This guide provides information about how to get started with RedCrest, the Court’s efiling system.
Any reference to the “Chapter I Rules” in this guide is a reference to the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2015.
Any reference to the “Chapter VI Rules” in this guide is a reference to the Supreme Court (Criminal Procedure) Rules 2017.
Any reference to the “RedCrest Practice Note” in this guide is a reference to Practice Note SC GEN 19 - RedCrest Electronic Case Management System.
This guide should not be read in substitution for the Chapter I Rules, the Chapter VI Rules or any other rules governing the practices of the Supreme Court of Victoria.
For the avoidance of doubt, this guide does not impact upon, modify or override any time limit imposed by any statutory provision.
Filing documents
Any individual that has registered will have a username (email address the user registered with) and password and can file in RedCrest.
Each registered user agrees to the terms and conditions of use provided to them at the time of registration as a condition of being issued with a username and password.
The current terms and conditions of use provide that a registered user agrees to:
- Comply with any applicable rules of the Court and the RedCrest Practice Note as amended from time to time;
- Ensure that the issued username and password remain confidential, for the exclusive use of that registered user, or any person duly authorised to lodge on that user’s behalf;
- To comply with any condition or limitation of registration issued in relation to RedCrest;
- To protect and maintain the confidentiality of any parts of a Court file in RedCrest deemed “confidential”; and
- To pay court fees (if any) prescribed by the Supreme Court (Fees) Regulations 2018.
There are no fees for proceedings filed in the Criminal Division or for criminal proceedings in the Court of Appeal.
Efiling & office hours
Documents can get filled in RedCrest 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A Court Registry Officer will review all documents filed during office hours (9.30 am to 4 pm).
The Court will endeavour to accept all documents for filing as soon as possible. But documents submitted for filing may be subject to overnight review.
Documents submitted for filing are not always accepted.
Document time stamps
Generally, on being sealed, a document is taken to have been filed at the time and on the date it was first submitted in RedCrest for filing (see rule 28A.04(4) of the Chapter I Rules and rule 1A.03(5) of the Chapter VI Rules).
If a document has been rejected, a requisition raised and re-filed, it will generally continue to be marked with the time and date of the first submission of that document in RedCrest. However, exceptions may occur (see rules 28A.04, and specifically 28A.04(4) of the Chapter I Rules, and rule 1A.04 of the Chapter VI Rules).
Civil proceedings: Commercial Court, Common Law Division or Costs Court
All documents in any proceeding within the Commercial Court, Common Law Division or Costs Court which are required to be filed, must be eFiled, except for:
(a) any appeal book;
(b) any court book;
(c) any documents produced in answer to a subpoena or public examination; or
(d) for a Commercial Court Judge-managed matter, any document which is confidential between the parties.
Criminal proceedings: Criminal Division
All documents to be filed in a proceeding in the Criminal Division must be eFiled in RedCrest except for:
(a) indictments;
(b) trial exhibits;
(c) any documents relating to applications under the:
- Australian Crime Commission Act 2002 (Cth);
- Corrections Act 1986 (Vic);
- Crime (Assumed Identities) Act 2004 (Vic);
- Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission Act 2011 (Vic);
- Major Crime (Investigative Powers) Act 2004 (Vic);
- Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth);
- Surveillance Devices Act 1999 (Vic);
- Terrorism (Community Protection) Act 2003 (Vic);
- Witness Protection Act 1991 (Vic). Court of Appeal (“Civil and Criminal Appeals”)
All documents to be filed in a proceeding in the Court of Appeal must be eFiled in RedCrest except for:
- civil application/appeal books (to be filed in hardcopy and electronically on a USB);
- civil combined folders of authorities (to be filed in hardcopy and electronically on a USB);
- where a party has been directed to file in a different way.
Practitioners are encouraged to contact the Court of Appeal Registry should they require clarification regarding sensitive documents, particularly where they were directed not to be filed electronically in the lower court.
With the exception of civil application/appeal books and civil combined folders of authorities in the Court of Appeal, hard copy documents are not required to be filed in addition to eFiled documents unless requested by a judicial officer or the Prothonotary or for some other process with the Court.
The usual court fees apply and are payable via RedCrest. Where fees are payable, you will only be charged for documents which are accepted for filing and sealed by the Prothonotary.
You will not be charged for any documents that are not sealed or that are rejected for filing.
See a full list of fees and charges.
PayPal will hold an authorisation while your filing is pending. Payment is not taken against the authorisation until the document is accepted.
If a document is rejected the authorisation will be released once the authorisation has lapsed. A request for a refund is not required to be made.
There will be no fees for eFiling in the Criminal Division or criminal proceedings in the Court of Appeal.
All documents eFiled in RedCrest will be sealed with the Court seal and the date and time of filing once they have been accepted for filing. Once sealed, documents will need to be served in the usual way as required by the relevant Court Rules.
Affidavits and exhibits are required to be filed together as a single, paginated document. Please see the example affidavit for guidance. An affidavit template and further information are also available.
All documents are required to be eFiled in a pdf format that supports optical character recognition (“OCR”) or is text searchable where possible, and cannot be larger than 24MB in size.
