THE APPLICABILITY OF ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ODR) IN THE BRAZILIAN LEGAL SYSTEM: DISPUTE RESOLUTION BY JUDICIARY BRANCH IN DIGITAL MEDIA AND THEIR REFLECTIONS DURING SOCIAL ISOLATION

The paper aims to give an account on the development of the online dispute resolution (ODR) in the Brazilian legal reality, as an alternative to the traditional model. The description of the aspects of ODR, demonstrating its versatility in the face of disputes endured by contemporary society were achieved through a qualitative methodology based on bibliographical research, international and national diplomas. Then, its execution is observed in foreign legal system, considering its particularities. After that, the birth of online dispute resolution is highlighted in the Brazilian legal system and its gradual regulation before the pandemic situation of SARS-CoV-2. In conclusion, the study asserts the effectiveness and flexibility of ODR for dispute resolution in front of the Judiciary Branch. © 2022, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 and Courts: An Exploration of the Impacts of the Pandemic on Case Processing and Operations

The COVID-19 pandemic instantly changed the day-to-day practices of the criminal justice system. The court system, traditionally reliant on face-to-face interaction, had to quickly alter operations to decrease the virus' spread while remaining functional as an integral role in the criminal justice system. The current exploratory study examines the response strategies U.S. court systems implemented, impacts on case processing, case backlogs, and additional consequences endured due to the pandemic. Using responses from self-report surveys of court staff (e.g., judges, clerks), results indicated that courts prioritized the types of cases heard and implemented multiple mitigation strategies that were deemed effective, some of which may be sustainable post-pandemic. Despite an increase in virtual jury trials and hearings, many courts saw a surge in backlogged cases and complications in assembling juries. The overall findings may inform judiciary policy and practice concerning short and long-term pandemic outcomes on court processing and future pandemic preparedness.

New Approach to the Eu Enlargament Process - Whether Covid-19 Affected Chapter 23 Requirements?

The EU enlargement policy requires creation of the new institutional organization, alignment of legal acts, increasing capacities of administration in the candidate countries. In relation to the Western Balkans the conditionality has an increased focus on good governance criteria, particularly maintenance of the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and an efficient public administration. To address raised concerns of the EU accession process in the Western Balkans as a box-ticking exercise, the European Commission in February 2018, adopted the Credible Enlargement Perspective for an Enhanced EU Engagement with the Western Balkans' strategy, which introduced some renewed policy objective on the future enlargement of the EU including fundamental democratic, rule of law and economic reforms. In March 2020 the Council of the EU officially endorsed Commission proposal for a new enlargement methodology that is based on grouping the negotiation chapters in clusters, based on their interconnection, which requires tangible progress in all chapters merged to a cluster. The above-mentioned introduction of a new methodology and the decisions of the Western Balkans candidate countries to apply it, correspond in time with the ongoing Europe and worldwide struggle to overcome challenges imposed by COVID-19 outbreak. The response to the pandemic influenced on the functioning of judiciary across the world and the rule of law in general. To respond to pandemic EU members states accepted new standards in relation to judiciary which tend to be threat or suspension for fundamental rights protection and right to fair trial. Outbreak of COVID-19 revealed new trends in rule of law like limited access to the lawyer in criminal cases, use of IT tools for trials, and cancelation or limitation of public hearings. The scope and modalities of such rule of law exemptions differ across the EU member states. Introduced measures and responses shed a completely new light on the issues of relevant standards in the accession process and modality to be addressed and implemented in the candidate countries. Finally, this also triggers the issue of evaluation and assessment of the reform achievements in candidate countries by EC when measuring the progress. In the analysis of the above-mentioned issues the authors assessed whether derogation of the well-established rule of law principles influenced on EU accession requirements towards candidate countries and whether they temporary changed understanding and implementation of the fundamental rights or made permanent transformations in understanding of rule of law requirements.

Remote Justice in Coronavirus Crisis - Do the Means Justify the Ends, or Do the Ends Justify the Means?

