The Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts has presented the first data of the Law on Efficiency of the Public Justice Service, which is already offering tangible results in the streamlining of procedures, one of its main objectives.

The regulation, in force since last April, has managed to reduce the pending acts of communication (notifications, requirements, etc. ). It has also demonstrated its effectiveness in expediting the execution of sentences. In addition, citizens have already carried out almost 98,400 judicial procedures in the Offices of Justice in the Municipality, since its creation in June. Previously, there was no possibility of carrying out these actions telematically from any municipality.

For the implementation of the new model, the Ministry has made an investment that exceeds 325 million euros, coming from European funds, in the 12 communities with the competence of Justice transferred. In the Foral Community of Navarre, the investment is worth 9 million euros. In addition, it should be remembered that the Efficiency Act will save about 300 million euros over the next 10 years in those 12 communities. In Navarre, it is expected to be almost 4 million euros.

As foreseen by the law, more than 300 Courts of Instance have already entered into operation during this year without incidents, 4 of them in Navarre.

With regard to coordination, since the implementation of the law began, the technical working group created by the Ministry with the autonomous communities has held 27 follow-up meetings and seven Sectoral Commissions have also been held throughout the year. The Ministry has also organized a comprehensive training plan on the new standard for judges, Justice Administration lawyers and civil servants, as well as an awareness-raising programme for legal operators with dozens of sessions held throughout the territory. There have been 280 briefings on the courts of instance, 305 training courses in digitization with more than 15,000 students, and a Conference of Directors of Common Services with about 300 attendees.

This reform, which was worked on for years in the Ministry, represents the greatest transformation of Justice since the 19th century. An improvement achieved thanks to the commitment of all the agents involved: autonomous communities, judges, magistrates, lawyers of the Administration of Justice and Justice officials, among others.

New features introduced

The Law of Efficiency supposes the greatest structural reform of the Justice in decades and its objective is to turn it into a more agile, modern and citizen-friendly public service.

It introduces an organizational reform that modernizes a judicial plant designed in the 19th century: it transforms the traditional single-person courts (3,800) into 431 Courts of Instance, collegiate bodies where judges are divided into specialized sections (civil, criminal, violence against women, etc.) and have a single Judicial Office of technical support. This allows greater agility because resources are optimized, workloads are better distributed and greater flexibility is achieved to adapt to the needs.

On the other hand, the Efficiency Act includes a key procedural change to reduce litigation, foster the culture of dialogue between the parties and expedite the processing of disputes. This is the obligation to resort to the Appropriate Means of Dispute Resolution (MASC) in civil and commercial matters before initiating any judicial process.