NAT I ONAL JUD I C I A RY INFORMATICS SYSTEM GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Republic of Turkey Ministry of Justice U Y A P NATIONAL JUDICIARY INFORMATICS SYSTEM GENERAL INFORMATION

2. WHAT IS U Y A P? UYAP is an e-justice system as a part of the e-government, which has been developed in order to ensure fast, reliable, soundly operated and accurate judicial system. As a central network project, it includes all of the courts, public prosecutors services, prisons, other judicial institutions and other government departments in Turkey. All these are equiped with computers, network and internet connection and given access to all the legislation, the decisions of the Court of Cassation and judicial records.

3. WHY U Y A P ? According to the Turkish Constitution Turkish state has a duty to establish an effective mechanism for the realization of access to justice. The problems faced by the judiciary are complex, ranging from the enormous workload, inadequate training, information and monitoring. Legal procedures were complicated and disorganized. It must be carry out a reform on judicial sector in Turkey. On the way of accession process of E.U, it is believed that UYAP will make a great contribution to Turkey.

4. OBJECTİVES OF UYAP • To serve 40.000 employee of Ministry of Justice, 66.000 lawyers and citizen • Integration of judicial units with each other and with other justice agencies • Prevent citiziens from unjust treatment • Rapid, efficient, reliable and integrated system • Fast and efficient data exchange • Cheaper judicial services • Minimize the basic judicial errors • Data standardization

5. OBJECTİVES OF UYAP • Alerts to identify users • Electronic means instead of paper files • Databank of information • Information and basic legal aidsto citizens • Flexibility of working hours • Audio and video records systems

6. UYAP Applications • Functional Applications • e-mail • Electronic forum • Help Desk

7. Speed and efficiency of operations: • UYAP created fast, secure and efficient information system by transfering key business processes of the judicial system into central electronic means. • Instructions to other courts in order to collect evidence can be instantly sent and received on line. Access to information and make transaction online, instant and secure.

8. Databank Legislation Directives Sentences Case law Judicial essays Template texts Circularsetc.

9. Decision Support System: Thanks to some warnings and proposals produced by the system with pop up on the screen, procedural mistakes are reduced to a minimum level. The aims of this facility are to prevent procedural errors during legal proceeding, to minimise other possible errors, to provide accuracy and speed to the legal proceedings and to accumulate public trust in justice . (1350 warnings or proposals have been produced in the system till this time and they are presented for the use of the users). For example, if a spesicif rule have to be applied to the case and judge or staff forget to do this, system warns to user by pop up on the screen. It is completely up to users choice whether to obey this remind or ignore it. Thanks to this system procedural errors has been decreased significantly.

10. The Document Management System (DMS)With our document management software, all documents are just a few clicks away. Judicial units use that system to get documents online and to store and manage documents. All bureaucratic procedures and formal writings made in the electronic environment, thereby avoiding delays and reducing mistakes, especially those related to codes of procedures, as well as ensuring some degree of transparency

11. CITIZEN PORTAL https://vatandas.adalet.gov.tr • Citizens can reach their case information via Internet • Electronic Signature Can Be Used via Mobile Phone • SMS messages can also be sent to people who need to be warned when to attend court.

12. Lawyer Portal(https://avukat.adalet.gov.tr) • Lawyers can : • Pay process and case fee from his office through internet banking and UYAP, • Litigate a claim or dispute to court through electronic means, • Review his cases via electronics means • Submit his petition online. The substructure of the system providing internet banking due to payments of court expenses, charges, fees for lawyers has been set up with UYAP.18.992 lawyers have been registered to lawyer’s portal and 4517 of them use this system actively.

13. CENTRAL FILLING SYSTEM • UYAP have central filing system. Structure is central.All servers are in Ankara. All data flow in to central units. • Data standards and data standardization to improve data quality and to enable reliable operational andmanagementreporting.

14. UYAP SYSTEM CENTREAND DISASTER RECOVERY CENTRE In establishment of the system centre, magnitude of the system, the speed of technological change, targets for the system upgrade, guarantee processes for the system, costs of the services and maintenance after guarantee have been taken into account. Our system center is unique in the judiciary world in terms of capacity, entegrated units and capability according to IBM AND ORACLE which are the experts in this area. The capacity of the centre is sufficient for more than seventy thousand users currently and it can be upgraded when needed. 12-13 October 2006 Republic of TURKEY 14

15. THE AWARD-WINING PROJECT • UYAP was awarded for annual e government prize of Turkey in 2004 and 2005 because of making significant breaktrough in Turkish judiciary. In 2006 and 2007, UYAP has not joined to the e government contest of Turkey.