The coronavirus related crisis affected severely all aspects of life and judiciary is no exception. The world has been confronted with new challenges. New circumstances have created significant impact on the functioning of access to justice. New ways of administrating the legal system were introduced in the last decade, allowing for the use of the means of electronic communication, reducing certain stages of court procedures, opting for solutions for peaceful dispute settlement and promoting out-of-court dispute resolution. However, the coronavirus caused, beyond any doubt, severe delays in court proceedings and even shut down courts in some European Union Member States, Croatia included. Thus, additional efforts were required in order to ensure remote justice to citizens and businesses. More importantly, it called for a swift response, issuing and applying emergency measures, to safeguard the right to access courts and provide for effective administration of justice. The paper thus seeks to explore the ways in which European Union Member States responded to emerging challenges and the consequences these challenges had on administration of justice. Croatian example will be introduced specifically due to obvious struggles in handling the coronavirus caused difficulties in national judiciary system. Along with the analysis of measures taken, there are several questions, which need to be answered. What was the level of readiness of the Member States' judiciaries for providing justice by means of electronic communications, with Croatia in focus? What are the effects of measures taken in Croatian judiciary system? Should it be left to the courts or other competent bodies to take actions on a case-to-case basis in order to provide the necessary protection of procedural rights to parties? In terms of the effect of the emergency measures, do they allow for the same or similar quality of remote justice? In conclusion, the paper will try to answer the aforementioned questions, deliberate on the efficiency of measures taken in response to the coronavirus crisis, with Croatia in focus and possibilities of future improvements.

From Utopia to the Reality of Access to Justice: The Procedural Benefits Brought by the Covid-19 Pandemy in the District of Porto Velho-Ro

This research aimed to analyze the principle of access to justice in the face of geographic dimensions and socioeconomic inequalities in the districts belonging to the municipality of Porto Velho, State of Rondonia. The objective was, in view of this, to identify the effectiveness of the principle of inescapability of jurisdiction in the Democratic State of Law;Point out the existing problems in the districts of Ponta do Abuna in the municipality of Porto Velho-RO;In addition to presenting the procedural benefits arising from the Covid-19 pandemic in guaranteeing the right to access to justice. Thus, the work identified the difficulties in relation to the distance between the districts of Ponta do Abuna to the Capital, since residents of this region often need to travel approximately three hundred kilometers to access, for example, the Public Defender's Office, to which a poor person needs to have financial resources to have their rights guaranteed, which, as a consequence, the right to access to justice becomes ineffective. As a result of this issue, this work was justified by the need to emphasize the existing difficulties in Ponta do Abuna due to the lack of immediate access to justice, where residents are excluded from the right to judicial protection. From another perspective, it was found that the Covid-19 pandemic, despite the various evils brought in Brazil and the world, in the legal aspect, the jurisdictional provision became positive for residents of the districts of Ponta do Abuna, since access to justice has become more effective by meeting social demands virtually. We opted for the explanatory and descriptive methodology, which sought to identify and describe the social phenomena that contributed to an inefficiency of the right to access to justice, in addition to the bibliographic method, using books and scientific articles researched on Google Academic data platforms, CAPES and SciELO Journal Portal. Finally, as previous results, we sought to emphasize the expansion and implementation of instruments that guarantee access to justice, thus enabling any obstacles to be minimal, if not non-existent, so that the transindividual rights of citizens residing in the Ponta do Abuna region.

The attack on the judiciary during the pandemic

In this article I will analyse the impact that from my point of view the legislation dictated during the pandemic has had on the normal functioning of the judiciary, I will refer to how the necessary separation and division between the separate branches of the State has been altered, and I will recount how the system of checks and balance inherent in a social and democratic state of law has been disturbed. I will also describe the impact on our social and democratic State of Law, which carries the principle of separation and division of powers and the existence of a regime of checks and balances between the different branches of the State has had Royal Decree 463/2020, of March 14, which declared the state of alarm for the management of the health crisis caused by COVID-19 that meant the interruption of the normal functioning of the judiciary during the state of alarm, and, of Law 3/2020, of September 18, on procedural and organizational measures to deal with Covid-19 in the field of the administration of justice that established an unconstitutional conmixture between the Executive Power and the Judiciary.

