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Today, on 29 March, Sigita Rudėnaitė, Chairperson of the Judicial Council, presented the report on the activities of the Lithuanian courts in 2023 to the public and outlined the most important trends in the work of the courts.

In 2023, the courts became even more open. With the creation of the portal "Open Courts", the public now has access to even more information about courts and judges.

"The backbone of the judiciary is a judiciary of courage and integrity, where judges take responsibility for their every action, do not wait for recognition and encouragement from the authorities, and understand the purpose of their profession. Only such judges will be able to fulfil the mission of the Lithuanian judiciary: to protect human rights and administer justice openly, responsibly, professionally and honestly." - S. Rudėnaitė said.

Presenting the results of the activity of the courts, the Chairperson of the Judicial Council emphasised the modernity, openness and efficiency of the judicial process. This enabled the courts to handle almost 191 thousand cases last year. People's conflicts and disagreements with various institutions continued to be exclusively entrusted to the courts: more than 50 000 cases concerning the repayment of loans and the breach of contracts, almost 17 000 applications for the recovery of the debt on the local levy for the collection and management of municipal waste and almost 15 000 cases concerning family law relations, to name just a few of the cases handled by courts.

Although the number of cases received in 2023 has slightly decreased, a worrying trend has been observed: the number of civil cases concerning the non-fulfilment of financial obligations is on the rise. Compared to 2022, the number of cases relating to obligations (repayment of loans, sale and purchase obligations, etc.) has increased considerably, to 56 317 cases (47 889 in 2022, 45 831 in 2021). This change could be due to the overall increase in the number of debtors and the worsening economic situation in the country.

The number of administrative cases related to the recovery of municipal waste collection and management charges is also increasing year by year. In 2023, the number of such cases stood at 16,743 (2022: 15,563; 2021: 9,273). These cases account for as much as 75% of the total number of administrative cases decided in 2023.

There is still a myth in society that first instance court decisions are very often overturned by higher courts However, the report shows that court decisions have remained stable for several years, with only 1.6% of the 190,000 court decisions per year being reversed or annulled.

In response to the need to deal with high-profile cases more quickly, in September last year the Judicial Council approved amendments to the description of the procedure for declaring cases to be of an expedited nature and for the coordination of hearings in such cases. This procedure enables the courts to speed up the handling of the most important, high-profile and often complex and voluminous cases.

Digital technologies are already part of the court's daily routine, and we have taken the first steps towards introducing artificial intelligence in the courts.

Read the short version of the 2023 report here.