Ensuring a just, inclusive, and sustainable digital development in the Nordic countries is an essential part in reaching the Nordic vision for 2030. The Nordic and Baltic nations have made significant advancements when it comes to digitalising their societies and the public administration systems over the last decade. Making sure that the core Nordic values of transparency, human rights and that our constitutional frameworks are upheld and secured throughout the process of digitalisation of the public sector is of utmost importance to maintain a high level of trust between individuals and between citizens and authorities in the Nordic-Baltic region.
In 2020,
a pilot project, undertaken by Prof. Hanne Marie Motzfeldt at the University of Copenhagen, indicated that further investigation into how the rapid digitalisation of the public administrations and courts may impact and challenge basic constitutional, human rights and administrative law frameworks in the Nordic countries was required.
The following report culminates two years of research into this very topic undertaken by leading legal academics across the Nordic and Baltic countries. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers, and the research was carried out in the period March 2022 to December 2023, led by Prof. Hanne Marie Motzfeldt, University of Copenhagen, with a consortium of legal researchers from across the region.
The report strives to present an overview of the current status of the digitalisation of the national public administrations and courts in each of the Nordic and Baltic countries, from a legal perspective. While there are some notable constitutional differences between the Nordic-Baltic countries, the report also shows that certain experiences and challenges related to the digitalisation of the public sector are shared.
It is hoped that through its thorough status overviews of the digitalisation each of the Nordic-Baltic countries from a legal perspective, the report will help to identify possible areas for future cooperation and dialogue. Several of the authors indicate areas where they - based on their expertise and country-specific perspective - believe further cooperation would be valuable, and these recommendations in particular may well be taken forward for consideration.