Electronic Expert's Opinion: Theoretical Basics and Practical Aspect

Abstract

Background. The article covers researching of the normative foundations and practical aspect of using the electronic form of an expert's opinion in civil proceedings. The prerequisite for writing the article was the adoption by the legislator of Ukraine of a number of important legal acts that regulate the use of digital technologies during expert examination in civil proceedings. The aim of the article is to investigate the regulation development of the use of digital technologies in the administration of justice by the European Union and Ukraine. The author aims to analyze their gradual steps from the general concept of electronic justice to the emergence of a new element of its implementation – the electronic form of the expert's opinion. Methods. While preparing the paper, the author used the following general and special scientific research methods: historical, statistical data analysis, document analysis, legal-comparative, deduction, generalization, comparison. Results. The author begins a scientific work with the studying the experience of the electronic justice implementation by the European Union. The researcher analyses the main documents of the institutions of the Union, in which they set out plans for the development of certain directions in this area. Further, the author refers to the Ukrainian experience of digitalisation of the judiciary. Special attention is attributed to the period of time after the entry into force of the new editions of procedural codes – December 15, 2017. The researcher highlights the fact that the main achievement in this period is the beginning of functioning of the subsystems (modules) of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (UJITS). However, in the opinion of the author, the main problem in this direction remains insufficient funding of the organisational support of the courts of Ukraine. The author examines the novel of Ukrainian legislation – an electronic expert's opinion. The researcher also describes the technical point of view of creating an electronic expert's opinion and signing it with an electronic signature. Conclusions. Based on the results of the research, the author made the following conclusions: 1) from the beginning of the 20th century to the present times, the European Union has adopted a number of important documents, the main purpose of which is the introduction and regulation of electronic justice. In them can be traced the gradual movement from general concepts to plans in specific directions. In this process, the European Union does not ignore the institute of expertise. 2) Ukraine, as a part of the European community, did not remain aloof from the idea of digitization of justice. The main achievements in this regard were reached after the entry into force of the new editions of the procedural codes in 2017. They establish the use of the UJITS subsystems (modules) in judicial proceedings. Today, such subsystems (modules) provide paperless exchange of documents in civil and other types of court proceedings. 3) the electronic form of the expert's opinion is a progressive novel of today's legislation. Experts acquired the right to submit an opinion in this form from June 24, 2022. However, the normative regulation of this form of opinion is not perfect.