Part 3: Electronic Filing and Service

31. Application

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

33. Appointment of agent to establish service bureau

34. Registered users and authorised users

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

36. Certificate of Service

37. Form of documents

38. Pagination of documents

39. Filing documents through service bureau

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

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

42. Documents which cannot be converted into an electronic format

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

44. Documents used for urgent hearing

45. Hard copies of documents

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

31. Application

(1) The directions in this Part apply to the filing, service, delivery and conveyance of documents in civil proceedings under Order 28 of the Rules of Court 2021.

(2) Where the words and phrases set out in Order 28, Rule 1 of the Rules of Court 2021 are used in this Part, they have the same meaning as defined in Order 28, Rule 1 of the Rules of Court 2021, unless otherwise specified.

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

In exercise of the powers conferred by Order 28, Rules 2 and 3 of the Rules of Court 2021, the Registrar, with the approval of the Chief Justice, has established an Electronic Filing Service known as the Integrated Electronic Litigation System or eLitigation and accessible at https://www.elitigation.sg and has appointed CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd as the Electronic Filing Service provider.

33. Appointment of agent to establish service bureau

Pursuant to Order 28, Rule 5 of the Rules of Court 2021, 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.

(1) For the purposes of Order 28 of the Rules of Court 2021, the identification code of an authorised user is the authorised user’s SingPass ID.

(2) For the purposes of Order 28, Rule 6(1) of the Rules of Court 2021, an application to the Registrar to be a registered user is to be made using Form B3 of Appendix B of these Practice Directions. For the purposes of Order 28, Rule 6(2) of the Rules of Court 2021, a registered user may designate one or more authorised users by nominating at least 1 authorised user in Form B3 of Appendix B of these Practice Directions. In either case, Form B3 must be accompanied by the following:

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

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

(c) 2 sets of GIRO application forms for the electronic payment of filing and hearing fees, and electronic filing and other charges.

34. Registered users and authorised use

(1) For the purposes of Order 28 of the Rules of Court 2021, the identification code of an authorised user is the authorised user’s SingPass ID.

(2) For the purposes of Order 28, Rule 6(1) of the Rules of Court 2021, an application to the Registrar to be a registered user is to be made using Form B3 of Appendix B of these Practice Directions. For the purposes of Order 28, Rule 6(2) of the Rules of Court 2021, a registered user may designate one or more authorised users by nominating at least 1 authorised user in Form B3 of Appendix B of these Practice Directions. In either case, Form B3 must be accompanied by the following:

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

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

(c) 2 sets of GIRO application forms for the electronic payment of filing and hearing fees, and electronic filing and other charges.

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

(1) Pursuant to Order 28, Rules 2 and 8 of the Rules of Court 2021, 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 4 of these Practice Directions and the Criminal Procedure Code (Electronic Filing and Service for Supreme Court) Rules 2022) must be so filed, served, delivered or otherwise conveyed using the Electronic Filing Service.

(2) Documents which are filed pursuant to Order 9, Rule 25(9) of the Rules of Court 2021 may, in addition to being filed through the Electronic Filing Service, be filed in accordance with the procedure outlined in paragraph 102(5) to (6).

36. 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.

37. Form of documents

(1) Unless otherwise provided for in these Practice Directions or directed by the Court, it is 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 frontend 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 Registry and the fee payable is stipulated in the Fourth Schedule to the Rules of Court 2021.

(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 43(2).

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. The attention of solicitors is drawn to paragraphs 78(1)(d) and 80(3) in this regard. This is to facilitate hearings involving reference to both hard and soft copies of the same document.

38. 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. The attention of solicitors is drawn to paragraphs 78(1)(d) and 80(3) in this regard. This is to facilitate hearings involving reference to both hard and soft copies of the same document.

39. 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. A party who is 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 website at https://www.elitigation.sg.

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

Pursuant to Order 28, Rule 17(5) and (6) of the Rules of Court 2021, the Registrar of the Supreme Court 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.

41. 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 online through both the Electronic Filing Service and the service bureau.

(3) The resolution for scanning of documents, unless otherwise directed by the Court, must 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 or she 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.

42. 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 Registry.

(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 converted into an electronic format, the document may be rejected.

43. 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 the Fourth Schedule to the Rules of Court 2021. In this regard, the attention of solicitors is also drawn to Order 28, Rule 16 of the Rules of Court 2021.

(2) In the event 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 28, Rule 10(6) of the Rules of Court 2021; and

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

44. Documents used for urgent hearing

Subject to the directions of the Court, solicitors may appear before the Judge or Registrar with hard copy 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 electronic case file.

45. Hard copies of documents

(1) The Registrar may, in the Registrar’s discretion, request hard copies of any documents filed electronically.

(2) Upon such request, the filing party or that party’s solicitors must 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 are to be filed in hard copy instead of using the Electronic Filing Service for such period or periods as the Registrar thinks fit.

46. 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 solicitor’s employee or secretary, provided always that the solicitor is to personally satisfy himself or herself as to the accuracy and completeness of the information submitted to the Court, and will 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 originating claim, that at least 1 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 application, that either the relevant legislation under which the action is brought is provided or at least 1 nature of claim is selected that adequately represents the subject matter of the action.