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Jan

08

Implementation of The Electronic Court

The development of technology in today’s era is moving at an unprecedented rate, especially in the field of information technology which covers the internet. Though technological progress has positively improved the lives of millions of individuals, it has forced the law to match its development in order to reap these same benefits institutionally. Recently, the Supreme Court (“SC”) has enacted a regulation regarding the implementation of electronic court (“e-Court”), designed to more efficiently handle the administrative tasks involved in cases and trials.

The implementation of e-Court has been around since 2018 by the Regulation of the Supreme Court No. 3 Year 2018 concerning Administration of Cases and Legal Proceeding in Courts by Electronic Means (“Regulation 3/2018”). However, believing the regulation required improvement, in August 2019, the SC enacted a new framework for implementation of the e-Court through the issuance of Regulation of the Supreme Court No. 1 Year 2019 concerning Administration of Cases and Legal Proceedings in Courts by Electronic Means (“Regulation 1/2019”). The updated scope of the e-Court system in this regulation was expanded to include:

  1. The electronic administration of cases which contain these following process:[1]
    1. Receipt of claims, petitions, objection, rebuttals, oppositions or intervensions;
    2. Receipt of payments;
    3. Submission of summonses/notifications, answer, replies, rejoinders and conclusions;
    4. Receipt of remedies; and
    5. Management, submission and retention of case documents.
  2. Electronic proceedings (e-litigation) with a series of examination and adjudication processes by the court, implemented with the support of information and communication technology.[2] This means that court hearings can now be replaced by online proceedings that follow these stages:[3]
    1. Submission of claims, petition, objection, rebuttals, opposition, interventions along with its amandment;
    2. Submission of answers, replies, rejoinders, and conclusions;
    3. Inquisitorial process, and
    4. Pronouncement of verdict/stipulation.

Regulation 1/2019 was established to provide a legal basis for administrative execution of electronic trials in court to promote efficiency, accountability, and professionalism in the handling of cases.[4] The following type of cases which may be executed with the e-Court system remain the same as Regulation 3/2018, which are:[5]

  1. Civil cases;
  2. Religious civil cases;
  3. Military administrative cases; and
  4. Administrative cases.

In order to maintain consistent implementation of the e-Court system, Regulation 1/2019 only allows for the e-Court to be utilized at the appeal, cassation, and review levels if the e-Court system was originally used at the first legal proceedings.[6] In Regulation 3/2018, these matters were not addressed.

Furthermore, the e-Court system can be used for court hearings all the way from administration of cases until the verdict is implemented, as outlined in the table below:

Legal Proceeding

Remarks

Administration of cases

  1. The plaintiff submits its claim by Sistem Informasi Pengadilan (“SIP”) which supported by evidences in the form of electronic document;[7]
  2. The plaintiff submits the payment to the Court’s bank account by electronic;[8]
  3. Administration of cases conducted by electronic will be processed by Registrar’s court to the next step after the submission is completed through verification process.[9]

Calls and Notifications for the Parties

Calls and notifications by electronic will be delivered to:[10]

  1. The plaintiff who submits the administration of cases by electronic; and
  2. The defendant or other parties which states its approval to be summoned by electronic.

Electronic hearing

  1. The judge provides an explanation regarding rights and obligations of the parties regarding electronic hearings in the first hearing for the subtle electronic hearing.[11]
  2. Electronic hearing is implemented based on the approval of the parties after the mediation process is failed.[12]
  3. The judge will determine the hearing schedule for the submission of answers, replies, and rejoinders.[13] The judge will determine the next hearing schedule until the verdict.[14]
  4. The hearing schedule is announced through SIP.[15]
  5. The electronic hearing is implemented through SIP as well, in accordance with the determined schedule.[16]
  6. Electronic hearing for the submission of claims, answer, replies, rejoinders and conclusions shall be conducted with these following procedures:[17]
    1. The parties are entitled to provide electronic documentation at the latest on the day and time of the scheduled hearings.
    2. Upon receiving and examining the electronic documents, the judge will forward the submitted electronic documents to all parties.
  7. If the parties agree, evidentiary hearings will be held in order to examine witnesses and/or expert witnesses may be conducted via long-distance communication, including the use of audio-visual equipment, as provided by the relevant courts.[18] Any fees which incurred as a result of the utilization of such communication shall be charged to the plaintiff.[19]

Verdict

  1. The judge will determine the verdict electronically through the SIP system.[20]
  2. The verdict shall be in the form of copies of verdict and signed by digital sigining. It shall be published by SIP system.[21]

In addition, the e-Court system can be accessed by both advocate and non-advocate parties who meet the requirements specified in the table below:[22]

No.

Advocates[23]

Non-advocate parties [24]

1.

Shall possess an Identity Card or Kartu Tanda Penduduk (“KTP”);

Parties who are acting as proxies of the ministry/institution/business entity shall have an employee idenficiation card, membership card, power of attorney and/or assignment letter;

2.

Shall possess an Advocate Membership Card or Kartu Keanggotaan Advokat; and

Such individual shall possess a KTP or Passport and other identity documents; and

3.

Shall possess the official records of the advocate’s oath-taking ceremony or berita acara sumpah.

A decree issued by the chief of court for incidental legal proceedings which involved familial relationships with prospective users who register via the court information system or Sistem Informasi Pengadilan (“SIP”)

From the above-mentioned requirements, both advocate and non-advocate parties have the rights to access the online platform for the administration of cases and legal proceedings.[25] The SC has the authority to conduct verification of registration data, verification of data change, suspension of access rights, and revocation of the status of advocate and non-advocate parties.[26] If the registration cannot be verified, the SC also has the authority to rejected such registration. Furthermore, if a violation is found by users, the SC will take these following action:[27]

  1. Warning;
  2. Termination of access rights temporarily; and
  3. Termination of access rights permanently (account deactivation).

We hope that the implementation of E-Court can support all relevant parties to improve on conventional court filing or adjudication methods by operating more efficiently in terms of time, fees, and effort.

 



[1] Article 1 number 6.

[2] Article 1 number 7.

[3] Article 4.

[4] Article 2.

[5] Article 3 paragraph (1).

[6] Article 3 paragraph (2).

[7] Article 9 paragraph (1) and (2).

[8] Article 10 paragraph (1).

[9] Article 13.

[10] Article 15 paragraph (1).

[11] Article 19.

[12] Article 20 paragraph (1).

[13] Article 21 paragraph (1).

[14] Article 21 paragraph (2).

[15] Article 21 paragraph (3).

[16] Article 21 paragraph (4).

[17] Article 22 paragraph (1).

[18] Article 24 paragraph (1) and (2).

[19] Article 24 paragraph (3).

[20] Article 26 paragraph (1) and (2).

[21] Article 26 paragraph (4) and (6).

[22] Article 5 paragraph (1).

[23] Article 5 paragraph (2).

[24] Article 5 paragraph (3).

[25] Article 6 paragraph (1).

[26] Article 7 paragraph (1).

[27] Article 7 paragraph (3).


About the author:

 

Prisca AnabellaPrisca Anabella
Prisca Anabella was awarded a Bachelor of Law (Sarjana Hukum) degree by Atma Jaya Catholic University in 2018, majoring in Criminal Law. When she was a law student, she also served internship in another law firm in Jakarta, where she gained invaluable insights into the day-to-day operation of a law firm.