See also Part 5
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PRACTICE DIRECTION – PILOT SCHEME FOR COMMUNICATION AND
FILING OF DOCUMENTS AND APPLICATIONS BY E-MAIL |
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THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS RULE 5.5 |
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Contents of this Practice Direction |
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Scope of this Practice Direction
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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.
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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
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(2) |
file specified documents by e-mail.
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1.3 |
Section II of the practice direction contains provisions permitting legal representatives to make applications by e-mail.
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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.
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1.5 |
This practice direction does not apply to family proceedings, adoption proceedings or insolvency proceedings.
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SECTION I – COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS |
Communications and documents which may be sent by e-mail
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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.
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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;
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(2) |
notice by solicitor of acting;
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(3) |
notice of change of address;
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(4) |
any of the following documents –
(a) |
acknowledgment of service;
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(b) |
admission, other than one under rule 14.4;
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(c) |
defence, provided that no counterclaim is made;
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(e) |
allocation questionnaire, provided that no fee is payable by the party filing the questionnaire;
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(f) |
pre-trial check list (listing questionnaire), provided that no fee is payable by the party filing the check list;
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(g) |
certificate of service;
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(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);
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(i) |
claimant's response to notice of admission under rule 14.5(3) or rule 14.7(3);
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(j) |
claimant's response to notice under rule 15.10, where defence is that money claimed has been paid;
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(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;
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(l) |
notice of change of solicitor.
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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.
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2.4 |
Nothing in this practice direction requires any person to accept service of a document by e-mail.
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Form and contents of e-mail
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3.1 |
The subject line of the e-mail must contain –
(2) |
the title of the claim (abbreviated if necessary);
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(3) |
the subject matter (e.g. defence); and
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(4) |
if the message relates to a hearing, the date and time of the hearing.
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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.
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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.
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3.4 |
Attachments must be in one of the following formats –
(a) |
Rich Text Format as (.rtf) files
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(b) |
Plain/Formatted Text as (.txt) files
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(c) |
Hypertext documents as (.htm) files
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(d) |
Microsoft Word viewer/reader (.doc) in Word97 format
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(e) |
Adobe Acrobat as (.pdf) minimum viewer version 4
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(f) |
Lotus Notes Web Access (.nsf).
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3.5 |
Attachments must not be more than 10 pages long in aggregate and the total e-mail must not exceed 2Mb.
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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.
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3.7 |
If a document sent by e-mail requires urgent attention, the sender should contact the court by telephone.
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Filing of documents by e-mail
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4.1 |
Where a party files a document by e-mail, he must not send a hard copy in addition.
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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.
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4.3 |
The time of receipt of an e-mail will be recorded.
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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.
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4.5 |
Where a time limit applies, it remains the responsibility of the party to ensure that the document is filed in time.
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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.
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Statement of truth in document filed by e-mail
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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.
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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.
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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
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(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.
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SECTION II - E-MAIL APPLICATIONS |
6.1 |
In this Section of this practice direction, where the context permits, ‘application’ includes an appeal.
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Applications which may be made by e-mail
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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;
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(2) |
applications for final orders by consent; and
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(3) |
in county court cases –
(a) |
appeal notices in respect of appeals from a district judge to a circuit judge; and
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(b) |
applications for directions and extensions of time in connection with such appeals.
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7.2 |
The conditions which must be satisfied are that –
(1) |
the application is filed by a legal representative on behalf of the applicant;
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(2) |
if the application is made on notice –
(a) |
all respondents to the application are acting by legal representatives; and
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(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
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(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.
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Form and contents of e-mail containing an application
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8.1 |
The subject line of the e-mail must contain –
(2) |
the title of the claim (abbreviated if necessary);
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(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.
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8.2 |
The message must –
(1) |
contain the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the sender;
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(2) |
give a brief description of the application in not more than 25 words;
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(3) |
state whether the application is being made on notice or without notice;
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(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
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(b) |
give the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the respondent's legal representative;
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(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
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(b) |
where necessary, that those documents have been signed, and by whom;
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(6) |
briefly describe each attachment to the e-mail; and
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(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.
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8.3 |
The attachments to the e-mail –
(1) |
must always include the application notice and a draft of the order sought; and
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(2) |
should, if possible, include copies of any documents already filed, to which the judge will need to refer when dealing with the application.
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8.4 |
In relation to appellant's notices, attention is drawn to paragraph 5.6 of the practice direction supplementing Part 52.
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8.5 |
Paragraphs 3.2 to 3.7 above apply.
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9.1 |
Paragraphs 4.1 to 4.6 above apply.
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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.
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Statements of truth in application notices and attached documents
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10.1 |
Paragraphs 5.1 to 5.3 above apply.
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How the court will deal with applications
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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.
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(i) Applications without notice, and applications for consent orders
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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.
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(ii) Applications on notice
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Courts to which Section I applies
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Date from which Section I applies
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Walsall County Court |
2 December 2002 |
Preston County Court and District Registry1 |
1 April 2003 |
Courts to which Section II applies
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Date from which Section II applies
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Preston County Court and District Registry2 |
1 April 2003 |
1
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Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol. 
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2
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Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol. 
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