Order 1 Rule 5A of the Federal Court Rules sets out the various methods by which documents can be filed:
The Federal Court eFiling system is accessible through this page eFiling
Authority Applications and other documents may be filed or lodged electronically with the Court in accordance with the Federal Court Rules. An application may consist of a form or forms accompanied by supporting documentation.
All documents sent electronically must be sent using the Court’s home page. All documents sent electronically must be capable of being printed with the content and in the form in which they were created. The sender must keep paper copies of all documents sent electronically.
A document or application is not accepted or filed with the Court until it is received, checked for completeness and accuracy and stamped by the Court. Documents received after 4:30 pm (local registry time) will not be considered to have been received until the start of business on the following working day.
A document is not accepted or filed simply because a filing fee has been paid or waived.
NB There may be delays between the time information is sent electronically and the time it is received
The forms which must be used in the Court are set out in the First Schedule of the Federal Court Rules, the Federal Court (Corporations Law) Rules 2000 and the Native Title (Federal Court) Regulations. Forms cannot be completed on-line. Forms need to be downloaded and saved on your computer or to disk and completed off-line.
All forms may be downloaded in PDF (Portable Document Format) and RTF (Rich Text Format) from the filing, forms and fees area of this site. Included are guides to completing the most commonly used forms, an alphabetical index to all forms, the types of documents or service for which forms are used and the fees (if any) incurred.
The Federal Court of Australia Regulations require a fee to be paid when certain documents are lodged or filed with the Court. In specific circumstances fees may be exempted or waived. An application form for an exemption or waiver of fees is provided on the fees page.
Documents to be filed or lodged electronically must be in Rich Text Format (RTF), Portable Document Format (PDF), Tagged Image Format (TIF), Graphical Information Format (GIF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPG) or .doc in any version of Microsoft Word.
Where a document must be signed, a facsimile of the signature may be affixed on the document by electronic means. Alternatively, an image of the signed document may be submitted. Access to a scanner will be required to convert documents to an image format such as TIF, GIF or JPG.
Affidavits may only be filed electronically by sending an image of the document in an appropriate format.
A single document filed with the Court (zipped or unzipped) may not be submitted for filing electronically if it is more than 100 pages when printed (including any annexure or attachment).
For Electronic Filing complex documents such as maps (where photo-reduction results in poor image quality or loss of scale) or images where colour is a critical component of the case (eg, in some intellectual property cases) may not be suitable for electronic filing.
Once a document is accepted and filed with the Court, the Registry will provide the person submitting the document with one stamped copy of the document to the address specified on the cover sheet (email, postal or held for collection).
Note that the documents are returned electronically in PDF format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader which is required to read PDF documents, the free plug in software can be downloaded from the Adobe website.
In most cases, you will need stamped copies of each document for service on the other party or parties.
If you have asked that documents be returned to an email address, you can print copies of the stamped documents for service.
If you have asked that documents be returned by facsimile transmission, you can make copies of the stamped documents for service.
If you have asked that documents be returned by post or be available for collection from the registry, you will need to specify the number of copies of each document you want the registry to make. The first copy is provided by the Court free of charge. Any additional copies are charged at $ 1.00 per page. In addition there is a $3 service fee.
Payment may only be made using the following credit cards: VISA or MasterCard.
The Court’s electronic filing facility uses encryption (SSL technology) to ensure personal details are secure. You must have Internet Explorer version 4.0 or above or Netscape Navigator version 4.0 or above to use this facility. If you need to download this software please click below.
In Finland since June 1993, the parties can file their answer writs as well as the applications for the Court’s service of summons electronically through the SANTRA system, which is an e-mail system built by the judicial department. In 1997, there were more than 50,000 cases filed through the Internet, which accounted for 40% of the whole simple civil matters (120,000). The Court will contact people who sent the e-mails if the judges reasonably suspect the reliability of the mailed documents. In the court of Pima Country, Tucson City, Arizona, USA, the plaintiff is allowed to submit the electronic filing after on-line payment. In Singapore since March 2000, it is compulsory to file documents electronically. The EFS enables the parties to file electronic documents and conducts the court proceedings to an electronic environment including receiving, processing, managing electronic case files . In Australia, the Victorian Magistrates Court permits filing the documents online using the ‘Court’s EDI service’ through which the law firms are allowed to issue legal process and file documents electronically. The Queensland Courts are planning to redevelop the CIMS (Civil Information Management System) with a browser based front-end, which will allow simple access over a Wide Area Network (WAN) . In the future, with the popularization of electronic documents, online prosecutions by e-mails or uploading to a specific database can be expected a wider range of use in civil matters, though initially they may be restricted to limited numbers and simple cases.