European e-Justice Portal

General information

In terms of the use of videoconference in cross border cases, studies have shown that from a technical perspective videoconferencing systems employed in different Member States are interoperable. In several Member States videoconferencing equipment is widely available in court rooms. In the absence of technical obstacles more attention should be devoted to awareness-raising about the potential use of videoconferences and to creating practical tools to facilitate videoconferencing.

For this purpose, within this section you can find the following information:

information on general videoconferencing policy;
a booklet prepared by the Council of the European Union containing general information on the legal framework, technical issues and good practices in cross-border videoconferencing - see attached document;
a manual providing more detailed information for practitioners (e.g. judges, court clerks, and court technicians);
Taking evidence by videoconferencing;
information on national facilities that enables practitioners to find out whether videoconferencing equipment is available in a specific court in another Member State (information in this section is based on input provided by Ministries of Justice in all Member States);
dynamic forms that currently concern only cross border proceedings in civil and commercial matters according to Council Regulation of 28 May 2001 (see legislative framework). They enable the requesting court to fill in requests online, to check whether a request is complete, to print, save, translate into the language of the requested court and email such documents;
the outcomes of the project "Multi-aspect Initiative to Improve Cross-border Videoconferencing", which was carried out by Member States participating in the Expert Group on Videoconferencing and was funded under the Justice Programme. The objective of the project was to promote the practical use of and to share best practices and expertise on cross-border videoconferencing. The results of the project are aimed at judges, prosecutors and court clerks from the Member States’ judiciaries, involved in cross-border cases, as well as at technical staff planning and supporting videoconferencing.

Related Attachments

Booklet (3073 Kb)

Council Recommendations - ‘Promoting the use of and sharing of best practices on cross-border videoconferencing in the area of justice in the Member States and at EU level’

Final Report (1210 Kb) from the Council Working Group on e-Law (e-Justice) - Expert Group on videoconferencing (Annexes below)

Outcomes of the project "Multi-aspect Initiative to Improve Cross-border Videoconferencing" (2019 Kb)

Practice guide for the application of the Regulation on the Taking of Evidence (74 Kb)

Last update: 07/10/2020

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