Last week, the Council of Ministers passed the Draft Bill of the Law on Digital Efficiency of the Public Justice Service, fostered by Ministry of Justice. Said Law, together with the Law on Procedural Efficiency and the Law on Organisational Efficiency (both being processed), constitute the legislative basis of the Justice Plan 2030 for the transformation of the public justice service in order to make it more efficient.
The Law on Digital Efficiency shall have the objective of establishing a legal framework which shall facilitate and promote digitalisation, regulating digital services which are accessible to citizens, reinforcing legal security in the digital world and orientating Judicial systems towards data.
By way of example, the regulation shall enable court hearings and procedural acts to take place by electronic means in a secure digital environment, recognising the right of citizens to a personalised service of access to procedures, information and services (via the Electronic Court File).
Likewise, it shall facilitate notarial and registry services, without the need for physical presence, regulating the transposition of Directive (EU) 2019/1151 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20th June 2019 which modifies Directive (EU) 2017/1132 with regard to the utilisation of digital tools and processes within the area of Company Law.
Said Directive, which should have been transposed by the member States before 1st August 2021, established common rules on the online incorporation of companies, the online registration of branches, and the online filing of documents and information by companies and branches.
In respect of the online incorporation of companies, the Directive requires that the incorporation is carried out fully “without the need for the applicants to appear in person before any authority or organism enabled pursuant to national Law to address any aspect of the online incorporation of companies, including the granting of the public deed of incorporation of a company”, except where, for reasons of public interest in preventing the improper use or the alteration of identity, measures must be adopted which require the physical presence of the applicant for the purposes of checking their identity (for example, where there are reasons to suspect the falsification of identity or to ensure compliance with the rules on legal capacity and on the power of the applicants to represent a company).
For this purpose, the means of electronic identification regulated by Regulation (EU) no. 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 23rd July 2014, regarding the electronic identification and the trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market may be used.
Carla Villavicencio
Vilá Abogados
For more information, please contact:
29th October 2021
