Supreme Decree Nº 003-2015-JUS (hereinafter the SD), which regulates Law Nº 30229 “Law governing the use of information and communications technology in judicial auctions and in the service of process, and modifying the Organizational Law of the Judiciary, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Code of Constitutional Procedure, and the Procedural Labor Law”, was published on July 15, 2015.
Despite its lengthy name, the SD, in keeping with the principles of economy and procedural celerity contemplated in Article V of the Preliminary Title of the Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter the CPC), intends to innovate, via technology, two specific procedural steps as from the date of promulgation of the SD.
The first step is the Electronic Auction Process (e-auction) - REM@JU, which, according to Article 18 of the SD, must be carried out online (https://remaju.pj.gob.pe). Said Article provides that this electronic procedural step lasts 24 hours, starting at 12.00 hrs. of the scheduled date and ending at 12 hrs. of the following calendar day. Within this term (24 hours), registered bidders will be entitled to send their bids using as a basis the base price set for the good to be auctioned.
In turn, Article 7 of the SD provides that the bidders’ registration on the REM@JU is cost-free and lasts 12 months, although this term can be extended. Full-age individuals, whether Peruvians or foreign nationals legally living in Peru, and legal entities are authorized to sign up as registered bidders.
Bidding requirements for any auction, according to Article 16 of the SD, are the following: i) Payment of the bidder’s participation deposit, equivalent to 10% of the appraisal value of the good or goods being auctioned, ii) Payment of the judicial rate payable for the right to take part in the auction, and iii) Filing of a sworn statement guaranteeing the legal origin of the funds to be used in the bid. The bidder must enter on the website of REM@JU all the data required to prove having made the necessary payments (receipt number, amount, and date and time of payment) and must also fill out the form online.
The second step is the Electronic Notice System (e-notice) – SINOE. To access this system, we must enter this website (https://casillas.pj.gob.pe/). This is the most important system because it is used in every stage of every court proceeding. To implement this system, a series of articles of the CPC have been modified and some others have been added to regulate the mandatory use of this system.
As a matter of fact, the parties to a proceeding (that is, the plaintiff, the defendant or a third party involved in the proceeding) will be obliged to state in their opening writ the electronic address to which all procedural documents issued in connection with contentious and non-contentious proceedings handled by the different courtrooms of the Judiciary must be sent, except for proceedings not requiring the assistance of a lawyer (alimony and habeas corpus actions). It should be pointed out that the implementation of cost-free electronic address or p.o. box for lawyers in general was established by means of Administrative Resolution Nº 768-2015-P-CSJLI/PJ.
The obligation to send e-notices does not mean that physical notice forms have been eliminated because, as provided for in Article 155-E of CPC, incorporated by Law Nº 30229, the judicial resolution containing the service of summons, the declaration of contempt of court, the resolution that grants an injunction, and the resolution that puts an end to the proceeding, must continue being exclusively notified by means of an official notice of court decision in order to provide further certainty, safety, and accuracy to the parties to the proceeding.
Innovation in the manner in which the above procedural steps must be taken thanks to the advancement of information technology and their use in court proceedings is of utmost importance in order to reduce time and costs in the administration of justice, as both of them (particularly the former) create a heavy workload. For the above reasons, it would be a good idea, if this innovation is positive, and we believe it will be, to regulate the possibility of having all the remaining notices sent electronically, except for the service of summons to the defendant or a third party, provided the defendant has disclosed its e-mail address in the proceeding.