Toolkit

There are several points that competent authorities (and/or dedicated trainers) have to evaluate before setting and organizing their national trainings, more specifically:

• to identify the central authority coordinating the national trainings to guide the adaptation of the training materials/tools to the domestic context and needs;
• to verify the knowledge on EIO and the digital skills of the practitioners to be involved in the training prior to enrolling for training;
• to decide which approach fits better their domestic needs (central vs local);
• to consider the flexibility of the TREIO methodology, where each of the tools is designed to reflect on the professional schedules of the participants;
• to raise awareness on the benefits of training throughout the management hierarchy;
• to choose between in-person (face-to-face) or self-paced training, and in case of in-person training – between on site, hybrid or online modalities for delivering the training. A mixture of in-person and e-learning self-paced training is recommended;
• to allocate specific institutional time to carry on the training (not relying on professionals’ free time) is key;
• to use the TREIO eEDES Simulator to deliver for real-time simulation of the EIO workflow and evidence exchange:
• TREIO use of the eEDES environment to run the TREIO eEDES Simulator is ensured by the European Commission after the lifetime of the project
• distribution of access accounts is possible upon request by both individuals and organizations (for bulk requests)
• TREIO eEDES Simulator could be further upgraded for any other judicial cooperation instrument upon the respective upgrade of the original eEDES environment
• for each judicial cooperation tool, further exercises and training scenarios could be developed, if proper resources are ensured; and
• certification could be introduced to create further incentives.

All these points listed above should guide the competent authorities to set a valuable training in their own national context.

The TREIO Toolkit and its tools can be reused to carry out training in all MSs for all judicial authorities dealing with EIO, also after the lifetime of the TREIO project. Any national implementation of the TREIO training framework should consider the following:

TREIO developed and piloted an all-round cross-border training on EIO implementation to foster the use and successful exchange of EIO forms and evidences across the EU via eEDES

TREIO has designed a Person-to-Person Training Framework

Full TREIO training content set is available in 17 languages (Master copy in English; translations are available in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish)

TREIO tailored the content to cross-border specifics, yet it could be further adapted based on needs

TREIO allows for further national adaptations

TREIO experience could be shared considering the number of train-the-trainer activities delivered

TREIO provided train-the-trainer activities and online training across 12+ piloting or ready-to-pilot MSs

TREIO experience could be shared upon request

TREIO produced an adaptive e-Learning Courses (available in English, Spanish and Italian and ready to be transposed in Bulgarian, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Czech and German) and dedicated TREIO eEDES Simulator.

Considering the project outcomes,

Modularity has been considered the key factor for the project success by stakeholders. TREIO tools can be adopted from and in all EU MS in order to organize their domestic training on EIO depending on the ongoing needs (focus could be placed on legal aspects, business aspects or both).

TREIO tools are neutral: national judicial authorities are free to choose their own training strategy. They can decide to go for the e-learning and combine it with the use of the TREIO eEDES Simulator, or they can choose to adopt the traditional person-to-person training and combine it with the TREIO eEDES Simulator. Hybrid and/or mixed approaches are also suitable and have been tested within the project.

National judicial authorities can also adopt both traditional and e-learning setups in different environments or leave this choice to their stakeholders depending on what fits their needs and background. They are free to adapt both training materials and e-Learning Courses to fit their national needs and expectations.

The TREIO Toolkit presents a long-term solution for a standardised trainings on the EIO specifically and eEDES in general.

As to standardised trainings on the EIO specifically, the training materials developed by the TREIO project are modular, neutral and flexible in nature, meaning that the TREIO toolkit can be adapted to the needs of all MSs, even MSs who did not participate in the TREIO trainings. The materials are available in 17 languages, covering most official languages. MSs can ‘cherry-pick’ which elements of the Toolkit to use following their specific national circumstances and needs. For those MSs whose languages are not covered by TREIO, they can make use of the English master version as a basis of national activities or as a basis for translation. The TREIO Toolkit will remain available for MS, even after the lifetime of the project.

As to the standardised trainings on eEDES in general, MS are encouraged to connect to and use eEDES considering that the system will be used as a tool for the digitalisation of EU cross-border civil, commercial and criminal legal acts. This will require further trainings regarding these specific acts. Considering that the TREIO training materials cover the business part, i.e. the part on the eEDES system, in great detail, the TREIO training materials can serve as an example and basis for future trainings regarding these acts. The TREIO team has built a great network of national competent authorities and the judiciary to serve this purpose

The reusability and sustainability lead to transferability, considering that the TREIO Toolkit presents a tailor-made training methodology and strategy which can be adopted and implemented for carrying out trainings in the digital justice domain when digitizing a legal instrument (i.e. under Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents); Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters (taking of evidence); Regulation (EU) 2023/1543 on European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal proceedings and for the execution of custodial sentences following criminal proceedings; and others on the EC calendar). The milestones have been set for enhancing digital justice in the cross-border dimension. The community building effort produced a selected network of practitioners dealing with judicial cooperation in the digital judicial context which can be maintained on the long run. Furthermore, awareness and trust have also been generated and the judicial community continuously asks for training even when TREIO ended.

TREIO Action Plan includes an overview of the overall results of the TREIO Project activities and integrates all the work done together with the relevant stakeholders during the lifetime of the project to realize the TREIO Toolkit and the TREIO strategy for future implementations. It highlights the TREIO methodology of training into the judicial context and its reusability as well as ways forward for future steps on EIO training and transferability of results to other legal instruments that will have to be put in place in the near future.