First Resolution of the Supreme Court-KBA Council for Trial System Improvements

The Supreme Court and Korean Bar Association (KBA) jointly established the Council for Trial System Improvements on June 3, 2016 with the goal to enhance trusted trial practices to meet the expectations and gain the public confidence in the Judiciary.  As a first standing organization established to discuss actual court practices, the Council is composed of 12 members from the Judicial Procedure Office of the National Court Administration and the KBA.

[Improvement Measures for Small Claim Trial System]
¡á Goal Orientation
For trials on small claim cases to provide more practical effects for the remedy of rights, overall improvement measures should be designed and implemented so that the hard-working citizens can be free from small-amount legal disputes and get back to their living.
¡á Improvement Measures
1. Increase the number of trial panels on focused hearings, which are managed by judges with 15 years or longer years of legal experiences, to improve the practical and actual satisfaction rates in highly disputable small-claim cases.
2. Alleviate the requirement to view the asset records to provide practical effects on the winning party’s remedy of rights in small claim cases by legislating the forced execution procedures into law, which will enable the convenient judicial service from acquiring the execution title to the expeditious and simplified execution procedures such as the seizure of claims, provisional seizure of immovable, etc.

[Improvement Measures for Appraisal Procedures]
¡á Goal Orientation
  ¡Û Appraisal standard guideline needs to be established to provide proper calculation standards, which will enhance the fairness and adequacy of appraisals and ensure reliability throughout the appraisal process.
¡á Improvement Measures
1. As for the construction appraisals, the Council decided to make continuous revisions and improvements to the existing Standard Guideline for Construction Appraisals used by Seoul Central District Court since January 18, 2016.
2. For other types of appraisals, appropriate appraisal calculation guideline will be developed through making analyses and research on the exemplary legislations or operation cases from overseas.

[Coverage Expansion of Electronic Litigations]
¡á Goal Orientation
  ¡Û The use of electronic litigations (e-litigations) should be significantly increased to facilitate informatization of civil litigations and to make the proceedings more expeditious and transparent, which will contribute to greater realization of citizens’ rights.
¡á Improvement Measures
1. Gradually necessitate lawyers to use e-litigation unless in special circumstances.
- Draft legislation to necessitate using the e-litigation unless there are special circumstances, with grace periods of: three years for law firms, limited liability companies or law firm partnerships and fully implement the compulsory use by 2019; and five years for private lawyers and fully implement the compulsory use by 2021.
- To that endeavor, the court shall address the systematic and technical difficulties of the e-litigation and expand the educational/learning programs on the use of e-litigation system for the citizens as well as lawyers.
2. Based on the consensus that the electronic case filings should also be provided for criminal cases, comprehensive analyses and research shall be made on the exemplary foreign legislation and operation cases that fully reflects the required legal and systematic tools, investigation and trial practices while carrying out a successful electronic trial system where the defendant’s right to defense is ensured.

[Improvement Measures for Conciliation Procedures]
¡á Goal Orientation
  ¡Û The following improvement measures will establish effective and desired conciliation practices.
¡á Improvement Measures
1. The parties’ opinions to be fully reflected during the conciliation proceedings.
2. When the decision is made in lieu of conciliation, explanation should be provided in advance or on the written decision on the rationale and process for drawing the conciliation conditions based on thorough finding of facts.