e-ProtocolSystem of audio and video recording of

the hearing in the Polish courts

Dariusz Maślak - Project Manager, IT Department, Appeal Court in Wrocław

CEPEJ Plenary Meeting, 10 December 2015

Facts about e-ProtocolThe project was established on 29 April 2010 and was launched a year after.

e-Protocol is audio recorded or video recorded minutes taken by digital recorder.Currently e-Protocol applies to civil, commercial and misdemeanour procedure.

e-Protocol replaces written minutes and has the same legal significance as its written counterpart

According to law video recorded minutes can be taken in regional courts and district courts. In appeal courts only audio recordings can be taken.

Goals

1. To shorten court proceedings2. To reduce written record of hearings or court

proceedings3. To improve minutes accuracy4. To improve justice transparency5. To reduce the cost of court proceedings

Technical details e-Protocol consists of:• Audio video file• Mixed audio file• Multi-channel audio file• Public annotations• Private annotations• Shorten minutes• Metadata

e-Protocol is prepared by using digital recorder and the ReCourt recorder software

e-Protocol is digitally signed by a court clerk

• Courtroom:– trial recordings system,– sound system, – calling out the case participants,– videoconference system

• Central Videoconference• Recordings accessibility• Safe Electronic Signature• Recordings Storage and Management• Automatic Speech Recognition • Electronic protocol archive

Infrastructures

Common courtroom equipment1. Digital recorder2. Attached microphones3. Mobile microphones4. Widescreen LCD display5. Wide-angle camera6. Camera7. Two computers8. Document camera 9. Videoterminal10. Amplifier and speakers

Courtroom organization

1st zone: Jury bench

2nd zone: Reading stand

3rd zone: Plaintiff/Prosecutor

4th zone: Defendant

Present state and futurePresent state

• 2 267 of 4 500 courtrooms in 239 courts are covered by the system

• 1576 courtrooms are connected to videoconference infrastructure

• 14 300 trained users of the system

• Roll-out will continue until the end of 2018

• Central Recourt Management Services under construction

Future Works

• Electronic protocol archive system

• Automatic Speech Recognition

Number of recordings

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RECOURT SERVICES (RCS)

CJR CJR CJR CJR

ACCESS CONTROL

FAILURE MANAGEMENT AND

SERVICE

WORKFLOW STATISTICS AND REPORTING

TASK ACCOUNT RECORDINGS PLAYER

RECORDINGS TRANSFER

CLERK CLIENT JUDGE CLIENTJUDGE

ASSISTANT CLIENT

CJR

RECORDINGS MODIFICATION

CENTRAL ANNOTATION

RECORDINGS REPRODUCTION

INTEGRATION WITH EXTERNAL SYSTEMS

RECORDINGS REPOSITORY

Connections between courtrooms

Summary

Financial advantage Solution on central level Innovation of applied technology Interoperability Scalability Optimization of resources Reliability Safety

Thank you for your attention.Are there any questions?

Dariusz Maślak, Project Manager

Court of Appeal in WrocławMinistry of Justice, Poland

E-mail: dariusz.maslak@wroclaw.sa.gov.plTel.: +48 508 544 860 Fax.: +48 71 74 89 606