Military courts may run criminal justice work on a new information system: what the January 2026 amendment to the Rules on Business of the Military Court sets up

What changed

Under Article 5 of the Rules on Business of the Military Court, the Military Court may process sensitive information, unique identifying information and other personal information to the extent necessary for the listed tasks. Supreme Court Regulation No. 3240, promulgated and in force on 29 January 2026, widens who is read as the Military Court for this purpose and adds six tasks: promoting the electronification of criminal justice procedures; stable operation of the military legal information system, defined as an electronic management system combining hardware, software, databases, networks and security elements so that bodies handling criminal justice work by law can create, acquire, store, send and receive criminal justice information; joint use of criminal justice information, applying Article 2(3) of the Act on Promotion of Electronification of Criminal Justice Procedures mutatis mutandis; provision of services under the new Article 5-2; operation and management of that system; and ancillary tasks needed to perform those five.

For the new tasks 4 to 9 the term 'Military Court' now includes the body that operates and manages the system and the portal under Article 5-2(3), and for task 8 it also includes a person entrusted with work under Article 5-2(4). The official reason gives the aim as a legal basis for the Military Court to use the system for electronic criminal justice work with non-military criminal justice bodies and to give the public services through the portal.

The new Article 5-2 lets the Military Court perform criminal justice work, meaning the work in Article 2(1) of that Act, electronically through the military legal information system, and provide integrated criminal justice services through a portal built within the system so the public can reach the information easily and quickly. An operating body placed in the Ministry of National Defence operates and manages both; that body may entrust part of maintenance and other support work to another State agency or a corporation supporting informatisation when it considers this necessary for stable operation, and the Minister of National Defence sets matters needed for the body's organisation and operation. In Article 18(3), the case code letters formerly set by the annexed table are left to a military court regulation having regard to the nature and number of cases, while the proviso inserting the letter for retrial before the case code of the judgment under retrial is kept; the annexed table is deleted.

What to read in the text

The addendum, Addendum <No. 3240, 29 January 2026>, says only that the Rules take effect on the day of promulgation. It says nothing about application to pending matters, earlier acts or transitional measures, so a file cannot read any application rule out of it.

A file therefore needs the date of the task in question, 29 January 2026 or later, and the facts attaching to the provision relied on: for Article 5, which of the six new tasks the processing serves and whether the actor is the Military Court, the operating and managing body, or an entrusted person; for Article 5-2(3) and (4), that an operating body sits in the Ministry of National Defence and that any entrustment is of part of maintenance or other support work and is considered necessary for stable operation. The Minister of National Defence's rules under Article 5-2(5) and the military court regulation contemplated by Article 18(3) are not in the pack; this note has not read them.

Questions for the legislature

Article 5 now reaches a person 'entrusted with work under Article 5-2(4)' for task 8, while Article 5-2(4) speaks of entrusting 'part of maintenance and other support work'. Neither the text, the addendum nor the official reason says how far personal information may follow work so entrusted. Does an entrusted person stand in the Military Court's position under Article 5 for the whole of task 8, or only for the part actually entrusted?

Article 18(3) now sets the case code letters by military court regulation 'having regard to the nature and number of cases' and the annexed table is deleted, while Article 5-2(2) speaks of services provided so the public can reach the information 'easily and quickly'. Neither the text, the addendum nor the official reason says which case code letters apply to filings made before that regulation takes effect. What case code letters govern a filing lodged after 29 January 2026 but before the military court regulation is issued?

When to revisit

We revisit this note when the Minister of National Defence's rules under Article 5-2(5), the military court regulation on case code letters under Article 18(3), or the Act on Promotion of Electronification of Criminal Justice Procedures is read against this Regulation, or if a further amendment changes the tasks in Article 5 or the entrustment in Article 5-2(4).