Pilot programme with community courts to be expanded to make justice more accessible
The pilot programme with community courts – where people can submit a legal problem in an accessible way – will be expanded. Enabled by the Judicial Procedure Experiments Act, due to come into force next year, the programme will provide support to people who submit a legal problem by obliging the counterparty to cooperate. This is not the case presently, but there is clearly a need for it, writes Minister for Legal Protection Sander Dekker in a letter to the House of Representatives on a socially effective administration of justice.
Minister Dekker:
‘The good thing about community courts is that you can submit your problem in a very simple manner. Why make things difficult when it can be easy?’
Accessible and simple
As not all parties are always willing to cooperate, community courts in the Netherlands have only handled a small number of cases so far. There is a need to establish whether a procedure like this will also work well once it becomes obligatory. That is why the Judiciary, acting on the basis of the Judicial Procedure Experiments Act which will come into force in the summer of 2021, is starting a new pilot programme that includes this obligation.
Learning from abroad
Technology can also help to solve people’s problems in a simpler and quicker way. This can be achieved through digitisation and by creating a new type of digital procedure.
Minister Dekker:
‘People with a problem do not necessarily want a court case: they want a solution, preferably one that is simple, fast and cheap. We want to learn from abroad about how we can achieve this in the Netherlands as well.’
To give one example, Canada has a mandatory online dispute settlement process for civil cases. This means that litigants can find information more easily, parties are given support and guidance in reaching an agreement and litigants can seek the advice of an expert if they wish. The idea behind this system is to provide easier access to professional dispute settlement and to settle disputes more quickly, more sustainably and at a lower cost. The Research and Documentation Centre will examine how the Canadian system is structured and whether a similar system offers potential for the Netherlands.