Digital communication and safeguarding the parties’ rights: challenges for European civil procedure

DIGI-GUARD is a project that will try to bring solutions to the challenges facing the European civil procedure. Currently, the law in the EU does not provide a full response to the ongoing digitalisation of society accelerated by the pandemic. The European Commission has recently issued a Communication stating that “the EU justice scoreboard and the mapping show that many areas of justice could benefit from further digitalisation.” (COM(2020) 710 final, p. 3.). Despite the needs for quick developments, digital solutions should not be authoritatively imposed by technicians but should be introduced with regard to safeguarding the parties’ legal rights: the right to be heard and other fundamental rights such as the right to privacy, data protection and the right to a legal remedy. On the other hand, the parties have the right to a cost-effective trial within a reasonable time, which also depends on the quality and valid communication in proceedings. Therefore, the aim of the project’s interdisciplinary research on digital opportunities is to contribute to access to civil justice and the effective and coherent application and implementation of EU instruments (Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 and Regulation (EU) 2020/1784). The focus will be on topics at the intersection of the taking of evidence and the service of documents, focusing on different forms of communication exchanges in cross-border and national cases.