Development of Secure Electronic Cybercrime Cases Database System for the Judiciary

The recent covid-19 pandemic created a barrier to every activity that needed physical interaction and involvement, especially in the judiciary. Careful research of some courts in Nigeria shown that case records are still been manually processed and stored and some courts operate a semi-digital and semi-manual processing pattern, which also has its own shortcoming of preprocessing manual records and converting them into digital records and physical presence is required to access court records. This research develops a secure electronic Cybercrime Cases Database System (eCCDBS), for prosecuted cybercrime in the judicial service in Nigeria. The system will provide an efficient method for collecting, retrieving, preserving, and management of court case records. The Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology is used for the system development, because of its speed and time friendliness and can be easily restructured to meet the client's requirement at any point in time during the development life span. RAD can also present a prototype of the final system software to the client. Access control mechanism and secure password hashing were used to ensure the security of the system. The system was implemented and evaluated through deployment and found to have functioned according to the specification. The application subunits of records' creation, submission, modification, deletion, retrieval, and storage functioned effectively. Hence this system provides a secure online repository specifically for cybercrime case records that have elements of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

How the Judiciary Has Driven Systemic Innovation During the Pandemic

In 1998, the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA)8 urged member state courts throughout the United States to join a national effort to exchange data and integrate information systems in ways that would improve case management.9 COSCA issued a position paper on information sharing in 2002,10 followed by joint resolutions adopted by the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ)11 and COSCA that called for public access to electronic court records and removal of Social Security numbers from court records.12 In 2004, COSCA joined with the National Association for Court Management (NACM)13 to issue a policy statement for court acceptance of information technology.14 It established a "nine part agenda" that emphasized serving the court's business needs, stressed the importance of effective implementation, and addressed security and privacy issues.15 A series of incremental resolutions followed over several years, including one from the CCJ entitled "The Emergence of E-Everything. The Landscape of Civil Litigation determined that nonfamily civil litigation in state courts "takes too long and costs too much," which undermined access to justice.18 Court dockets were dominated by "lowervalue contract and small claims" cases that rarely were adjudicated on the merits.19 Courts were using outdated automated case management systems, and they were giving self-represented parties (involved in 76% of cases) and lawyers too much control over the pace of litigation.20 The Landscape of Civil Litigation lamented the decline in funding for court systems and observed that courts were expected to dispense more justice using fewer resources.21 B.The Call to Action in Civil Cases One year later, the NCSC published its influential Call to Action: Achieving Civil Justice for All22 That report built upon the Landscape of Civil Litigation and criticized the "cost, delay, and unpredictability of civil litigation" under existing court processes.23 It recommended that courts update differentiated case management processes to assign cases to three "pathways," which it designated as "Streamlined," "Complex," and "General. "31 States should design courthouses that incorporate emerging changes in technology.32 Six months before the CCJ and COSCA endorsed the Call to Action, the American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates approved the ABA Model Regulatory Objectives for the Provision of Legal Services (Model Regulatory Objectives).33 The Model Regulatory Objectives were drafted by the ABA's Commission on the Future of Legal Services not long before it released its innovative and controversial 2016 Report on the Future of Legal Services in the United States 24 The Model Regulatory Objectives provided guidelines for state courts to regulate nontraditional legal services providers, and discouraged blanket exclusions of nonlawyers based on unauthorized practice of law rules.35 The CCJ agreed, and resolved that state courts should consider broadening their regulatory frameworks to nonlawyers who provide legal services.36 Expanding the regulatory framework would give courts greater flexibility to implement the Call to Action21 In 2011, the NCSC advised state courts on how to automate court processes so that information technology could help assign cases to one of the three pathways.38 Pathway assignments should be data-driven and involve less human discretion. The NCSC joined in partnership with the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS)41 and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ)42 to launch the Family Justice Initiative (FJI).43 The FJI would operate in collaboration with the CCJ and COSCA to build upon the research contained in the Landscape of Civil Litigation and the policy directives in the Call to Action 44 While the FJI was ramping up its operations, the NCSC issued a 2017 white paper that examined existing case management systems in family courts throughout the United States, titled Triage Protocols for Divorce and Child Custody Cases.45 The white paper noted "tension between what should ideally be done, what courts can afford to do, and what litigants want," and that courts may need to "identify[] 'good enough' solutions" that are more feasible due to resource limitations.46 "As long as budget constraints exist, a court that provides more services to one case is essentially reducing services in another case, so some sense of cost/benefit is definitely helpful in making these kinds of service and process tradeoffs. .

