Every year in early July, the European Criminal Law Academic Network organises its Annual Summer School on the EU Area of Criminal Justice. This year’s edition focuses on judicial cooperation in criminal matters. Beyond the study of the existing EU instruments, including those on the collection of electronic evidence, we decided to devote the Evening Conference to the topic of the digitalisation of judicial cooperation.

The Evening Conference will feature the contributions of  Alexander Ivantchev, Policy Officer at the European Commission (DG HOME, Unit Security in a Digital Age), Vincent Jamin, Administrative Director at Eurojust, and Prof. Vanessa Franssen from the University of Liège.

The choice of this topic follows the recent adoption of two EU legislative instruments, that notably seek to enhance the use of videoconferencing and other remote communication technologies in criminal proceedings and facilitate electronic communication in judicial cooperation.

They are part of a broader initiative led by the EU institutions to support the digitalisation of justice across the EU. This translates into various measures, such as those seeking to establish secure communication channels between judicial authorities, setting up registries and databases for cross-border information and evidence exchange, and improving the recognition of electronically shared documents. Additionally, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence raise important questions about the use of AI tools in criminal proceedings. Potential applications include speeding up the anonymisation of court decisions, converting speech to text, translating, and providing chatbots to support access to justice.

While all these developments may improve the efficiency of judicial cooperation, they raise concerns about the fairness of proceedings and highlight the need to adapt individual guarantees.

Registration is free but mandatory, and you can register by sending an email to the address “eclan@ulb.be”.