Queensland Courts now accepting electronic signatures on some court documents

Following continued advocacy from QLS, Queensland Court registries now accept any hard copy UCPR document for filing (except where it is a sworn document) that has a wet, stamped or electronic signature of the applicant or the applicant’s lawyer/law firm.

An electronic signature includes pasting a digitised image of a person’s/law firm’s signature or using e-signing software to sign a document and then printing this document in hard copy for the purpose of filing in a court registry.

Members are to note that the provisions in the Justice Legislation (COVID-19 Emergency Response—Documents and Oaths) Regulation 2020 will apply in respect of signing and witnessing affidavits until the expiry of the regulation on 31 December 2020, despite registries not generally accepting these documents unless they bear wet-ink signatures.

This article was published on the QLS website in June 2020.