en.Wedoany.com Reported - The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) officially launched the Electronic Case Management System (ECMS) on June 29 in Abuja, Nigeria, enabling litigants and lawyers from the 15 member states to file cases with the regional court without traveling to its headquarters.

The ECMS is a secure web platform available in English, French, and Portuguese. Parties and their representatives can electronically submit legal documents, receive judicial notifications, track case progress in real time, manage files in a dematerialized manner, and participate in virtual hearings. The system automates registry tasks and generates electronic files with complete audit trails.

Judge Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves, President of the Court, stated that the launch marks a new beginning where technology enhances access to justice, improves efficiency, and increases management transparency.

The institution aims to register at least 80% of practicing lawyers on the platform within the next six months and to have all new cases filed exclusively through the ECMS. By 2030, its goal is to become a fully paperless court, serving as a benchmark for regional courts in Africa.

The ECMS launch comes as several African countries advance the digitization of their judicial systems. In Côte d'Ivoire, the e-justice.ci platform has covered all 39 judicial jurisdictions nationwide since June 29, 2026, following its phased deployment starting in January 2025. In Burkina Faso, over 600,000 criminal records have been issued online. In Benin, multiple judicial documents have also been available online for years.

This trend extends beyond West Africa. Madagascar's Ministry of Justice launched the jurisprudence.justice.gov.mg platform in May 2025, integrating 1,130 landmark rulings made by the Supreme Court between 2009 and 2019. Algeria's Ministry of Justice launched a platform in February 2026 allowing lawyers to upload and download copies of judgments with electronic signatures.