### Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Ordinance 《法院程序(電子科技)條例》

7. Chief Justice may designate e-system
The Chief Justice may designate an information system to facilitate the use of electronic technology—
(a) in relation to proceedings;
(b) for other court-related purposes; and
(c) without limiting paragraph (a) or (b), for the particular purposes set out in section 8.

8. Particular purposes for which e-system may be used
(1) An e-system may be used by a court—
(a) to create, issue, send or receive documents in electronic form in relation to a proceeding;
(b) to compile, record, store or otherwise process information or documents in electronic form relating to a proceeding; or
(c) to allow access to information or documents relating to a proceeding.
(2) An e-system may be used by a person—
(a) to send documents in electronic form to a court in relation to a proceeding; or
(b) to otherwise communicate in electronic form with a court before which a proceeding is being taken.
(3) An e-system may be used to make electronic payments.
(4) An e-system may be used for any other purpose specified by rules made under section 26(2)(c).
(5) In this section—
court (法院) includes—(a) a judge and a judicial officer; and
(b) a court office;

send (送交), in relation to a document, means file, lodge, give, notify, serve, deliver, submit, furnish or any other expression that signifies or suggests conveying the document.

9. Interpretation of Part 5
In this Part—
at the relevant time (在有關時間), in relation to an act done in electronic form or electronically for the purposes of this Part, means at the time of doing the act;
direction of a court (法院指示) means a direction given by a court, a judge or a judicial officer;
e-practice direction (電子實務指示) means a direction that—(a) is issued by the Chief Justice as to the practice and procedure of a court; and
(b) relates to the use of electronic technology under this Ordinance;

e-rules (電子規則) means rules made under section 26 or 27;
written law (成文法律) means an Ordinance or subsidiary legislation and includes any practice direction, except an e-practice direction, that provides for the practice and procedure of a court.

### Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Ordinance 《法院程序(電子科技)條例》

10. References to courts or e-Courts in relation to documents
In this Part, a reference to—
(a) a document created, issued or sent by a court or an e-Court includes a document created, issued or sent by a judge or a judicial officer or a court office;
(b) a document sent to a court or an e-Court includes a document sent to a judge or a judicial officer or a court office; and
(c) a document, file or record kept or maintained by a court or an e-Court includes a document, file or record kept or maintained by a court office.

11. Application of Part 5
(1) This Part applies only in relation to an e-proceeding.
(2) A proceeding is an e-proceeding—
(a) if—
(i) an implementation notice is published stating that the use of electronic technology has been implemented for all proceedings in an e-Court; and
(ii) the proceeding is in that e-Court;
(b) if—
(i) an implementation notice is published stating that the use of electronic technology has been implemented for a type or description of proceeding in an e-Court; and
(ii) the proceeding is in that e-Court and is of that type or description; or
(c) if—
(i) an implementation notice is published stating that the use of electronic technology has been implemented for a type or description of proceeding in an e-Court at a venue; and
(ii) the proceeding is in that e-Court at the venue and is of that type or description.

### Court Proceedings (Electronic Technology) Ordinance 《法院程序(電子科技)條例》

12. Application of provisions and directions for sending or serving documents in writing
(1) A provision in this Part that applies in relation to a provision of written law or a direction of a court that requires or permits a document sent by a court to be in writing applies whether the provision of written law or direction—
(a) uses “send”, “give”, “notify”, “serve”, “deliver” (including grammatical variations and cognate expressions) or any other expression that signifies conveying a document; or
(b) otherwise suggests the conveying of a document by a court.
(2) A provision in this Part that applies in relation to a provision of written law or a direction of a court that requires or permits a document sent to a court to be in writing applies whether the provision of written law or direction—
(a) uses “file”, “lodge”, “send”, “give”, “notify”, “serve”, “deliver”, “submit”, “furnish” (including grammatical variations and cognate expressions) or any other expression that signifies conveying a document; or
(b) otherwise suggests the conveying of a document to a court.
(3) A provision in this Part that applies in relation to a provision of written law or a direction of a court that requires or permits a document served by a person on another person to be in writing applies whether the provision of written law or direction—
(a) uses “serve”, “send”, “give”, “deliver”, “furnish” (including grammatical variations and cognate expressions) or any other expression that signifies service; or
(b) otherwise suggests the service of a document by a person on another person.

13. Documents created, issued or sent by courts
(1) This section applies in relation to a provision of written law or a direction of a court that—
(a) requires a document created, issued or sent by a court to be in writing; or
(b) permits a document created, issued or sent by a court to be in writing.
(2) In relation to an e-proceeding—
(a) for subsection (1)(a)—the requirement is met if—
(i) the document is created, issued or sent by an e-Court in electronic form by means of an e-system; and
(ii) at the relevant time it was reasonable to expect that the information in the document in electronic form would be accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference; and
(b) for subsection (1)(b)—the document may be created, issued or sent by an e-Court in electronic form if—
(i) it is created, issued or sent by means of an e-system; and
(ii) at the relevant time it was reasonable to expect that the information in the document in electronic form would be accessible so as to be usable for subsequent reference.