Dominican justice enters a new era. From now on it will be possible to send notifications of digital documents, judges may use electronic signatures for “all processes” and virtual hearings They will be a fact in the different matters, except criminal matters.
The green light for the modernization of procedures, accessible with a click, is in force after the Power of attorney of the Dominican Republic will sign this Thursday the regulations for the application of the Law 339-22 that enables the Use of Digital Media for Judicial Processes.
During the act, the president of the Supreme Court of Justice and Council of Judicial Power, Luis Henry Molina Penaannounced the publication of the regulation and said that the entry into force of the electronic signature “for all jurisdictional documents of the Power of attorney It will take place from the next 48 hours”, that is, this Saturday.
Article 57 of the Regulation establishes that “the virtual hearings they can be held in non-criminal matters, subjecting their realization to differentiated conditions according to their nature in each matter, the requirements of the evidentiary activity and the protection of the rights and guarantees of the parties to the process. The virtual hearings must satisfy the rules of due process and effective judicial protection,”
The first paragraph of that article also provides that “the refusal of one of the parties prevents the process from being known and substantiated virtually, except for the exceptions contained in Law no. 339-22”.
The use of the electronic signature for “all judicial processes of judges and judicial servants speeds up the decision-making process and increases its security,” stated Molina Peña.
“The cart that carried the sentences to the different courts is over”President of the SCJ
The president of the Supreme thanked the president of the Bar Association (CARD)Miguel Surún Hernández “who finally supported” the initiative that, he said, should become the first tool of the Dominican justice system.
In that sense, Surún Hernández said that Law 339-22 has 95 percent of the suggestions made by the Bar Association, leaving out criminal hearings.
“The struggles that we undertook in that direction, the National Congress approved a law that more or less 95 percent accepted all our concerns, as is the case of the exclusion of virtual hearings in criminal matters and with the express guarantee of maintaining face-to-face services, the secretaries regardless of enabling these technological tools,” he explained.
The members of the Plenary of the Supreme Court of Justice, the presidents of the Justice and Human Rights Commissions of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, Pedro Manuel Catrain and Alexis Jiménez, respectively; the Legal Consultant of the Executive Branch, Antoliano Peralta Romero, and representatives of organizations from the public and private sectors.
