To achieve the 20-year plan's objectives of the government, the “E-Admincourt” system was launched in 2019 and has since undergone continuous development. This integrated electronic platform facilitates judicial proceedings and provides an accessible portal for electronic filing of administrative cases. The goal is for the Administrative Courts to achieve "Court of Excellence" status by fiscal year 2037, establishing internationally accepted standards and enhancing administrative justice efficiency. This endeavor aims to drive national social and economic development while earning the trust of all stakeholders and investors, both domestic and foreign.
The Administrative Court at Nakhon Ratchasima Province was selected for the training due to its large population and frequent disputes between local citizens and government agencies. Despite the introduction of the e-AdminCourt and its availability for electronic lawsuit filings since last year, only 10% of users have embraced this system. The majority of clients still opt for the traditional paper-based system. To address this issue, the Administrative Court is proactively initiating a campaign to encourage the transition to the new electronic system. The goal is to boost the number of electronic cases being handled by the court. Moreover, the court aims to implement additional incentive measures in the future to further increase the number of electronic cases.
In the first part of the event, Mr. Ekkanut Jinasan, the President of the Chamber of the Nakhon Si Thammarat Administrative Court introduced the system and explained its advantages as part of the lecture “Rendering administrative justice by Electronic Means”. He stated that there are two separate portals, one for the public service which is the eLitigation portal and one for personal of the court. The advantages of this new online system include significant time savings on individual cases, as manual document approval becomes obsolete, and a substantial reduction in paperwork, as all documents are digitally available and available to all parties at any time. Furthermore, the system provides immediate notifications for missing documents, enables self-representation without the need for representatives and allows to always keep track of the process in real-time. He also emphasizes the issue of cybersecurity and explains measures such as ID, email, phone and captcha verification to ensure this is the case.
After the presentation, participants had the chance to share their concerns and suggestions about the new system in small groups. Some of the raised concerns included possible technical issues like file sizes, the time allocated for preparation and case prescription, as well as the varying days needed for some document issuance. One notable suggestion was to provide support services, particularly for individuals who lack the same resources as state agencies. In this regard, the proposal to use a Line Group Chat was put forward.
The second part of the event consisted of a discussion and a workshop on "Administrative Court Procedures of the Electronic Administrative Court (Moot court)". Participants were divided into three groups. The first group had access to the Electronic Administrative Court System (e-Admincourt) and observed a simulation of a judicial process. The second group learned about the key principles for using the electronic litigation system (e-Litigation). The third group had the opportunity to experience a demonstration and hands-on practice of the electronic administrative litigation system (e-Litigation Portal) and learn how to utilize the electronic library effectively.
This workshop was one of the projects aimed at improving the performance of judicial officers in Thailand to meet international legal standards and the advances of the digital age.
Event Report Prepared by Lukas Kirstein and Napajaree Jiwanantaprawat.
