Part XIII: Electronic Filing and Service

100. Application

101. Establishment of Electronic Filing Service and appointment of electronic filing service provider

102. Appointment of agent to establish service bureau

103. Registered users and authorised users

104. Documents which must be filed, served, delivered or otherwise conveyed using the Electronic Filing Service

105. Certificate of Service

106. Form of documents

107. Pagination of documents

108. Filing documents through service bureau

109. Filing of documents to the Supreme Court through another service bureau

110. Limits on the size and number of documents submitted using the Electronic Filing Service

111. Documents which cannot be converted into an electronic format

112. Rejection of documents, back-dating and refund of penalty

113. Urgent hearing

114. Hard copies of documents

115. Responsibility for accuracy and completeness of information submitted using the Electronic Filing Service

100. Application

(1) The directions in this Part apply to the filing, service, delivery and conveyance of documents in civil proceedings under Order 63A of the Rules of Court.

(2) Where the words and phrases set out in Order 63A, Rule 1 are used in this Part, they shall have the same meaning as defined in Order 63A, Rule 1, unless otherwise specified.

101. Establishment of Electronic Filing Service and appointment of electronic filing service provider

In exercise of the powers conferred by Order 63A, Rules 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court, the Registrar, with the approval of the Chief Justice, hereby establishes an Electronic Filing Service known as the Integrated Electronic Litigation System or eLitigation and accessible at <www.elitigation.sg> and appoints CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd as the Electronic Filing Service provider for this service.

102. Appointment of agent to establish service bureau

Pursuant to Order 63A, Rule 4 of the Rules of Court, the Registrar has appointed CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd as an agent to establish a service bureau or service bureaux at such address or addresses in Singapore as may be deemed suitable.

103. Registered users and authorised users

(1) Under Order 63A of the Rules of Court, any entity may apply to be a registered user. For the purpose of Order 63A, the identification code of an authorised user shall be his or her SingPass ID.

(2) The following procedures shall apply to applications to become a registered user and for designating authorised users:

(a) The application to become a registered user must be made to the Registrar using Form 20 of Appendix A of these Practice Directions. In Form 20, the registered user must nominate at least one authorised user. Form 20 must be accompanied by the following:

(i) a recent business profile report from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of the registered user;

(ii) an application form including the subscriber agreement for subscription to the Electronic Filing Service; and

(iii) two sets of GIRO application forms for the electronic payment of filing and hearing fees, and electronic filing and other charges.

104. Documents which must be filed, served, delivered or otherwise conveyed using the Electronic Filing Service

(1) Pursuant to Order 63A, Rules 1 and 8 of the Rules of Court, the Registrar hereby specifies that all documents to be filed with, served on, delivered or otherwise conveyed to the Registrar in all proceedings other than criminal proceedings (which are governed by Part XIV of these Practice Directions and the Criminal Procedure Code (Electronic Filing and Service for Supreme Court) Regulations 2012 as in force immediately before 1 April 2022), subject to the exceptions which appear later in this paragraph, must be so filed, served, delivered or otherwise conveyed using the Electronic Filing Service.

(2) It shall not be necessary to use the Electronic Filing Service in respect of the following proceedings:

(a) any proceedings commenced by a writ of summons before March 2000, subject to the provisions in sub-paragraphs (c), (d), (e) and (f);

(b) any proceedings commenced by an originating summons before 18 December 2001;

(c) any proceedings for taxation commenced by a bill of costs, including proceedings resulting or arising from such proceedings, filed before 18 December 2001;

(d) any proceedings commenced by an originating summons or summons for interpleader relief, including proceedings resulting or arising from such proceedings, filed before 18 December 2001;

(e) any notices of appeal under Order 55D, including proceedings resulting or arising from such appeals, filed before 18 December 2001;

(f) any notices of appeal under Order 57, including proceedings resulting or arising from such appeals, filed before 18 December 2001;

(g) any proceedings commenced by a petition for the admission of advocates and solicitors filed before 18 December 2001;

(h) any proceedings for winding up of a company commenced by a petition filed before 28 May 2002;

(i) any proceedings commenced by an Admiralty writ in rem or in personam filed before 28 May 2002;

(j) any proceedings commenced by an originating motion filed before 28 May 2002;

(k) any proceedings commenced by an originating petition filed before 28 May 2002;

(l) any proceedings commenced by a petition of course filed before 28 May 2002;(m) any proceedings or applications under the Bankruptcy Act (Cap. 20, 2000 Rev. Ed.) or Bankruptcy Rules (Cap. 20, Rule 1) filed before 28 May 2002;

(n) any proceedings for a grant under Order 71, Rule 5 of the Rules of Court filed before 28 May 2002;

(o) any applications to deposit an instrument creating a power of attorney filed before 28 May 2002; and

(p) any proceedings commenced by a petition under Part X of the Women’s Charter (Cap. 353, 1997 Rev. Ed.) filed before 15 December 2003.

(3) Documents which are filed pursuant to Order 34, Rule 3A(1) may, instead of being filed through the Electronic Filing Service, be filed in accordance with the procedure outlined in paragraph 71(3) to (7).

(4) In respect of appeals under Order 55D, it shall not be necessary to file, serve, deliver or convey any document at the General Division using Electronic Filing Service if its filing, service, delivery or conveyance is not required under Order 55D.

105. Certificate of Service

Where documents are served using the Electronic Filing Service, a Certificate of Service will automatically be generated and stored in the electronic case file.

