digital heritage.
The ministers will discuss the different national approaches as well as the cross-border aspect of these services, in cases where an account holder resides in a different country from the one where his or her profile was originally created. The question of a European regulation - and its scope - should therefore be addressed.
In addition to discussing the measures to be implemented to address the problems identified, the Ministers of Justice will try to identify the most urgent problems in the area of digital heritage.
Child-friendly justice. Finally, the third working session of the day will be devoted to the situation of children in judicial proceedings.
Ministers will be asked to share their experiences and good practices in their respective States in developing child-friendly justice.
In this respect, they will be invited to present, inter alia, examples of solutions that can be applied at European level to solve problems concerning the rights of children involved in civil and criminal proceedings, in particular as suspects or defendants, but also as victims.
The Slovenian Presidency, in a note sent to delegations, states that it wishes in particular “to focus on how best to ensure comprehensive support for child victims in the EU”. This is particularly so in light of the EU strategy on the rights of the child presented by the European Commission at the end of March (see EUROPE 12685/14). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin and Agathe Cherki)