Slovenian courts introduce automatic transcription and live captioning

Slovenia has taken a step towards the social inclusion of persons with disabilities by introducing an automatic transcription and live captioning service into its judicial system. 

Article 13 of the UNCRPD establishes that signatory states must ensure effective and equal access to justice to persons with disabilities. The EU Directive asserts that all Member States must facilitate the accessibility to premises where criminal proceedings are conducted and access to information.

In 2023, the Slovenian judiciary began testing and gradually introducing automatic transcription of audio recordings into court workflows, with processing carried out on court servers to ensure data protection. 

Following a successful pilot at the Ljubljana District Court, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia financed the additional hardware with European sources (RRF) and with technical guidance from the Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia enabled the use of transcription across all courts. The solution also enables live captioning, significantly improving accessibility for persons with hearing loss.