The Rule of Law in a State of Disaster: Evaluating Standards for the Promulgation, Administration and Enforcement of Emergency Regulations in South Africa

This paper applies the rule of law test to emergency regulations adopted to combat a national disaster in South Africa. A declaration of a national state of disaster, such as a pandemic, triggers emergency powers which enable the executive to mitigate the disaster, assist and protect the public, provide relief, and protect property. However, emergency powers provide a pretext for the executive to limit constitutional rights and to curtail the enjoyment of freedoms. These unprecedented powers also pose a risk of arbitrary exercise of public power, which can only be prevented if the promulgation, administration and enforcement of emergency regulations conform to the principles of legality, rationality and proportionality. These principles are understood as tenets of the rule of law in South Africa. They require a strong commitment to respect, protect and promote human rights at a time when they are most vulnerable to violation by the State. Given the role of the judiciary in the maintenance of the rule of law, and the litigation against the emergency regulations adopted in response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper also discusses the ensuing case law to illustrate the practical application of the rule of law test to a national disaster.

Acesso à justiça em tempos de pandemia: a experiência do Núcleo Permanente de Métodos Consensuais de Tratamento de Conflitos do TJRJ

Com o advento da pandemia e das consequentes medidas e protocolos de saúde adotados para a proteção da população, todo o sistema de justiça que vinha avançando ao longo dos anos na implementação de medidas para romper as barreiras de acesso à justiça foi fortemente impactado, conforme se depreende do Relatório CNJ Justiça em Números 2021 e das estatísticas do NUPEMEC TJRJ. O presente estudo pretende contribuir para a análise do referido Relatório e dos dados do NUPEMEC TJRJ, demonstrando a rápida adequação das atividades do judiciário mediante a implementação de trabalho remoto e disponibilização de plataforma de videoconferência para realização de audiências e sessões de mediação/conciliação propiciou a continuidade da prestação jurisdicional. Ao mesmo tempo, reflete-se sobre os limites do acesso à justiça em tempos de pandemia em função das desigualdades e restrições de uso e acesso aos meios tecnológicos para a resolução online de controvérsias (ODR).Alternate :With the advent of the pandemic and the consequent measures and health protocols adopted for the protection of the population, the entire justice system, which had been advancing over the years in the implementation of measures to break the barriers of access to justice, was strongly impacted, as it is clear from the CNJ Report Justice in Numbers 2021 and the statistics of NUPEMEC TJRJ. The present study intends to contribute to the analysis of the Report and the data from NUPEMEC TJRJ by demonstrating the rapid adequacy of the judiciary's activities through the implementation of remote work and the availability of a videoconferencing platform to hold hearings and mediation/conciliation sessions. At the same time, it reflects on the limits of access to justice in times of pandemic due to inequalities and restrictions of use and access to technological means for online resolution of controversies (ODR).

Anti-pandemic measures and role of judges

This paper will shortly analyze how do judiciary act in relation to anti-pandemic measures. Every level must be included in the circuit of guarantees: from the ordinary judiciary, as well as the judges of peace, to the administrative one, called upon to decide on the legitimacy of the measures at regional and local level, up to the Constitutional Court, with the two important judgments nos. 37 and 198 of 2021. The renewed prominence of judges, on the one hand, must be positively evaluated when viewed from the perspective of the balance of powers, given an emergency phase in which the activism of the executive in making timely decisions seemed to have marginalized the role of Parliament. On the other hand, it will have to be assessed whether interventionism at the various levels of the judiciary has followed a unified logic or whether it has taken different directions and with what impact on legal certainty at this particular stage. © 2023, Societa Editoriale Federalismi s.r.l. All rights reserved.

Administrative Burden as Intermediate Negative Policy Feedback: Explaining Low-Income Migrant Exodus amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

This article describes the social mechanisms that condition the negative policy feedback effects among powerless social groups. It uses the policy feedback theory to explain the role of the administrative burden as the intermediate negative policy feedback that can lead to end negative policy feedback effects. The article elaborates upon the unequal treatment of low-income migrants in cities during pre-pandemic times and how that has led to alienation and civil disobedience during the COVID-19 pandemic in India. It highlights the essential role of democratic mechanisms like media and the judiciary in mitigating the inequality exacerbating effects of public service encounters. The article makes a case for promoting an understanding of the concept of the administrative burden that converges its experience-distant and experience-near meanings.

