La valoración de la prueba electrónica en los procesos judiciales ecuatorianos: desafíos y garantías procesales

Abstract

The progressive digitalization of social, economic, and legal relations has resulted in an increasing number of facts submitted to judicial proceedings being documented through data messages, emails, instant messaging conversations, digital files, photographs, videos, computer records, and other electronically generated or stored content. This transformation poses particular challenges for evidence law because the legal recognition of an electronic document does not, by itself, determine its evidentiary weight in a specific case. This article analyzes the legal framework for assessing electronic evidence in Ecuador, with particular attention to legality, authenticity, integrity, reliability, adversarial examination, and judicial reasoning. The research followed a qualitative approach and a documentary and legal-dogmatic design based on the analysis of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, the General Organic Code of Proceedings, the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code, the Electronic Commerce, Electronic Signatures and Data Messages Act, relevant case law and institutional criteria, as well as specialized legal literature. The findings show that Ecuadorian law broadly recognizes electronic evidence but distributes its regulation among different legal instruments and treats proceedings governed by the General Organic Code of Proceedings and criminal proceedings differently. Assessing electronic evidence cannot be reduced to merely viewing a screenshot or digital file. Courts must jointly examine its legality, provenance, authenticity, integrity, context, technical reliability, and the opposing party's effective opportunity to challenge it. In criminal proceedings, these requirements become stricter under rules governing digital forensic techniques and the chain of custody.