New rules have been laid before Parliament which open the door
to documents to be filed or sent to courts in England and Wales by
fax or other electronic means, such as e-mail. However, a further
regulatory step will be required.
The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules of 2002 amend the Civil
Procedure Rules of 1998 and include a new rule which provides for a
“practice direction” to allow electronic filing. According to the
amended Rules,
“any such practice direction may:
provide that only particular categories of
documents may be filed or sent to the court by such means;
provide that particular provisions only
apply in specific courts; and
specify the requirements that must be
fulfilled for any document filed or sent to the court by such
means.”
