RULES & PRACTICE DIRECTIONS | SCHEDULE 1 - RSC | SCHEDULE 2 - CCR | PRE-ACTION PROTOCOLS | GLOSSARY | FORMS | COURT GUIDES | INDEX

See also Part 5
| PRACTICE DIRECTION – PILOT SCHEME FOR COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS BY E-MAIL
| THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS RULE 5.5
| Contents of this Practice Direction
Scope of this Practice Direction |  | Para. 1.1
SECTION I – COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS |  |
Communications and documents which may be sent by e-mail |  | Para. 2.1
Form and contents of e-mail |  | Para. 3.1
Filing of documents by e-mail |  | Para. 4.1
Statement of truth in document filed by e-mail |  | Para. 5.1
SECTION II - E-MAIL APPLICATIONS |  |
Interpretation |  | Para. 6.1
Applications which may be made by e-mail |  | Para. 7.1
Form and contents of e-mail containing an application |  | Para. 8.1
Filing of applications |  | Para. 9.1
Statements of truth in application notices and attached documents |  | Para. 10.1
How the court will deal with applications |  | Para. 11.1
SCHEDULE |  |
Scope of this Practice Direction
1.1 | This practice direction provides for a pilot scheme for the use of e-mail to operate from 2nd December 2002 to 31st January 2004.
1.2 | Section I of this practice direction contains provisions permitting parties to claims in specified county courts to –
(1) | communicate with the court by e-mail, and
(2) | file specified documents by e-mail.
1.3 | Section II of the practice direction contains provisions permitting legal representatives to make applications by e-mail.
1.4 | The Schedule to this practice direction sets out the courts to which Sections I and II apply and the dates from which those Sections apply to those particular courts.
1.5 | This practice direction does not apply to family proceedings, adoption proceedings or insolvency proceedings.
SECTION I – COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS
Communications and documents which may be sent by e-mail
2.1 | A party must not use e-mail to take any step in a claim which requires a fee to be paid for that step, except for filing an application notice in accordance with Section II of this practice direction. If (except in that case) a party sends by e-mail a document for which a fee is payable upon filing, the document will be treated as not having been filed.
2.2 | Parties to claims in a court to which this practice direction applies may send to the court by e-mail –
(1) | general correspondence and enquiries;
(2) | notice by solicitor of acting;
(3) | notice of change of address;
(4) | any of the following documents –
(a) | acknowledgment of service;
(b) | admission, other than one under rule 14.4;
(c) | defence, provided that no counterclaim is made;
(d) | reply to defence;
(e) | allocation questionnaire, provided that no fee is payable by the party filing the questionnaire;
(f) | pre-trial check list (listing questionnaire), provided that no fee is payable by the party filing the check list;
(g) | certificate of service;
(h) | request for judgment in default under rule 12.4(1), or for judgment upon admission under rule 14.4(3), 14.5(6), 14.6(4) or 14.7(5);
(i) | claimant's response to notice of admission under rule 14.5(3) or rule 14.7(3);
(j) | claimant's response to notice under rule 15.10, where defence is that money claimed has been paid;
(k) | notice of discontinuance, provided that the claimant does not require permission to discontinue, and is not required to attach to the notice the consent of another party;
(l) | notice of change of solicitor.
2.3 | Where a party files a document by e-mail he must still comply with any rule or practice direction requiring the document to be served on any other person.
2.4 | Nothing in this practice direction requires any person to accept service of a document by e-mail.
Form and contents of e-mail
3.1 | The subject line of the e-mail must contain –
(1) | the claim number;
(2) | the title of the claim (abbreviated if necessary);
(3) | the subject matter (e.g. defence); and
(4) | if the message relates to a hearing, the date and time of the hearing.
3.2 | The message must contain the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the sender and should be in rich text format or plain text rather than HTML. The court will normally send any reply to messages by e-mail.
3.3 | Correspondence and documents may be sent either as text or attachments, except that documents required to be in a practice form must be sent in that form as attachments. Court forms may be downloaded from the Court Service website www.courtservice.gov.uk or from local court websites.
3.4 | Attachments must be in one of the following formats –
(a) | Rich Text Format as (.rtf) files
(b) | Plain/Formatted Text as (.txt) files
(c) | Hypertext documents as (.htm) files
(d) | Microsoft Word viewer/reader (.doc) in Word97 format
(e) | Adobe Acrobat as (.pdf) minimum viewer version 4
(f) | Lotus Notes Web Access (.nsf).
3.5 | Attachments must not be more than 10 pages long in aggregate and the total e-mail must not exceed 2Mb.
3.6 | Parties are advised not to send by e-mail any correspondence or documents of a confidential or sensitive nature, as security cannot be guaranteed.
3.7 | If a document sent by e-mail requires urgent attention, the sender should contact the court by telephone.
Filing of documents by e-mail
4.1 | Where a party files a document by e-mail, he must not send a hard copy in addition.
4.2 | A document is not filed until the e-mail is received by the court, whatever time it is shown to have been sent.
4.3 | The time of receipt of an e-mail will be recorded.
4.4 | If an e-mail is received after 4 p.m. it will be treated as filed on the next day the court office is open.
