- The 10th OECD Global Roundtable on Equal Access to Justice will close its last day today after gathering over 40 countries and international organizations
The 10th OECD Global Roundtable on Equal Access to Justice enters its final session today after three days of work which have turned Madrid into the epicenter of international debate on how to build more agile and inclusive legal systems that can address the challenges of the 21st century. The gathering, organized by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, in collaboration with the OECD, has brought together delegations from over 40 countries, multilateral bodies, senior state officials, experts and representatives from civil society.
During the sessions held from 12 to 14 November at the Royal Collections Gallery, the international delegations shared outlooks and proposals related to four global priorities: digital transformation of Justice, ethical use of artificial intelligence, reinforcing institutional trust, and consolidation of justice models focusing on people and companies.
An international consensus: Justice as a strategic public service
The first day, opened by Minister Félix Bolaños together with the Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD, Mary Beth Goodman, helped situate the main global challenges and offered a space for political discussion of the need to accelerate reforms that enable legal systems to adapt to an environment of technological innovation, social changes and evolving citizen needs.
The middle day of the forum was devoted to the challenges of the future, with discussions on data governance, interoperability, artificial intelligence, process automation and the role of justice in economic competitiveness. The delegations underlined that modernization of the legal systems is essential not only to guarantee rights, but also to reinforce public trust and promote favorable environments for investment and development.
Today was centered on technical discussions, delving into redesigning justice services to make them more comprehensible and accessible; mediation of the real impact of reforms; and how to ensure that technological and organizational transformation leads to tangible improvements, especially for vulnerable groups and small and medium enterprises.
Spain, a benchmark in digitization and citizen-centered reforms
Throughout the event, Spain presented the advances it has been promoting for modernization of the Public Service of Justice: implementation of Instance Courts, expansion of the Justice Offices in the Municipality, development of a digital interoperability system, the national strategy for artificial intelligence applied to Justice, and new anonymization tools and results-based management.
These initiatives were highlighted as examples of sustainable transformation, capable of improving the system’s efficiency, reduce response times, and remove access barriers. Furthermore, international representatives underlined the role of Spain to drive multilateral cooperation and defend an approach to justice fully aligned with the economic and social priorities of the States.
Conclusions and next steps
At the closing session, planned for this afternoon, the OECD and the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes will underscore the importance of reinforcing international cooperation and sharing knowledge to advance toward more resilient and transparent legal systems focusing on people. The work conducted in this edition shall feed the next OECD instruments, such as the State of People-Centred Justice Report and Implementation Toolkit for Recommendation 2023, which will be the guidelines for the global transformation of the Public Service of Justice.
With this 10th Global Roundtable, Spain has established its position as a benchmark in judicial innovation and reaffirmed its commitment to efficient, accessible Justice, fully aligned with the challenges of the 21st century.
