This project analyses the use of a videoconferencing tool in a cross-border context to increase access, participation, and cooperation in the field of justice through a specific case study: the hearing of key witnesses residing in another Member State as part of a drug trafficking investigation (criminal law). The study contains four phases:
- Review of the current situation
- Possible future situation
- Prototyping
- Specific results & recommendations, with the last phase applying to a broader scope in the field of justice.
The analysis is structured around four aspects at each phase: business & processes, environmental, legal, and technical & equipment.
The main objective is to provide public authorities with concrete inputs supporting the digitalisation of justice, as part of the Justice Programme, and more specifically in advance of the adoption of the proposal regulation 2021/0394 (COD) providing a European legal framework for hearing through videoconferencing or other distance communication technology.