VIDEOCONFERENCING IN TIMES OF THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND

ADDRESSING OPEN ISSUES OF VIDEOCONFERENCING IN CROSS-BORDER CIVIL PROCEEDINGS IN THE EU

Abstract

The article deals with selected legal problems of using videoconferencing technology in cross-border civil court proceedings in the EU, especially for the taking of evidence. The research is premised on the observation of a steep increase of videoconferencing during the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which exposed inherent legal issues of using the technology and derived legal issues, which result from the limitations of the technology. The national judiciaries of the EU member states were arguably ill-prepared for the mass adoption of videoconferencing, scrambling to quickly mediate the situation with soft-law approaches and less often by legislative intervention. The makeshift measures can be said to be lackluster as they were not prepared to develop a holistic approach. In the article we describe the most glaring and persistent problems of videoconferencing and then check for solutions in applicable international yet non-binding instruments, such as the European Council’s Guide on videoconferencing in cross-border proceedings and the newly updated Guide to Good Practice on the Use of Video-Link under the 1970 Evidence Convention. We attempt to provide an evaluation of these instruments as orientation for the national judiciaries and legislatures. We further analyze how the use of videoconferencing may adversely affect the immediacy of the proceedings.