<strong>The Digital Court Project is bringing faster, easier, and more cost-effective access to the courts, significantly easing the workload of clients, legal representatives, and court staff alike. By improving access to justice, the project also strengthens public trust in the legal system.</strong>
In today’s changing world, it’s become second nature to shop online or handle most of our official affairs digitally. As such, the digitalization of court administration emerged as a natural and justified expectation—made possible through an EU-funded project.
While it is still possible to visit court helpdesks and registries in person during office hours, digitalization now offers new conveniences. For instance, clients can now view case documents digitally at customer service points through the Registry Document Viewing System. Even more conveniently, the Client Document Access System allows parties to access court documents from any lawsuit initiated after January 1, 2020—online, 24/7, from the comfort of their own home. Documents can be viewed or downloaded without queues, travel, or copy fees. The updated Court Rulings Database also makes anonymized court decisions available through a user-friendly online platform.
Thanks to digital transformation, courts now communicate not only with clients, but also with partner institutions and other government bodies electronically. Today, Hungary has more than 200 so-called official public registries. During legal proceedings, courts often need to verify information contained in these registries—a process that once placed a financial burden on clients and took significant time. Now, the required data can be accessed with just a click.
The Digital Court Project builds on earlier IT developments by the National Office for the Judiciary. Previous projects established systems like the Court Electronic Notification and Alert System, which allows users to receive SMS or email updates on key procedural events. A Case Duration Calculator estimates the expected processing time for different case types at various courts. Meanwhile, the Court Payment Portal enables the online payment of court fees and procedural costs.
The new, user-friendly platform allows users to track their payments and use a Fee Calculator to estimate costs in advance. Court fees can now be paid through the Electronic Payment and Settlement System, eliminating the need to queue at the post office for revenue stamps.
Altogether, the Digital Court Project marks a major milestone in simplifying and speeding up access to justice—while reducing bureaucratic obstacles.
The development was implemented from EU funding in the project KÖFOP-1.0.0-VEKOP-15-2017-00052 under the Public Administration and Public Service Development Operational Programme.
Find out more about the project in the Project Finder: Details
