Georgian parliament legislative amendments on judicial reform

The Parliament of Georgia approved the package of bills known as the “third wave of the judicial reforms” with its third and final reading on December 29, which entails introduction of electronic case assignment system from 2018, Civil.ge reports.

The package, drafted by the Ministry of Justice and made up of eight bills, was amended significantly compared to its initial draft, including after its return to the second reading on December 28.

According to the final version, cases will be assigned automatically to regional, appeals and Supreme Court judges, through random electronic selection. Cases can also be assigned by alphabetical order of judges if there are delays in the electronic system. The bill authors claim that the rule of electronic case assignment will minimize the role of court chairpersons in the process.

According to the bill, the new system will initially be introduced in the Rustavi City Court from July 1, 2017 and it will apply to the rest of the courts until the end of 2017.