By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Judges can now seek the professional opinions of experts during trials with the implementation of an expert commissioners system, the Supreme Court said.
Launched on Aug. 19, the system allows committee members consisting of experts from different fields to give an explanation or advice on a certain matter related to a civil trial to assist a judge.
``It is expected to help the trial process become more professional and efficient, which should result in trials being resolved faster,’’ Bae Hyeon-tae, director for public relations at the Supreme Court, said.
Previously, experts could only play a minimal role in assisting judges to confirm truth.
For example, when the court sent a medical chart to a doctor, he or she simply confirmed if it was properly analyzed for a certain item in a case, which took a considerably long time, Bae explained.
The designation for the system was first proposed in 2006 and the related bill for its legislation was passed at the National Assembly in June 2007.
The committee members consist of 964 experts from such fields as medicine, intellectual property, finance, real estate and environment.
The current members were appointed on Aug. 18 and every two years the court will renew the list of members and appoint new committee members.
They will be able to give their opinions to the court at the request of parties to a suit or the court authorities and be present in court.
Each court has to give committee members a fee for their help but parties to a suit do not need to pay extra money.
The committee members can send a letter of explanation or advice to the court, or appear at the court. They are also allowed to ask questions to parties to a suit with the allowance of a judge, or to have details about the suit.
The committee members’ opinions will not be able to be used as evidence but they become important references in a trial.
``Depending on the cases, their opinion can be crucial as it can be taken into consideration in the ruling,’’ Bae said.
But they have a duty not to reveal the information they obtain from the court. As their role is regarded similar to a civil servant, they cannot receive bribes from parties to a suit. Violators of the rule will be punishable by law.