Justice and the technology sector analyse efficiency in the digitalisation of the Justice system: 392,718 procedures at the Justice Offices in Municipalities

The Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes and Ametic, the business association of the technology sector, have held at the Palacio de Parcent the conference "Efficiency in the digitalisation of the Justice system. Implementation, evaluation and next challenges", a meeting aimed at analysing the deployment of the Efficiency Act and the progress of the digital transformation of the judicial system. According to the note published by the Ministry on 3 November 2026, the event was attended by the Secretary of State for Justice, Manuel Olmedo, and the president of Ametic, Francisco Hortigüela, as well as institutional representatives, legal professionals and technology companies.

What was discussed at the conference

The session opened a space for dialogue on the legal framework of the Efficiency Act, the degree of implementation of the new digital tools and the main challenges accompanying the modernisation of the public Justice service, with special attention to the role of public-private collaboration. The conference included a round table with Iolanda M. Aguilar (Generalitat de Catalunya), Miguel Hermosa (Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Pontevedra) and Esmeralda Rasillo (Fiscalía General del Estado), which analysed the progress made in implementing the law and the pending challenges in interoperability, organisational adaptation and impact on the functioning of the judicial system.

A second panel brought together representatives of the technology sector, who addressed their experience in the digitalisation process and the challenges associated with the digital divide, training, availability of resources, modernisation of infrastructures and the need to strengthen public-private collaboration.

The headline figure: 392,718 procedures since June 2025

The ministerial note stresses that the digital modernisation of Justice is already producing benefits, contributing to a "more agile, homogeneous and specialised" Justice system. As a highlighted example it cites the impact of the Justice Offices in Municipalities, which have carried out 392,718 procedures since June 2025. These offices are one of the central pieces of the organisational reform: Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January, on measures for the efficiency of the Public Justice Service (BOE of 3 January 2025), provides for the evolution of the Juzgados de Paz (peace courts) towards modern Justice Offices in municipalities, a structure designed to bring the services of the Administration of Justice closer to citizens in towns without a judicial seat.

The Efficiency Act as backdrop

Organic Law 1/2025, of 2 January, on measures for the efficiency of the Public Justice Service, was published in BOE number 3, of 3 January 2025. The preamble of Organic Law 1/2025 explains the logic of the reform. The text starts from a diagnosis: the traditional judicial organisation has caused "a series of dysfunctions" such as the lack of specialisation of the courts, the proliferation of bodies with identical competence in each judicial district, the dispersion of resources and inequalities in workload and in resolution times. Against this, the law concentrates its effort on three qualities of efficient organisation: specialisation, homogeneity and organisational capacity.

Its first title undertakes the organisational reform through the creation of the Tribunales de Instancia - judicial bodies that are collegiate from the organisational point of view, one in each judicial district - and the evolution of the Juzgados de Paz into Justice Offices in municipalities, complemented by the adaptation of the Oficina judicial to the new organisation. The preamble also records the interpretation of the Council of State according to which Articles 117 and 122 of the Constitution do not create "an institutional guarantee that the first tier of judicial protection must be articulated through single-member and independent judicial bodies". The law also introduced procedural streamlining measures in the Criminal Procedure Act, the Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction Act, the Civil Procedure Act, the law regulating the social jurisdiction and the Voluntary Jurisdiction Act. Published on 3 January 2025, the rule entered into force, as a general rule, three months after its publication, except for its title I and the additional, final and transitional provisions.

The Tribunales de Instancia, the other leg of the reform

The preamble of the law details the structure of the new first judicial level. Its Article 84 provides for the existence of one Tribunal de Instancia in each judicial district and its minimum structure: it will be made up of a Single Section, covering Civil and Investigation, while in the cases provided for in Law 38/1988, of 28 December, on Demarcation and Judicial Plant, the Tribunal de Instancia will consist of a Civil Section and an Investigation Section. In addition, the law provides that the Tribunales de Instancia may include Sections for Family, Childhood and Capacity, Commercial, Violence against Women, Violence against Children and Adolescents, Criminal, Minors, Prison Supervision, Contentious-Administrative and Social matters, regulating the territorial scope to which they will extend their jurisdiction, their structure, composition and competences.

The text stresses that the Tribunales de Instancia and the Central Tribunal de Instancia are configured as judicial bodies that are collegiate from the organisational point of view, a model that - in the words of the preamble - "does not alter the exercise of the jurisdictional function or the competences of the single-member adjudicating bodies". The preamble also recalls that the rationalisation of the model and the search for efficiency advise that the first level of judicial organisation operate on a collegiate basis, as happens in the other judicial instances, in line with other countries in the democratic sphere. And it links the reform to those already introduced by Royal Decree-Law 5/2023, of 28 June, and Royal Decree-Law 6/2023, of 19 December, on the public justice service.

Why it matters to law firms

The conference confirms that judicial digitalisation and the new architecture of the Efficiency Act are already the daily operating framework: interoperability between administrations, digital processing tools, organisational adaptation and attention at the municipal level through the Justice Offices. For professional practice, the message of the meeting is twofold: the normative deployment continues its course and collaboration with the technology sector is consolidating as a channel of modernisation. The next challenges identified - digital divide, training, resources and infrastructures - are also the fronts on which legal operators will have to accompany their clients.

Frequently asked questions

What conference have the Ministry and Ametic held?

"Efficiency in the digitalisation of the Justice system. Implementation, evaluation and next challenges", held at the Palacio de Parcent with the Secretary of State for Justice, Manuel Olmedo, and the president of Ametic, Francisco Hortigüela.

What results do the Justice Offices in Municipalities show?

They have carried out 392,718 procedures since June 2025, according to the Ministry's note.

What does Organic Law 1/2025 provide for the municipal level?

The evolution of the Juzgados de Paz towards modern Justice Offices in municipalities, together with the creation of the Tribunales de Instancia as collegiate bodies in each judicial district.

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Sources

• Ministry of Justice, note of 3 November 2026: https://www.mjusticia.gob.es/es/institucional/gabinete-comunicacion/noticias-ministerio/jornada-ametic
• Organic Law 1/2025 (BOE-A-2025-76): https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2025-76