Public to receive court deferral notice by SMS

The general public will, as from 2 January 2014, be able to receive a notification from the law courts by SMS if their civil case hearing has been postponed.

The service, available to lawyers in civil cases only, has now been extended to the general public.

Under the new system, the parties in a court case can choose which civil case they would like to be notified by SMS in case of a deferral.

Parliamentary secretary for justice Owen Bonnici said the government was working to carry out a full reform in court services and information technology, in order to deliver a better service to the public.

Apart from the SMS service, a service where decrees and witness transcripts are sent by email to legal services practitioners is already in place.

In the coming months, the government is expected is introduce new facilities to present judicial writs in either Malta or Gozo, irrespectively whether the case will be heard in either a Maltese or Gozitan courtroom; access for legal practitioners to their judicial acts and proceedings; and a full scanning of all civil case documents so that these are accessible to legal services practitioners.