The Directive of the President of the Supreme Court on Submitting, Sending, and Receiving Pleadings and Documents via the Electronic Filing System (the “Directive”) was published in the Royal Gazette on 4th May 2017 and has come into force on and from 5th May 2017.  The Announcement of the Office of the Judiciary for the implementation of the Directive (the “Announcement”) was issued and has become effective since 5th May 2017.

The Directive and the Announcement allow lawyers and litigants to file court pleadings and related documents with the court electronically via the E-filing system of the court.  Currently, the E-filing system of the court is permitted only for disputes over sales, leases, mortgages, pledges, guarantee contracts, loan contracts, hire-purchases, and credit card disputes.  In the first period of using this E-filing system, only lawyers are allowed to submitting, sending, and receiving pleadings and documents via the court e-filing system.  There may be a subsequent Directive of the President of the Supreme Court or Announcement of the Office of the Judiciary to allow the e-filing system for other types of disputes.

The Directive also allows required court fees and trial expenses to be paid online via credit card or debit card, bank transfer, or other method specified in the Announcement of the Office of the Judiciary.  This is to support and promote the e-payment system.

A lawyer or a litigant who would like to use the e-filing system of the court under the Directive and the Announcement must submit an application and get registered with the court. The registration must be renewed every 3 years.

A lawyer or a litigant who uses the e-filing system of the court will be notified of the issuance of a court order or notification of the status of the court proceedings by SMS or e-mail while details of the court order or notification are available in the online system where account log-in is needed.  Any order or notification of the court sent via online system is deemed to be known by the recipient once the period of 3 days from the date of sending the order or notification passes.

Currently, there are three courts which offer the e-filing system, i.e. the Civil Court (Bangkok), the Thon Buri Civil Court, and the South Bangkok Civil Court.  The implementation of the e-filing system of other courts will be announced later.