Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said today that 15,997 SMSs have been sent to lawyers and legal procurators notifying them of deferred civil cases ever since the alert messaging system was introduced in October 2013.

The system has also been made available to citizens as from January 2014.

Dr Bonnici was speaking during the launch of another service – related to IT – which forms part of the justice reform called ‘My Act’ where citizens have been given online access to acts filed in their names which helps them follow-up on their case through this new service.

The online service is accessible via e-id on justice.gov.mt/onlineservices, 'My Acts' and one can also access the site from a mobile phone.

Citing an example, Dr Bonnici said that the new service – one of a series – allows a citizen to verify whether an affidavit has been filed by his/her lawyer.

Turning to the SMS system, Dr Bonnici said the system has been well met by the legal profession and therefore it was now time to launch more initiatives.