The latest issue of The Italian-Spanish Journal of Procedure Law (RIEDP) has publsihed the paper of Dr. Marco Giacalone and Seyedeh Sajedeh Salehi on ''Small Claims and the Pursuit of (Digital) Justice: A Tiered Online Dispute Resolution Perspective''.
In this article the authors discuss the most recent developments in completely online small claims processes as a response to the extreme delays in delivering justice by courts. This paper argues that adopting a tiered online dispute resolution (ODR) system design can increase access to justice for individuals by simplifying the processes; reducing excessive procedural length and costs; also expanding accessibility to dispute resolution bodies. The authors also propose that the COVID-19 pandemic has widely opened a bundle of opportunities for complete digitalisation of small claims procedures at the EU and Member State levels. Nevertheless, it deems necessary to closely monitor the function of these systems to ensure that the digitalised small claims procedures meet the standards of procedural fairness and efficiency of justice, in particular concerning self-represented litigants.