독일민사소송법상 전자문서에 의한 소송절차 - 우리나라의 전자소송법안과 관련하여

Abstract

German Civil Procedure Act implemented a set of reform statutes aimed at electronic documents court filing in 2005. It permits to file all court documents by electronic means. Documents for service to the other party is not needed by filing electronic documents. The courts will print out the e-filed documents at their own cost. Judgements and all other court documents are able to be produced by electronic documents on which there have to be electronic signatures. Cases are to be managed by electronic documents or paper documents. Electronic documents are to be printed out for paper case management, and paper documents are to be scanned for e-filing, but the original electronic or paper documents have to be preserved by courts until conclusive end of the litigations. Electronic documents are not treated as documentary evidence but demonstrative evidence. However their authentication is determined like documentary evidence. Certified electronic signatures give conclusive forces by proving formal authentication of electronic documents, like signatures on paper documents. Case record is able to be preserved by electronic means and be accessed by parties and their lawyers. The parties are able to get their court record by electronic means, e.g. e-mail, the lawyers are able to get direct access to the record. Service of court documents is able to be done by e-mail to the lawyers, or pro se litigents who consent the service sending by electronic means. If the person received the service by electronic means, he or she have to reply it. Implementing e-filing system into Korean Civil Procedure, the German statutes on e-filing would be good references, but it does not have to be overlooked that German Civil Procedure has compulsory lawyer representation system only except for “Amtsgericht.”