Guidance to the Notice of Filing
Usually, documents are lodged in a Registry electronically and a Notice of Filing page becomes the first page of that document: r 2.24 of the Federal Court Rules.
See an example of a Notice of Filing page
What does it mean for a document to be lodged?
Documents may be lodged by electronic communication in accordance with the Federal Court Rules: r 2.21(1).
The date on which a document is lodged is referred to in the first paragraph on the Notice of Filing page and appears as follows:
| NOTICE OF FILING This document was lodged electronically in the FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA (FCA) on #### AM AEST and has been accepted for filing under the Court's Rules. Details of filing follow and important additional information about these are set out below. |
The date on which a document is lodged is not necessarily the same as the date on which the document is accepted for filing or the filing date of the document.
What does it mean for a document to be filed electronically?
A document will be filed if it is lodged by electronic means and it has been accepted for filing by being stamped as 'filed': Federal Court Rules r 2.25(1).
The convention is that a document is "stamped as 'filed" when the seal of the Court is affixed to the document.
The date on which the Registry accepts a document as 'filed' is the date which appears immediately below the seal of the Court as follows:
It is the fact and not the date of acceptance of the filing of a document by the Registry which is important: Federal Court Rules r 2.25(1).
Importantly, the filing date does not appear on the Notice of Filing page.
The date on which a document is taken to be filed has to be calculated under the Rules and depends on the method by which the document was lodged: Federal Court Rules r 2.25(2)-(3).
If a document is faxed or sent by electronic communication, the document, if accepted by a Registry, is taken to be filed on the day received if the document is received before 4:30pm on a business day for that Registry. If received after 4:30 pm on a business day or at any time on a non-business day, then the document is taken to be filed on the next business day.
At July 2022
