All 27 halls at the law courts in Malta and Gozo will no longer be recording hearings by means of cassette tapes after being switched to a digital system this week. This will mean better integrity of the recordings in the country’s halls of justice, as well as no more waiting in the middle of proceedings for cassette tapes to be turned over when one side is full – a situation that made many an observer cringe in this day and age.

Another hall has been equipped with video conferencing facilities, a pilot project for electronic files has been taken in hand, and free Wi-Fi is now available at the courts.

Justice Minister Chris Said visited the law courts to see the work being done on Friday, accompanied by parliamentary assistant Franco Debono, who had heavily criticised the system in place.

The change was conducted over several months and Dr Debono urged considering legal amendments to reflect the development.

Court staff members were trained under a personalised system. The digital system in the 24 halls in Malta and three in Gozo includes flash cards, card readers, DVD writers and muting devices.

Court judgements have been available online for years and now electronic files will be introduced for civil cases, according to Dr Said. The benefits of the system are huge, enabling files to be accessed from offices over the internet.