Electronic Evidence in Court: Digital Trial Bundles as a Procedural Standard

Legal experts from KG LEGAL KIEŁTYKA GŁADKOWSKI propose adopting digital trial bundles to effectively present massive volumes of electronic evidence in Polish civil proceedings while advocating for a clear statutory definition of digital evidence.

The Concept of Digital Trial Bundles

Polish civil procedure maintains an open catalogue of evidence, which is essential as decisive facts now frequently exist only in digital form, such as messenger conversations or online defamation. The challenge lies not in the admissibility of this evidence, but in the procedural burden of presenting gigabytes of virtual data in a reliable, verifiable, and permanent manner.

The digital trial bundle—an adaptation of the Anglo-Saxon electronic trial bundle—organizes data according to evidentiary theses. By linking files to specific facts, utilizing SHA-256 checksums, and providing interactive tables of contents, this tool provides the structure necessary to navigate virtual realities in a courtroom setting.

Legal Status and the Evolution of Documentation

The 2016 amendment to the Civil Code established a technology-neutral definition of a document, effectively separating the concept of documentation from physical paper. According to Article 77³ of the Civil Code, a document is content contained on a medium that allows it to be accessed, which now encompasses digital storage such as cloud servers and hard drives.

Despite this progress, the law lacks a formal definition of “digital evidence,” leaving the burden of conceptual framing to doctrine and jurisprudence. While the current framework permits the use of electronic data, practitioners must ensure that the identity of the source—whether through metadata, timestamps, or system logs—is verifiable to meet the requirements of modern civil procedure.

Constructing and Presenting the Bundle

An effective digital trial bundle requires a rigorous internal structure. The master file should be an interactive PDF containing a table of contents with hyperlinks to specific source files, which are categorized by type: textual evidence, email correspondence, messenger exports, and website screenshots.

Evidence is presented to the court either through physical media, such as encrypted drives, or via secure electronic transmission for smaller volumes. Each file must be assigned a unique signature, and the bundle must be presented in a way that allows the opposing party to access an identical, integral version of the information.

Proving Online Activity and Damages

Assessing damages in modern commercial disputes requires hard metrics, such as reach, impressions, and engagement rates. Because these indicators are treated as currencies in the marketing industry, reports from internal platform analytics and external monitoring systems like Brand24 or Meta Ads Manager provide an objective basis for quantifying harm, such as the scale of unfair competition or the impact of defamatory content.

Reconstructing these events chronologically on a timeline allows the court to visualize the progression of an offense. By documenting the publication, initial distribution, and subsequent business impacts—such as a decline in organic traffic or sales—lawyers can effectively link digital behavior to legal liability under the Act on Combating Unfair Competition.

Future Regulatory Needs

To improve the efficiency of digital evidence, the authors propose two key legislative changes. First, a statutory definition of “digital evidence” should be introduced to the Civil Procedure Code to eliminate terminological uncertainty and ensure uniform judicial assessment.

Second, court regulations should implement standardized requirements for the presentation of electronic evidence in large-scale cases. Adopting mandatory practices—such as specific file naming conventions and the use of hyperlinked PDF indexes—would significantly raise the evidentiary culture in Polish courts without requiring a full legislative overhaul.