Guidelines to practitioners for filing criminal documents via email
The Criminal Procedure Rules 2012(external link) allows any document, other than a charging document, to be filed in court by sending it to the Registry’s address for filing. This means the Ministry allows practitioners to file criminal documents by email where possible.
When a document is filed via email there is no requirement to file an original in hard-copy form, unless:
- directed by the Registrar as allowed by the Rules, or
- any of the documents are sworn – the original of these documents must also be filed in hard-copy.
The date of filing for these documents, is the date that the email is received by the Registry. However, any email received after 4pm will be issued a filing date of the next working day.
In all other circumstances please only send documents for filing by email OR by post/in person, not both. This will help avoid duplication.
We ask that practitioners appreciate the volume of correspondence the Registry receives daily and follow the approach on the next page. This will help to ensure the integrity and accuracy of the case file and that emails get to the correct person for action.
The intention of this approach is to assist both practitioners and Ministry staff when dealing with criminal matters by email in advance of the digitisation of the process.
Approach to submitting documents for filing by email
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Email address
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Use the correct court centralised email address only (see list below this table).
Don’t copy the email to Ministry staff directly or to another centralised email as this duplicates the correspondence.
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Subject line
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Initial email – include the following details in the subject line:
· CRI number
· Defendant’s name
· Title of document
Example: CRI 2013-001-1234-Smith-Submission.
Note – individual courts may also have further guidelines on email subject lines for email management and triaging purposes, which we ask that you comply with.
Follow-up email – if you need to follow-up on a matter, please state “follow-up” or “second request” at the beginning of your subject line, followed by the original subject line. This will make it easier for registry staff to identify, and link to, your previous email.
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Body of email
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Include the type of event e.g. Sentencing, the Case Officer’s name (if known) and the date of next hearing.
If your email includes multiple questions, please present them clearly (for example, by numbering or separating them with blank lines). This will help to ensure the processing team responds to each specific question and reduce the number of follow-up emails.
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One email
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Send one email per case. This may include multiple documents for the one case.
One email helps to mitigate risks involved with multiple emails and ensure the integrity of the case file.
You are encouraged to file the document(s) at the court in person or by post if they cannot be sent in one email.
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Document limit
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If your document (all attachments combined) is longer than 50 pages, the Registrar may require you to provide a hard copy. In these instances, the document(s) won’t be added to the case file until the original/hard-copy has been received by the court.
It is the practitioner’s responsibility to ensure the original/hard-copy is provided to the Registry before the filing deadline.
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Date of filing
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The document(s) date of filing will be the date the email is received by the Registry. However, any email received after 4pm will be issued a filing date of the next working day.
Where a hard-copy has been requested by the Registry, the date of filing will be the date the email is received by the Registry. The hard-copy will be date stamped with this date when it is received.
If urgent – call the individual Case Officer or ask to be put through to the case management team via the call centre number (0800 268 787).
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Courts centralised email addresses
The following email addresses are for all documents other than Case Management Memorandums (CMMs) and Trial Callover Memorandum. For these documents, please use the centralised email addresses listed on the Ministry of Justice website(external link).