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  PRACTICE DIRECTION COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS BY E-MAIL
  THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION SUPPLEMENTS RULE 5.5
 
  Contents of this Practice Direction
 
Scope   Para. 1.1
Communications and documents which may be sent by e-mail   Para. 2.1
Technical specifications of e-mail   Para. 3.1
Filing of documents by e-mail   Para. 4.1
Statement of truth in documents filed by e-mail   Para. 5.1

Scope
1.1   
This practice direction provides for parties to claims in specified courts to
(a)
communicate with the court by e-mail; and
(b)
file specified documents by e-mail.
 
1.2   
A specified court is a court or a court office which has published an e-mail address for the filing of documents on the court service website www.courtservice.gov.uk (the site).
 
1.3   
This practice direction does not allow communication with the court or the filing of documents by e-mail in proceedings to which the Civil Procedure Rules do not apply.

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[SECTION I – COMMUNICATION AND FILING OF DOCUMENTS]

Communications and documents which may be sent by e-mail
2.1   
Subject to paragraph 2.3, a party to a claim in a specified court may send a specified document to the court by e-mail.
 
2.2   
A specified document is a document listed on the site as a document that may be sent to or filed in that court by e-mail.
 
2.3   
A party must not use e-mail to take any step in a claim for which a fee is payable.
 
2.4   
If
(a)
a fee is payable on the filing of a particular document; and
(b)
a party purports to file that document by e-mail,
 
the court shall treat the document as not having been filed.
 
2.5   
Paragraphs 2.3 and 2.4 do not apply to applications issued at Preston County Court under the PREMA pilot scheme.

(Rule 6.2(1)(e) permits service by e-mail in accordance with the relevant practice direction. Paragraph 3 of the Practice Direction accompanying Part 6 sets out the circumstances in which a party may serve a document by e-mail)

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Technical specifications of e-mail
3.1   
The e-mail message must contain the name, telephone number and e-mail address of the sender and should be in plain text or rich text format rather than HTML.
 
3.2   
Correspondence and documents may be sent as either text in the body of the e-mail, or as attachments, except as mentioned in paragraph 3.3.
 
3.3   
Documents required to be in a practice form must be sent in that form as attachments.
 
3.4   
Court service forms may be downloaded from the site.
 
3.5   
Attachments must be sent in a format supported by the software used by the specified court to which it is sent. The format or formats which may be used in sending attachments to a particular specified court are listed on the site.
 
3.6   
An attachment which is sent to a specified court in a format not listed on the site as appropriate for that court will be treated as not having been received by the court.
 
3.7   
The length of attachments and total size of e-mail must not exceed the maximum which a particular specified court has indicated that it can accept. This information is listed on the site.

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Filing of documents by e-mail
4.1   
Where a party files a document by e-mail, he must not send a hard copy of that document to the court.
 
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 electronically on the e-mail as it is received.
 
4.4   
If an e-mail is received after 4 p.m
(a)
the e-mail will be treated as received; and
(b)
any documents attached to the e-mail will be treated as filed,
 
on the next day the court office is open.
 
4.5   
The party sending the e-mail is responsible for ensuring that a document attached to the e-mail is filed within any relevant time limits.
 
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.
 
4.7   
The court will normally reply by e-mail to any messages sent by e-mail.
 
4.8   
Parties are advised not to send by e-mail any correspondence or documents of a confidential or sensitive nature, as security cannot be guaranteed.
 
4.9   
If a document sent by e-mail requires urgent attention, the sender should contact the court by telephone.

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Statement of truth in documents filed by e-mail
5.1   
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 using the Part 8 procedure.
 
5.2   
Rule 22.1(6) requires a statement of truth to be signed. Where a party wishes to file a document containing a statement of truth by e-mail that party should retain the document containing the original signature and file with the court a version of the document satisfying one of the following requirements
(a)
the name of the person who has signed the statement of truth is typed underneath the statement;
(b)
the person who has signed the statement of truth has applied a facsimile of his signature to the statement in the document by mechanical means; or
(c)
the document that is filed is a scanned version of the document containing the original signature to the statement of truth.

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[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 Registry][1 April 2003][Courts to which Section II applies][Date from which Section II applies][Preston County Court and District Registry][1 April 2003] [Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol.][Until 1 April 2003 the Preston e-mail pilot (PREMA) will continue to operate in accordance with the existing protocol.]