Government wants faster and more digitalized justice

There are 13 pages in the Government Program with around 60 measures for areas as different as “transparency and combating corruption”, “procedural speed” in criminal and administrative-fiscal jurisdiction, the “digital transformation of Justice” or the “judicial organization.

Of these 60 measures, the most notable are the measures that the Government wants to present to the Assembly of the Republic in order to achieve goals such as the “substantial reduction in the effective duration of legal proceedings”, the commitment to greater specialization of judges in the fight against economic-financial crime and domestic violence, the reform of the administrative-fiscal jurisdiction so that the country has “a swift economic justice system that is friendly to competitiveness and development” and the regulation of lobbying (registration of legitimate interests).

The Observer summarizes the main measures for each area.

Criminal. Deadlines for the Public Prosecutor's Office, more power for judges, “rethinking” the investigation and changes in the appeals system

The penal reform, which was already part of the previous government's program, is one of the greatest expectations for this Montenegro 2.0 Executive. The AD Government wants to focus on increasing the efficiency of the criminal process, reinforcing the judge's procedural management powers, changing the appeals system and rethinking the procedural phase of the criminal investigation.

The use of the verb “reequacionar” (to reequate) in the text of the Government’s programme raises an essential question: does the Executive want to end the investigation phase (which would require a constitutional review) or does it want to restrict this procedural phase to a mere legal assessment phase (with the production of evidence being an exception)? Until now, the latter hypothesis was the one on the table.

In the inquiry or investigation phase, the Government Programme still refers to abstract measures—without mentioning concrete proposals:

• “Ensure greater filtering of complaints”
• “Greater specialization of the courts” and magistrates
• “Creation of means to mitigate mega-processes”
• “Expansion of the application of 'reward' mechanisms
• “Review procedural deadlines, in order to ensure their effective application and adequacy and contribute to more expeditious processes”.

This last measure (combined with measures to mitigate mega-trials) could imply the application of binding deadlines for the Public Prosecutor's Office — a measure supported by the Socialist Party — and the extension of the application of reward mechanisms could lead to concrete proposals for plea bargaining (in the investigation phase) and negotiated justice (in the trial phase). The National Strategy Against Corruption of the Government of António Costa contained similar measures that ended up falling through in Parliament.

The biggest doubts relate to measures to allow for “greater filtering of complaints” and “greater specialization of the courts”. The measures for these two points are not clear.

Concrete measures are also expected for faster trials for “violent or particularly serious crimes, particularly in cases of arrest in flagrante delicto”.

What is certain is that a working group will be formed, made up of experts representing academia, the judiciary and the legal profession, to study the best solutions.

Combating corruption. Implementing broad asset forfeiture and regulating lobbying

The text of the Program of the XXV Constitutional Government recalls that “more than half” of the 32 measures of the Anti-Corruption Agenda that were approved in June 2024 have already “been implemented or are in the process of being implemented”.

Among the measures being implemented, the registry of legitimate interests (lobbying) stands out, which has already been discussed several times in the Assembly of the Republic but without the legislative process being concluded. The same can be said of the Government's legislative footprint — which consists of the “registration of interactions with external entities and consultations carried out throughout the legislative process, as well as the accessibility of this information”.

In addition to wanting to implement this process, Luís Montenegro's new government wants to implement the so-called law on the extended confiscation of assets. As reported by Observador in April — when the pre-election campaign had already begun —, the Council of Ministers approved the draft bill, and a public consultation process was opened (which must now be concluded). The draft bill approved by the Council of Ministers provides that assets may be confiscated even in the event of death, illness and even if the criminal proceedings have expired.

Corruption. The State will start confiscating assets even in cases of death, illness or even the statute of limitations on criminal proceedings

At the same time, Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice wants to revisit the rules governing the national asset recovery system and wants to create a “Platform for the Recovery and Management of Assets of Justice”. Observador knows that the Government wants to make a profound change in the way the Asset Recovery Office (under the supervision of the Judicial Police) and the Asset Administration Office (under the supervision of the Institute of Infrastructure and Financial Management of Justice) currently work.

Simplify and streamline administrative-fiscal justice to be more “economy-friendly”

The reform of the administrative-fiscal justice system — the jurisdiction that compares worst with the average resolution times of the other countries in the European Union — is a clear objective of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.

All to promote “swift economic justice that is friendly to competitiveness and development” — an ambitious goal for the jurisdiction that deals with legal conflicts between families and companies and the administration and the Tax Authority.

Thus, the Government intends to “implement, as a priority, specific measures in response to the current congestion of the second instance in the administrative and tax jurisdiction” and wants to prepare “legislative changes aimed at simplifying and streamlining the procedural processing in the first instance”.

Minister Rita Alarcão Júdice is expected to appoint a working group to fine-tune a concrete proposal for the reform of the administrative-fiscal jurisdiction.

Digitize all courts and eliminate paper in registry offices

The “digital transformation of Justice” included in the Government’s programme is ambitious and aims to continue the electronic processing of criminal proceedings, which was extended to the investigation phase by the previous Executive . It is true that it is not free from obstacles due to the different computer systems used by criminal police bodies, the Public Prosecutor’s Office and courts — which often makes communication between the different systems impossible.

For this reason, the Government wants to start by developing a “Digital Strategy for Justice, providing it with a new governance model for information and communication technologies that promotes the interoperability and security of systems, and that allows for a better response to the technological challenges of Justice”.

The objective is clear: “to deepen the digitalization of all processes in all courts, including the Constitutional Court, and to continue to make improvements to the platforms for submitting and managing processes.” All to promote “procedural speed and saving resources.”

In the area of ​​Records, the Executive really wants to “promote the elimination of paper and paper archives”.

Finally, one last legislative change in the area of ​​judicial organization stands out: the “elimination of the current face-to-face mechanism for monitoring operations” — a measure demanded by judicial magistrates and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

This is a controversial measure that was approved during the government of António Costa to respond to the corruption in the drawing of judges that was discovered at the Lisbon Court of Appeal. At the time, the PS of António Costa and the PSD of Rui Rio agreed in Parliament to create a daily electronic drawing that must be witnessed by a judge, a prosecutor and interested lawyers. The fact that such a bureaucratic task requires the presence of magistrates created obstacles in the management of working time that have been heavily criticised by both magistrates.

The Government wants to deepen the “automation and randomness” of the electronic draw (but without the mandatory presence of magistrates) and recover the “figure of the judge on duty” to oversee the operations necessary to ensure respect for the natural judge of the process.