To reach sustainable justice with Millennials: example of Ukraine 1

Sustainable development became an essential part of our world since we realized the fragility and limits of our system, dangerous of resource exhaustion, and insistently looking for the way to stabilyze our life and life of our descendents, to restrict risks of collapses. Last years' catastrophes - the pandemic of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, both are still existed, show us undoubtedly that we have to be more careful using our resources and develop our relations in economics and politics. In this article authors made an attempt to reconsider the approaches to understanding judiciary in Ukraine, using the new coordinates - generation born since 1980 till 1996 so called Millennials (generation Y), dictating new requests to life, and, in our opinion, to justice and judiciary development. Analysis of the impact of Millennials (generation Y) on the development of the judicial system is a complex process for a number of reasons. First, the lack of formal information about the age of the parties makes it impossible to substantiate the conclusions with empirical data. Secondly, despite some generalized traits, the characteristics of Millennials differ depending on the region and country of origin, which determines their economic, social, political, and cultural differences A striking example of this are the ex-Soviet Union's states. In majority of these countries, Millennials have become the first generation sufficiently aware of their rights, the legal ways to protect them and the role of the court as an effective tool for such protection. Their formation was accompanied by the changes in ideology, political regime and economic instability. In this article authors argue how Millennials change the judiciary in the ex-Soviet society, taking into account the specifics of the latter. The study suggests two interrelated aspects: the impact of Millennials on the development of the court as consumers of judicial services;the impact of Millennials, who come to work in the judicial system, as judges. The article substantiates the necessity of modernization of the courts, which is associated with the high technology of this generation and its vital need for information, as well as their consumerization aimed to create more sustainability justice and to answer the request of Millennials by changes of goals, by limits of expenses and by introducing the culture of peaceful and strong institutions in judiciary.

Law's temporality and the construction of death-worlds: Custodial neglect of older prisoners in India

The vexed relation between law and age/ageing is most apparent in the context of older prisoners. Late life may be accompanied by disabilities and dependencies. So, access to appropriate forms of care including medical care becomes even more crucial in custodial institutions like prisons where older prisoners live isolated from society. Since the spread of COVID-19, there have been attempts to decongest Indian prisons. However, older political prisoners charged (not convicted) for anti-state, terrorist activities continue to suffer in prison due to denial of bail. I argue that elderliness and the condition of health ought to be factors on which bail should be given irrespective of the nature of the charges. By using the framework of ‘law as temporality', I elucidate how the politics around the denial of bail by courts in India and the treatment of older political prisoners by prison authorities lead to the production of a ‘carceral time'. This article discusses how carceral time structures the embodied experiences of ageing in ways that defy the human rights of prisoners. Time not only disciplines but also determines the expendability of ageing bodies, particularly when time is an insidious form of waiting, as in the case of older political prisoners in the Bhima Koregaon case in India. This article highlights the need for the criminal justice system in India to consider elderliness as a ground for compassionate treatment towards older prisoners, and to uphold their rights to healthcare and to live with dignity. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU).

Combating Domestic Violence amidst Social Isolation and Covid-19

This paper explores the situation faced by women in the family atmosphere during the pandemic-imposed lockdown and the inability on the part of the State and its machinery to provide access to instant remedies against domestic violence as envisaged under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (PWDV) Act, 2005. The concept of parens patriae (parent of people) has proved to be in existence only nominally during the contingency. Many of the well framed statutory protective mechanisms including the constitutional machinery of the Judiciary have failed to provide a helping hand to the tortured women everywhere. The social isolation strategy adopted to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic has accelerated the age-old shadow of domestic violence. A doctrinal study is undertaken to analyse the existing legislative and judicial measures against domestic violence, especially in the context of rising domestic violence during the pandemic. The objective of the paper is to identify the victimisation faced by women during the pandemic and the difficulties they face in accessing the redressal mechanisms stipulated under the PWDV Act. To reach the victims of domestic violence, and to free and save them from the clutches of respondents1 with the help of legislations is not sufficient. To deal with such an unexpected new normal scenario, it is necessary to find an alternative mechanism whereby an instant remedy, more than which is perceived under the PWDV Act, could be provided to victims of domestic violence. The methodology adopted for this paper is basically doctrinal. The legal framework at the national and international levels to curb the menace of domestic violence is brought in for the structuring of rights and obligations. An analysis of the present Covid-19 pandemic based on the reports available offline and online is also undertaken. Judicial decisions form the building bricks for the establishment of constitutional rights and its affirmation. Hence a systematic analysis of Supreme Court decisions is also undertaken to complete the research paper.

