Online One-Stop Submission of Litigation Documents Such as Land Register and Corporate Registration Certificate Becomes Possible

Ministry of Justice Announces Legislative Notice for Amendment to Civil Electronic Documents Act... Scheduled for Enforcement in March 2024

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] From now on, when filing electronic lawsuits, documents held by administrative and public institutions such as land registers can be submitted in a one-stop manner through the electronic litigation system operated by the court without a separate issuance procedure.

On the 8th, the Ministry of Justice announced the legislative notice of the amendment to the "Act on the Use of Electronic Documents in Civil Litigation, etc. (Civil Electronic Document Act)" based on this content.

Currently, the court is promoting the next-generation electronic litigation system construction project, aiming to complete the digitalization of the entire trial process by 2024. The Ministry of Justice stated that this amendment was prepared to legally support this.

According to the status of electronic litigation document application and submission in 2020, there were about 2.5 million resident registration certificates and abstracts, about 30,000 building registers, and about 55,000 corporate registration certificates.

At present, to submit such documents to the court, one must visit each issuing institution individually to obtain the documents directly.

However, once the amendment is passed and enforced, according to the newly established Article 8-2, parties to the trial, etc., can request submission through the court's computerized information processing system against the heads of administrative and public institutions holding the relevant electronic documents on the electronic litigation website.

The head of the institution receiving the electronic document submission request must submit the requested electronic documents without delay unless it falls under the reasons for restriction or refusal of inspection under the Personal Information Protection Act or information in the administrative or public institution's decision-making or internal review process.

Cases where inspection of personal information is restricted or refused under the Personal Information Protection Act include ▲ cases where inspection is prohibited or restricted by law ▲ cases where there is a risk of harm to another person's life or body or unjust infringement on another person's property or other interests ▲ cases where it causes significant disruption to the performance of public institutions' duties such as tax imposition, collection, refund, or schools' grading or admission selection, etc.

However, considering the expected completion time of the next-generation electronic litigation system construction project promoted by the court, the Ministry of Justice set March 1, 2024, as the enforcement date of the amended law.

The Ministry of Justice stated, "Once the amended law is enforced, from the public's perspective, it will be easier to submit documents, reducing the time and cost required to prepare documents, and administrative and public institutions are expected to shorten processing times and create a paperless work environment."

It added, "During the legislative notice period, the Ministry of Justice will collect various opinions from the public to prepare the final amendment and will actively work to ensure that this amendment passes through the National Assembly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.