The Crisis Coordination Commission of the Administration of Justice stops the fight against Covid-19, of which the Ministry of Justice, the General Council of the Judiciary, the State Attorney General and the autonomous communities competent in the matter, held this morning its second meeting to coordinate the measures to be adopted in relation to the officials who serve in the administration of Justice during the containment of the pandemic. The General Council of Spanish Lawyers (CGAE) has also been represented at this second meeting.
Among the measures adopted, this body – created by virtue of the mandate of the Minister of Health to the Minister of Justice to coordinate the personal means with which the judicial bodies work during the health crisis throughout the national territory – has agreed on the protocol to register in the Civil Registry, deaths and granting burial licenses due to the increase in mortality generated by the epidemic.
The regulation establishes a form so that both actions can be requested from the Civil Registry – open seven days a week in the morning and afternoon to do due to the incidence of the coronavirus – attaching the documentation required by law by email. Once received, the officials of the registries of the entire State will also be able to process them through the internet. The protocol allows in certain cases to obtain the burial license before even registering the death to guarantee respect for the deceased and his family in these tragic moments.
In this second meeting of the Crisis Coordination Commission, held this morning by videoconference and attended by Minister Juan Carlos Campo, the ministry and the autonomous communities, in consultations with the CGPJ, FGE and CGAE, they have also agreed to jointly design the plan for the return to normal activity of the administration of Justice when the state of alarm is lifted and the suspension of administrative and procedural deadlines ends.
The administrations and institutions represented in the virtual meeting have also promised to promote the use of videoconferencing in judicial bodies throughout the territory, provided that the specific procedures to be carried out allow recourse to this form of communication. In addition, they have unified the criteria for sharing information on the incidence of the pandemic in the public justice service among their areas of action and respective territories among all of them.
Once again, the attendees have agreed to express their appreciation and admiration to all the operators of the Justice administration – judges, prosecutors, lawyers of the justice administration, officials, coroners, social graduates, lawyers, attorneys … – for their sacrifice daily to guarantee the rule of law and effective judicial protection of citizens in such an exceptional situation.
