DIFC Courts boosts Dubai’s paperless mission

The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts has acquired the qualified electronic seal solution Ethaq, a paperless initiative that enables digital authenticity of documents with the support of UAE PASS, the secure national digital identity platform for the UAE.

Ethaq is powered by Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC) and its Root Certificate Authority. It recognises the DIFC Courts as the first Dubai entity to acquire the entirely paperless certificate that enables court documents to be electronically signed, issued, and authenticated. Ethaq also integrates UAE PASS, the secure national digital identity platform of the UAE, in collaboration with Smart Dubai, to provide an end-to-end signing solution that combines both an electronic seal and an electronic signature solution based on digitally verifiable identities.

The electronic seal Ethaq will also reinforce the security and integrity of the documentation and eradicates tampering of official documents, enabling users to digitally verify the authenticity of any legal documents through the DIFC Courts website.

Omar Juma Al Mheiri, Deputy Chief Justice, DIFC Courts, said, “This new innovative eService will ensure that the DIFC Courts continues to fulfil the requirements under the Dubai Paperless Strategy 2021 and create legal security and certainty for businesses in an era of technological disruption.” Yousef Al Shaibani, Director-General, at the DESC, said, “Ethaq is one of DESC’s continuous efforts in adopting forefront technologies to protect Dubai digitally. This initiative reinforces the efficiency of digital services to support the city’s smart transformation and achieves the visionary goals set by the Dubai Cyber Security Strategy.” Wesam Lootah, CEO of the Smart Dubai Government Establishment, said, “Smart Dubai is leading the charge for the emirate to become the world’s smartest and happiest city, with the drive towards becoming paperless being a primary pillar of this aim.

By going paperless across every sector through the use of the latest technology, Dubai is taking centre stage for the conservation of resources, safeguarding of the environment, and the creation of digitally secure transactions.”

As part of a phased approach, the Ethaq capability will initially be secured for all court user service documents, such as DIFC Courts Judgments and Orders, with a secondary implementation wave for all DIFC Courts internal and operational documentation.

In 2018, launched as an initiative under the Courts of the Future, the DIFC Courts partnered with Smart Dubai to create the world’s first court with blockchain.

Building on existing dispute resolution services, the alliance is exploring how to aid verification of court judgments for cross-border enforcement.

The partnership will be creating a blockchain-powered future for the judiciary which will have far-reaching benefits, including streamlining the judicial process, removing document duplications, and driving greater efficiencies across the entire legal ecosystem.

The new electronic seal initiative will complement and further reinforce the development of this parallel project relating to blockchain enforcement.

Technology has been central to the DIFC Courts’ operating model since starting operations in 2006.

Among the many technologies pioneered to increase access to justice is the region’s first digitally integrated courtroom and re-engineered state-of-the-art e-Court Management System (CMS) in 2016.

In 2018, as part of its digital strategy, the DIFC Courts was also the first court service in the region to launch the most globally advanced “paperless” e-Bundling service, pioneering new online dispute resolution services.

Over the past 12 months, the DIFC Courts has introduced several initiatives aimed at alleviating costs for court users, including the suspension of all fees related to the digital e-Bundling service, with over 100,000 case pages uploaded to this system in the first eight months of 2020, ensuring paper reduction of over 600,000 pages.

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is the leading financial hub for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA), which comprises 72 countries with an approximate population of 3 billion and a nominal GDP of $ 7.7 trillion.

WAM