DigitalJustice@2030: How the EU Plans to Modernise Justice

Can Europe’s justice systems keep pace with an increasingly digital society? The European Commission’s Digital Justice Package 2030 is its most ambitious attempt yet to answer that question.

On November 20th, 2025 the Commission announced an action plan intended to bring national justice systems across the European Union into the digital era. The package is not a single piece of legislation and does not create a unified European court system. It is based on two complementary instruments: the DigitalJustice@2030 Strategy and the European Judicial Training Strategy 2025-2030.

The Digital Decade Policy Programme and the Digital Regulation

The bundle is presented as a follow-up to the EU’s Digital Decade Policy Programme (adopted in 2022) setting the target of making all key public services available online by 2030. It builds directly on the 2023 Digitalization Regulation that applies to 24 cross-border procedures in both civil and criminal matters (with the exception of Denmark). It establishes rules for electronic communication between competent judicial authorities and between individuals and courts. It also provides for the use of videoconferencing, electronic documents, electronic signatures, and electronic payment of fees. The regulation practically gives the Digital Justice Package a legal backbone.

Moreover, one of the most important elements of the regulation is the creation of a decentralized IT system. The EU is not building one central database containing all judicial information. Instead, the idea is to connect national systems respecting the diversity of national justice systems while enabling them to communicate more efficiently. The Digitalization Regulation also establishes a European Electronic Access Point on the European e-Justice Portal. It allows individuals to submit requests or communicate with competent authorities in cross-border procedures. According to the DigitalJustice@2030 Strategy, the access point is expected to become operational in 2028, while the decentralized IT system should be fully operational for all relevant procedures by the beginning of 2031.

The Fourteen Measures of DigitalJustice@2030

The core of the package is the DigitalJustice@2030 Strategy: 14 measures designed to accelerate digitalization without forcing every Member State to reinvent the entire system. The main priorities can be grouped into a few themes.

The mapping and sharing of existing digital tools: Member States have different levels of digitalization and some have already developed useful systems for electronic case management. Instead of requiring every country to develop its own tools from scratch, the Commission plans to create a ‘living repository’ of digital tools and best practices by the end of 2026. This should help Member States learn from one another, reducing duplication of effort.

The creation of an IT toolbox for justice (also expected by the end of 2026). The toolbox will include AI-based tools that Member States may choose to share and reuse. The idea is: if a tool has already been tested successfully in one Member State, another Member State should be able to evaluate and adopt it. This could save time and money, encouraging interoperability. However, the toolbox will not impose a single technological model on all national systems. It is, indeed, designed as a voluntary mechanism to support cooperative innovation.

Artificial intelligence is one of the controversial parts of the package. The Commission sees it as a way to support justice professionals by automating repetitive or technical tasks (e.g. transcription, translation, anonymization, legal research, and processing of mass claims). The objective is not to replace judges and lawyers but to allow them to focus on tasks that require human judgment. The distinction is essential as in justice efficiency cannot be the only value: decisions must remain explainable and grounded in law, even at the expense of performance. The risks of AI in justice are already addressed by the EU AI Act. Under Annex III of the AI Act ‘AI systems intended to be used by a judicial authority or on their behalf to assist a judicial authority in researching and interpreting facts and the law and in applying the law to a concrete set of facts, or to be used in a similar way in alternative dispute resolution’ are classified as high-risk systems. This means that they are subject to stricter requirements (i.e. risk management, transparency, data quality, human oversight, accuracy, and cybersecurity). That is crucial. A flawed or biased AI system used in a judicial context could affect fundamental rights in ways that are far more serious than in ordinary administrative settings.

Another major pillar of the strategy is the European Legal Data Space. The aim is to make legislation and case-law more accessible, not only for judges and lawyers but also for legal tech developers and AI systems that require reliable legal data. The strategy promotes the use of identifiers such as the European Legislation Identifier and the European Case Law Identifier, which help organize legal materials.

The package also pays attention to remote hearings. Digital hearings can make participation easier, especially when parties and witnesses are located in different countries. Yet remote justice is not always equivalent to physical presence. In criminal proceedings, for example, the rights of the accused persons must be carefully protected as confidentiality with lawyers along with the dignity of participation are essential. Recommended voluntary technical standards for cross-border remote proceedings are to be provided by the Commission.

Training the Profession: The Judicial Training Strategy 2025–2030

Digital tools are only as effective as the people using them. For this reason, the Commission has paired the technical strategy with the European Judicial Training Strategy 2025-2030, aimed at legal practitioners. The training strategy covers practical instruction in digital case-management systems, secure communication technologies and cross-border cooperation instruments. The strategy also addresses the implications of AI in justice alongside a requirement for stronger competence in applying EU digital legislation broadly including the Digital Services Act. The Commission has further called for closer alignment between national training programmes and EU-funded initiatives.

Funding the Transition

Digitalization projects such as this require large investment: on the point the package is explicit about its financial backing. Under the Commission’s proposed next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the new Justice Programme is set for a budget increase (tripling of resources). Funding for digitalization projects within individual Member States’ national justice systems is intended to flow primarily through National and Regional Partnership Plans.

Some concerns

Despite its promise, the Package raises some concerns.

The first is the digital divide: if access to justice becomes increasingly digital, people with limited digital skills may be disadvantaged. The Commission therefore stresses that non-digital channels must remain available.

The second concern is cybersecurity: courts process highly sensitive information, a digital justice system must therefore be protected against data breaches and technical failures.

A third concern is uneven implementation: EU Member States start from very different levels of technological development and funding capacity. Some countries already have advanced digital court systems; others still rely heavily on paper. Because much of the DigitalJustice@2030 Strategy is based on coordination rather than direct harmonization, its success will depend heavily on national political will.

Despite the challenges and risks that may arise, the Digital Justice Package 2030 remains a major step forward in adapting European justice to a technological landscape that can no longer be ignored.

Sources

• Commission, ‘DigitalJustice@2030’ (Communication) COM(2025) 802 final

• Regulation (EU) 2023/2844 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 on the digitalisation of judicial cooperation and access to justice in cross-border civil, commercial and criminal matters, and amending certain acts in the field of judicial cooperation [2023] OJ L 2023/2844

• Commission, ‘European Judicial Training Strategy 2025–2030: Creating a Supportive Environment for DigitalJustice@2030’ (Communication) COM(2025) 801 final

• European Commission AI Act Service Desk, ‘Annex III: High-Risk AI Systems’ https://ai-act-service-desk.ec.europa.eu/en/ai-act/annex-3 accessed 19 June 2026

• Decision (EU) 2022/2481 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030 [2022] OJ L 323/4

• European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Digitalising Justice: A Fundamental Rights-Based Approach (Publications Office of the European Union 2025)