CMS Expert Guide to Digital Litigation in Luxembourg

The Luxembourg government launched the Paperless Justice project in 2015.

It combines a set of 13 initiatives with the common objective of promoting the dematerialisation of the Luxembourg justice system.

These initiatives inter alia aim to introduce the use of an electronic judicial file within Luxembourg courts, digitalise communication between courts (including magistrates and clerks) and external actors (e.g. counsels, parties, bailiffs and notaries) and dematerialise the filing process for procedural documents and evidence.

The COVID-19 crisis has boosted the use of digital tools – especially the use of emails to replace the holding of certain purely procedural in-person hearings  – leading to some temporary procedural adaptations, which ended in 2021.

The government is now progressively reintroducing these adaptations, including recently in the context of civil and commercial litigation.

Apart from:

• the wide use of emails for correspondence between the courts and the counsels (or the parties themselves if they are not represented by a counsel), and
• the use of audio/video conferencing tools, but only in criminal matters and in specific circumstances,

the litigation process is – as of today – largely undigitalised. 

As a general rule, the use of digital/technical measures is not mandatory for the parties and their counsels with the exception of the use of emails by the counsels in their communication with courts, which may sometimes be mandatory. However, it is expected that it will soon be made mandatory in all circumstances.

The litigation process is – as of today – largely undigitalised. The areas where it is most lacking include:

• The existence of a platform allowing counsels to file their submissions and evidence in an electronic format.
• The possibility to make certain procedural requests online in order to avoid unnecessary hearings.

However, the government is contemplating these features in the context of the Paperless Justice initiative – see Questions 1 and 6.

There are several bills, which purport to address and foster the use of technology. See Question 6.

The most advanced project is currently the dematerialisation of administrative proceedings, which should be implemented as a pilot before the end of 2023.

MyGuichet PRO, the secure one-stop shop for the Luxembourg state’s online services, is expected to serve as the future platform for judicial filings in administrative proceedings.

Similar projects will then progressively be implemented for criminal, civil and commercial proceedings.

There are currently no specific rules that apply to the use of AI in litigation. Hence, common rules of procedure apply.

The Minister of Justice, however, uses AI in the context of the anonymisation of published case-law to recognise names of entities and natural persons as well as other sensitive data (e.g. addresses, tax numbers, etc.).

N/A

No.

The two main initiatives relating to the access to justice are:

• Publications by the Ministry of Justice of various information on substantive law and procedures, and
• The availability of anonymised and summarised case-law

all via the www.justice.public.lu website.