ACCESS to legal information throughout Europe has been made far simpler with the launch of the new European e-Justice internet portal. Introduced last week, the EU initiative is designed to be an “electronic one-stop-shop” for answers to legal questions regarding any of the 27 EU Member States.

“E-Justice is justice at a click. We’re taking a major step in bringing justice closer to EU citizens and in increasing mutual knowledge of each other’s legal systems,” said European Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding. “With knowledge comes trust and with trust comes the confidence that your rights will be protected no matter where you are in Europe.”

The portal represents a major improvement for the 10 million citizens involved in cross-border judicial procedures every year. Until now, it has often taken weeks for lawyers, judges and citizens to gather the necessary information for multi-jurisdictional cases – which is now available in a single, online area of justice.

The contents of the site are available in 22 official EU languages, overcoming the language barriers which so often hamper attempts to obtain justice internationally. Commissioner Reding added “Citizens will get answers in their own language and they will get them quickly. We all know how crucial this is: justice delayed is justice denied.”

As well as lawyers and businesses, the portal will benefit ordinary EU nationals looking for detailed information on anything from death or divorce to litigation and moving house. With comprehensive details of the Cypriot legal system and links to law databases in Cyprus and rest of the continent, the site will be an invaluable resource for those involved in domestic legal disputes as well. Businesses are also expected to cut costs by using the portal to access land and insolvency registers.

New information and tools will be added to the portal in the coming years. By early 2011 there will be fact sheets of defendants’ and victims’ rights in every EU country, and by 2013 a database of every lawyer in the Union. This will allow people to search for a specialist in any area of law in any country – for example an English speaking lawyer specialising in divorce law in Cyprus.

The launch is part of a flagship project of the Belgian government’s current presidency of the Council of the EU to improve access to justice for its 500 million inhabitants. Belgian Minister of Justice Stefaan De Clerck said “Through this portal, we lay the foundations of more efficient and accessible justice to the European citizen.”