106. Form of documents

(1) It is also not necessary for documents that are electronically filed in Court to have a cover page or backing sheet.

(2) Parties are reminded that they must, at all times, ensure that the information stored in the front end system is up-to-date and free from errors as the same information will be reproduced in electronic forms that are generated by the Electronic Filing Service. Documents generated by the Electronic Filing Service containing outdated or wrong information will be rejected by the Legal Registry of the Supreme Court and the fee payable shall be that stipulated in Appendix B of the Rules of Court.

(3) In the event that the Electronic Filing Service fails to automatically generate the document information page, parties may undertake the procedure outlined in paragraph 112(2).

107. Pagination of documents

Every single page of a document must be paginated so that the pagination on the actual document corresponds with the pagination of the Portable Document Format (PDF) document in the electronic case file. Solicitors’ attention is drawn to paragraphs 57(5) and 59(3) in this regard. This is to facilitate hearings involving reference to both printed and soft copies of the same document.

108. Filing documents through service bureau

(1) Solicitors and law firms are encouraged to file documents through the Electronic Filing Service. However, in the event that certain documents cannot be filed through the Electronic Filing Service, solicitors and law firms may file documents through the service bureau. Litigants who are not legally represented may also file documents through the service bureau.

(2) The operating hours of the service bureau may be found on the eLitigation’s website at https://www.elitigation.sg.

109. Filing of documents to the Supreme Court through another service bureau

Pursuant to Order 63A, Rule 18(5) and (6) of the Rules of Court, the Registrar hereby prescribes that any service bureau established or authorised to be established by the Registrar of the State Courts or the Registrar of the Family Justice Courts may be used to assist in the filing, service, delivery or conveyance of documents pertaining to Supreme Court proceedings using the Electronic Filing Service in all cases and circumstances where the staff of that service bureau are able to provide such assistance.

110. Limits on the size and number of documents submitted using the Electronic Filing Service

(1) The following limits currently apply to the filing of documents using the Electronic Filing Service:

(a) the total number of documents in a single submission cannot exceed 99.

(b) The total number of pages in a single document cannot exceed 9,999.

(c) The size of a single transmission cannot exceed 500 mega-bytes.

(2) The limits described above will apply to filing both online through the Electronic Filing Service and the service bureau.

(3) The resolution for scanning, unless otherwise directed by the court, shall be no more than 300 DPI.

(4) In the event that any solicitor wishes to file documents which exceed the limits specified in sub-paragraph (1), he should inform the Registrar at least 14 days before the intended filing date. The solicitor will then be asked to attend before the Registrar for directions on how the documents should be filed.

111. Documents which cannot be converted into an electronic format

(1) If a document cannot be converted in whole or in part into an electronic format for any reason, the hard copy of the document must be filed at the Legal Registry of the Supreme Court.

(2) If the Court receives a document which the filing party says cannot be converted in whole or in part into an electronic format, and it can discern no good reason why the document cannot be wholly converted into an electronic format, the document may be rejected.

112. Rejection of documents, back-dating and refund of penalty

(1) Care must be taken to enter correct, complete and accurate information into the electronic form. If the information entered into the electronic form and the actual document differ, the document is likely to be rejected by the Court. If a document is rejected by the Court for any reason, a penalty may nonetheless be payable in respect of the document, as specified in Appendix B of the Rules of Court. In this regard, solicitors’ attention is also drawn to Order 63A, Rule 17 of the Rules of Court.

(2) In the event however that any document is rejected through no fault of the filing party, a solicitor may:

(a) re-file the document with a request that the date and time of filing or issuance, as the case may be, be back-dated to an earlier date and time, pursuant to Order 63A, Rule 10; and

(b) request for a refund by submitting the requisite electronic form through the Electronic Filing Service.

113. Urgent hearing

Subject to the directions of the Court, solicitors may appear before the Judge or Registrar with paper documents for an urgent hearing. The solicitors so appearing must give an undertaking to file all the documents used at the hearing using the Electronic Filing Service by the next working day after the hearing. Any document not filed using the Electronic Filing Service will not be included in the Court’s case file.

114. Hard copies of documents

(1) The Registrar may, at his discretion, request for hard copies of any documents filed electronically.

(2) Upon such request, the filing party or his solicitors shall furnish hard copies of the relevant documents at the venue specified by the Registrar:

(a) within the specified time frame; or

(b) within 24 hours of the request, if no time frame is specified.

(3) The Registrar may also direct that any documents shall be filed in hard copy instead of using the Electronic Filing Service for such period or periods as he in his discretion thinks fit.

115. Responsibility for accuracy and completeness of information submitted using the Electronic Filing Service

(1) The solicitor having the conduct of any cause or matter may delegate the task of filing originating processes and documents in Court to an assistant or a suitably experienced law clerk or secretary, provided always that the solicitor shall personally satisfy himself as to the accuracy and completeness of the information submitted to the Court, and shall personally bear responsibility for any errors or deficiencies.

(2) In particular, solicitors should ensure the following:

(a) that the title of the action generated using the Electronic Filing Service is accurate and correct;

(b) where an action is commenced by way of writ of summons, that at least one nature of claim is selected that adequately represents the subject matter of the action; and

(c) where an action is commenced by way of originating summons, that either the relevant legislation under which the action is brought is provided or at least one nature of claim is selected that adequately represents the subject matter of the action.