Law Reform: The Digital Future of European Courts

The EU is developing a strategy to modernise justice systems with digital tools and cross-border cooperation.

The European Commission is drafting a new strategy to bring courts into the digital age by 2030. These reforms will involve faster case hearings, fewer delays, smarter tools (e.g., AI) and less paperwork. The European Commission intends to fix outdated, expensive and slow justice systems.

AI, Algorithms & Access to Justice

The European Commission has launched a public consultation for its new DigitalJustice@2030 Strategy, aiming to modernise justice systems across the European Union by the end of the decade. This initiative lays out a direction for Member States to follow in using digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to improve how justice works.

The strategy builds on a clear political mandate. Commissioner McGrath has been tasked with aligning Europe’s justice systems with broader economic and competitiveness goals.

These include the Draghi report, the AI Continent Action Plan, and President von der Leyen’s 2024–2029 Political Guidelines.

The core belief is simple: a more efficient and accessible justice system is good for the economy, especially for businesses that depend on legal predictability and fairness.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted serious weaknesses in court systems that lacked digital tools. Where digital case management and video hearings were possible, justice continued. Where they were not, entire systems stalled. The Commission now seeks to ensure that future crises will not leave justice systems in limbo again.

Despite some progress, the level of digitalisation varies greatly across the EU. Some countries have launched sophisticated tools such as electronic case files and online hearings. Others are still heavily reliant on manual paperwork. The aim of the strategy is to bridge these gaps.

One major challenge is that countries are not sharing what they are building. There is no central platform for pooling tools or standards, and judicial data is often hard to access or not usable in machine-readable formats. This also hinders the development of effective AI tools, which depend on large, structured datasets to work properly.

The strategy outlines several focus areas. It will create an IT and AI toolbox for justice that helps Member States identify existing solutions. It will support the creation of a European Legal Data Space to improve access to legislation and case law. It will also encourage digital court procedures, including for cross-border disputes. Secure digital identities, electronic signatures, and time-stamped communications are part of this framework.