Does the Court Have the Authority to Serve Civil Documents via Email?

Pursuant to Article 173 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, the methods of service, delivery, and notification of procedural documents are stipulated as follows:

The service, delivery, and notification of procedural documents are carried out by the following methods:

- Direct service, delivery, notification; through postal services; or through a third party authorized to perform the service, delivery, notification.

- Service, delivery, notification by electronic means upon the request of the litigants or other participants in the proceedings in accordance with the laws on electronic transactions.

- Public posting.

- Notification via mass media.

- Service, delivery, notification by other means as stipulated in Chapter XXXVIII of this Code.

=> Thus, the service, delivery by electronic means must have the consent of the litigant. To perform this form of delivery, the Court must make a record acknowledging the consent of the litigant and the email address for delivery. The Court must also have a shared email address. The clerk takes pictures of the signed and sealed procedural documents and sends them to the litigant via email; upon receiving the delivered documents, the litigant must send a confirmation email back to the sender.

Sincerely!