The Thai Courts of Justice (COJ) Allows E-filing of Documents Via New System

In response to the Covid-19 crisis, effective from 24th March 2020 the COJ postponed all the witness hearings of the Court of First Instance scheduled for 24th March 2020 to 31st May 2020 to the end of the year or a later date which may be announced later, subject to certain exeptions such as hearings of a criminal case whereby the defendant pleaded guilty, evidence examination hearings of a criminal case whereby the defendant is under custody, estate administration cases, cases requesting court’s orders for a missing person or to be a guardian, cases requesting court’s permission to act for minors and other cases whereby the postponement of the hearings will cause damages to any of the parties of the case.

On 27th March 2020, the COJ also established the Case Information Online Service (CIOS) as an alternative to the existing e-filing system of the COJ.

Parties to the case or their lawyers can now file case documents online using the CIOS (except for the complaint, answer, appeal, petition, request or any other documents that are subject to official fees when filed). Parties or their lawyers can also file online using the CIOS the request for a copy of the court’s order and the closing brief.

The basic requirements for filing case documents through the CIOS are:

1. The parties or their lawyers must register themselves with the system through http://cios.coj.go.th and log into the CIOS before uploading copies of the case documents.
2. The documents to be uploaded must be in the JPEG or PDF format and they cannot be larger than 10 MB with a resolution of at least 200 dpi.
3. If any document which is required to be signed by a wet signature, e.g. a power of attorney and the lawyer appointment form, is filed via the CIOS, it will be deemed that the user has confirmed that its original is kept with the user.
4. The COJ official will verify each uploaded document before he/she sends a reference number to the user to confirm that its submission has been received. Any court order to be issued thereafter in relation to the uploaded document will be communicated to the user through the CIOS.
5. The document must be uploaded into the CIOS within 4:30 p.m. of the filing deadline. Otherwise, it will be deemed as being filed on the following working day and thus missing the deadline.