Institutional Independence and Accountability of the Judiciary

It is an honour to have been asked to give this Lionel Cohen Lecture deferred from 2020 when the covid pandemic was sweeping the world. It is a great pleasure to be with you at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Telework and Women Workers in the Context of the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case of the Federal Judiciary in Brazil

Introduction: During the pandemic, the social roles of women were accentuated which were added and distributed in: worker, "housewife", mother and teacher. The objective of this study is to contextualize the social roles of women and the impact of telework, highlighting the case of those who worked at the Brazilian Federal Judiciary during the Covid-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: Thematic content analysis of open interviews during the pandemic. Eight women workers from different positions in a Judiciary Section participat-ed. Results: Three main themes are identified: work activity, life outside work, and work time. New tasks, a new way of managing work time and the need to estab-lish clear boundaries to ensure a balance between life at work and life out-side. What was already known is reiterated, women continue to do more hours of domestic tasks, and above all they are the ones who take care of the children. Conclusions: For women in telework, the two spaces - public and private - merged and become confused. Redesigning the temporalities of work and life in these workplaces needs to be accompanied by social level policies that ad-dress caregiving responsibilities and gender equality. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

BAILII: Judgment Day and Beyond

This article by Jules Winterton, CEO of BAILII, is an expanded version of the presentation he delivered as the Willi Steiner Memorial Lecture 2022. The article briefly recounts the history of the British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) and its achievements, the features of the service and the challenges of publishing judgments. It sets BAILII in the context of recent government initiatives and outlines plans for the future of BAILII.

SHOULD REMOTE HEARINGS BE EXTENDED POST THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN HONG KONG AND WHAT COULD BE THE RAMIFICATIONS FOR PRACTICAL LEGAL TRAINING?

As a result of the lockdowns and social distancing measures imposed by COVID-19, courts in many common law jurisdictions were required to rapidly accelerate their use of remote court hearings. This article will explore the experiences of courts in Australia, England and Wales and Hong Kong in more broadly adopting this mode of judicial determination as part of a wider consideration as to whether Hong Kong should more permanently, post COVID-19, extend its use of remote hearings. Furthermore, this article will explore the implications which arise for advocacy-related training for Hong Kong students undertaking their Postgraduate Graduate Certificate in Laws (PCLL) programme, in order to ensure that such students are equipped for the ethical, technical and other skills-based challenges arising from these developments. In particular, this article will consider how existing PCLL benchmarks can be refined to facilitate this process. © 2022, Sweet and Maxwell-Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.

REMOTE JUSTICE IN CORONAVIRUS CRISIS – DO THE MEANS JUSTIFY THE ENDS, OR DO THE ENDS JUSTIFY THE MEANS?

The coronavirus related crisis affected severely all aspects of life and judiciary is no exception. The world has been confronted with new challenges. New circumstances have created significant impact on the functioning of access to justice. New ways of administrating the legal system were introduced in the last decade, allowing for the use of the means of electronic communication, reducing certain stages of court procedures, opting for solutions for peaceful dispute settlement and promoting out-of-court dispute resolution. However, the coronavirus caused, beyond any doubt, severe delays in court proceedings and even shut down courts in some European Union Member States, Croatia included. Thus, additional efforts were required in order to ensure remote justice to citizens and businesses. More importantly, it called for a swift response, issuing and applying emergency measures, to safeguard the right to access courts and provide for effective administration of justice. The paper thus seeks to explore the ways in which European Union Member States responded to emerging challenges and the consequences these challenges had on administration of justice. Croatian example will be introduced specifically due to obvious struggles in handling the coronavirus caused difficulties in national judiciary system. Along with the analysis of measures taken, there are several questions, which need to be answered. What was the level of readiness of the Member States' judiciaries for providing justice by means of electronic communications, with Croatia in focus? What are the effects of measures taken in Croatian judiciary system? Should it be left to the courts or other competent bodies to take actions on a case-to-case basis in order to provide the necessary protection of procedural rights to parties? In terms of the effect of the emergency measures, do they allow for the same or similar quality of remote justice? In conclusion, the paper will try to answer the aforementioned questions, deliberate on the efficiency of measures taken in response to the coronavirus crisis, with Croatia in focus and possibilities of future improvements.