4.5 | Where a time limit applies, it remains the responsibility of the party to ensure that the document is filed in time.
4.6 | The court will send an automatic acknowledgment when an e-mail is received. The acknowledgment is merely to confirm receipt and does not indicate that a filed document has been accepted. If no acknowledgment of an e-mail is received, the sender should assume that the court has not received it and should send the e-mail again, or file the document by another means.
Statement of truth in document filed by e-mail
5.1 | CPR Part 22 requires certain documents to be verified by a statement of truth. These include a statement of case, and an acknowledgment of service in a claim begun by way of the Part 8 procedure.
5.2 | Rule 22.1(6) (which requires a statement of truth to be signed by the person making it) is satisfied by that person typing his name underneath the statement of truth in a document filed by e-mail. However, the statement of truth must still be signed in manuscript in any hard copies of the document which are served on other parties.
5.3 | Attention is drawn to –
(1) | paragraph 3 of the practice direction supplementing CPR Part 22, which provides who may sign a statement of truth; and
(2) | rule 32.14, which sets out the consequences of making, or causing to be made, a false statement in a document verified by a statement of truth, without an honest belief in its truth.
SECTION II - E-MAIL APPLICATIONS
Interpretation
6.1 | In this Section of this practice direction, where the context permits, ‘application’ includes an appeal.
Applications which may be made by e-mail
7.1 | The following types of applications may be made by e-mail, provided that all of the conditions listed in paragraph 7.2 below are satisfied –
(1) | applications in the course of proceedings;
(2) | applications for final orders by consent; and
(3) | in county court cases –
(a) | appeal notices in respect of appeals from a district judge to a circuit judge; and
(b) | applications for directions and extensions of time in connection with such appeals.
7.2 | The conditions which must be satisfied are that –
(1) | the application is filed by a legal representative on behalf of the applicant;
(2) | if the application is made on notice –
(a) | all respondents to the application are acting by legal representatives; and
(b) | the respondents' legal representatives have agreed to accept service by e-mail and provided an e-mail address in accordance with paragraph 3.3 of the practice direction supplementing Part 6; and
(3) | the applicant wishes the court to deal with the application (or, in the case of an appeal, the question of permission to appeal) without a hearing.
Form and contents of e-mail containing an application
8.1 | The subject line of the e-mail must contain –
(1) | the claim number;
(2) | the title of the claim (abbreviated if necessary);
(3) | the subject matter (e.g. ‘application to …’, ‘consent order’), and whether it is the 1st, 2nd, etc application made by e-mail in the proceedings.
8.2 | The message must –
(1) | contain the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the sender;
(2) | give a brief description of the application in not more than 25 words;
(3) | state whether the application is being made on notice or without notice;
(4) | if the application is on notice –
(a) | confirm that the applicant's legal representative has served the application notice and any documents filed with it, and state when this was done; and
(b) | give the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the respondent's legal representative;
(5) | confirm that –
(a) | the applicant's legal representative holds any necessary original documents (e.g. witness statements, statements of truth, draft of orders to be made by consent); and
(b) | where necessary, that those documents have been signed, and by whom;
(6) | briefly describe each attachment to the e-mail; and
(7) | identify any documents not attached to the e-mail but already filed, to which the judge will need to refer when dealing with the application.
8.3 | The attachments to the e-mail –
(1) | must always include the application notice and a draft of the order sought; and
(2) | should, if possible, include copies of any documents already filed, to which the judge will need to refer when dealing with the application.
8.4 | In relation to appellant's notices, attention is drawn to paragraph 5.6 of the practice direction supplementing Part 52.
8.5 | Paragraphs 3.2 to 3.7 above apply.
Filing of applications
9.1 | Paragraphs 4.1 to 4.6 above apply.
9.2 | Any application made will attract the current fee, which must be paid in accordance with such terms as the court specifies. If a legal representative fails to comply with such terms, the court may prohibit them from making any further applications by e-mail.
Statements of truth in application notices and attached documents
10.1 | Paragraphs 5.1 to 5.3 above apply.
How the court will deal with applications
11.1 | Any application filed by e-mail will be deemed to be an application which the court is asked to consider without a hearing, pursuant to paragraph 2.3 of the practice direction supplementing Part 23.
(i) Applications without notice, and applications for consent orders
11.2 | An application without notice, or an application for a consent order, will be dealt with by a judge or a court officer under rule 40.6(2) as appropriate.
(ii) Applications on notice
11.3 | An application on notice will be referred to a judge who will decide whether it is suitable to be dealt with without a hearing.
11.4 | If the judge decides that the application is suitable to be dealt with without a hearing, he will give directions by e-mail to both parties' legal representatives for the filing of evidence or taking of steps necessary for the determination of the application.
11.5 | If the judge decides that a hearing is necessary, he will inform both parties' legal representative by e-mail and direct the application to be taken out of the e-mail procedure.
SCHEDULE
Courts to which Section I applies | Date from which Section I applies
Walsall County Court | 2 December 2002
Preston County Court and District Registry1 | 1 April 2003
Courts to which Section II applies | Date from which Section II applies
Preston County Court and District Registry2 | 1 April 2003
FOOTNOTES
1 | Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol.
2 | Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol.

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