Building semantic interoperability for European civil proceedings online

This chapter addresses the technological and semantic interoperability aspects relevant to the European Civil Proceedings Online, in particular to the European Small Claims Procedure and the European Order for Payment Procedure. It starts by offering an overview of the background of Semantic Web Technologies and presenting the concept of Semantic Interoperability. Secondly, it reviews ontologies as one of the most appropriate tools when it comes to addressing and solving a number of semantic issues, such as the existence of different legal terms and languages. Moreover, ontologies can be combined with other tools such as a XML mark-up language or a FAQ (Frequenly Asked Questions) list of terms. The chapter also identifies seven general semantic tools that can be relevant to solving some of the semantic issues identified so far. Finally, the chapter ends with some concluding remarks on semantic technologies and its role in assisting the parties of a process.