Where a document is larger than 24MB, it should be split into a series of attachments not greater than 24MB each and filed together as one document type (totalling 72MB) – those documents will merge into one upon acceptance for filing.
To check if your pdf file is text searchable, using the keyboard hold down the CTRL key and the letter F key. In the search area of the document, enter a word that exists in the document.
If the word is not found, then that file is not text searchable and is most likely an image.
OCR Text Recognition is a function that is available in some PDF applications, and is used to convert an image to a text searchable document.
All documents submitted for eFiling in RedCrest must comply with the requirements of all relevant legislation, including any Acts, Regulations and Rules of Court as may apply.
You should have particular regard to Order 28A of the Chapter I Rules and Order 1A of the Chapter VI Rules which set out the key rules for eFiling. This guide is not a substitution for any rules or legislation as may apply.
As well as ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation, please ensure that the requirements of all relevant Practice Notes have been satisfied where applicable.
This extends to and includes the necessity in certain instances to:
(a) ensure a specialist list is nominated in the heading of the proceeding upon initiation; and
(b) obtain pre-approval for return dates and ensure that those approved hearing details are fully completed in the submitted documents prior to eFiling.
Evidence of the pre-approval should also be attached.
The forms in current usage, prescribed or otherwise, continue to apply to all documents submitted for eFiling in RedCrest.
This user guide does not impact upon, modify or override any time limit imposed by any statutory provision.
Civil proceedings, including Court of Appeal civil proceedings
Parties should be aware that once eFiled in RedCrest, documents are available for inspection immediately by the other party to the proceeding in RedCrest.
Where eFiling material that is commercial-in-confidence or otherwise sensitive, parties should consider seeking an appropriate order of the Court in advance of filing pursuant to rule 28A.06 of the Chapter I Rules. Parties should seek advice from the appropriate Registry before eFiling any such material.
Rule 28.05 of the Chapter I Rules continues to set out the rules for inspection of documents in a proceeding that have been eFiled in RedCrest.
Criminal proceedings, including Court of Appeal criminal proceedings
Where eFiling material that is confidential or otherwise sensitive, parties should seek advice from the Criminal Registry or Court of Appeal Registry, as appropriate, before eFiling any such material.
The rules for inspection of documents in a proceeding that have been eFiled in RedCrest are set out in rules 1A.03(6) and (7) of the Chapter VI Rules. Rule 1.11(4) continues to set out the rules for inspection where the document is not required to be filed in RedCrest in accordance with Order 1A.
Urgent documents
All documents submitted for filing are subject to review. Processing times will vary depending upon the nature of the documents. Documents filed in the Trial Division are generally processed within a half a business day. If the document you file is required immediately due to an urgent hearing or before end of day please contact the relevant registry by phone immediately after filing it.
Civil proceedings
Applications that are urgent should be brought in accordance with the process set out in Practice Note SC CC 1 – Commercial Court for Commercial Court matters or Practice Note SC CL 10 – Practice Court (Common Law) Practice Court Procedures (Common Law) .
Criminal proceedings
If a document that you file is urgent, or is required for a hearing the following day, a note should be inserted into the ‘Filing Note’ field in RedCrest at the time of submitting the document for filing. You should also contact the Criminal Registry by phone during business hours immediately after filing.
Unless otherwise directed, documents should not be emailed to an associate or the Criminal Registry directly or filed in hard copy in court.
Where a document is directed by judges’ chambers to be emailed to the associate immediately before court or filed in hard copy in court, for example, an indictment or trial and plea exhibits, the associate will forward a copy to the Criminal Registry to be uploaded onto the Court’s efiling system.
Court of Appeal proceedings
If a document you file is urgent, or is required for a hearing the next day, a note should be inserted into the ‘Filing Note’ field in RedCrest when submitting the document for filing. You should also contact the Court of Appeal Registry by phone during business hours immediately after filing.
The registry is unable to remove documents filed in error without a direction from the Court. Please refer to the RedCrest Practice Note for details. Contact the relevant registry for further advice.
Subpoenas
Subpoenas are legal documents that compel an individual to attend the trial of the proceeding to give evidence or to produce documents for evidence in the case.
Civil proceedings
Subpoenas eFiled in Forms 42A, 42B, 42C and 42AA must contain a date for service and a date, time and place for production before being submitted.
The date for production and/or attendance relating to a Form 42A, 42B or 42C subpoena must be the first date of the trial [refer to rule 42.03(6) of the Chapter I Rules].
The date for production of documents relating to a Form 42AA subpoena must be at least five business days after the last date for service [see rule 42.03(8)(a) of the Chapter I Rules] (or 14 days, where the addressee is to be served outside of Victoria).
The nominated date for service and production must also fall on business days (that is, when the Office of the Court is open, see rule 3.01 of the Chapter I Rules].
Criminal proceedings
Subpoenas eFiled in Forms 6-1A, 6-1B and 6-1C must contain a date for service and a date, time and place of hearing before being submitted. The date for attendance must be the first date of trial [refer to rule 1.12 of the Chapter VI Rules and 42.03(6) of the Chapter I Rules].
The nominated date for service and production must also fall on business days (that is, when the Office of the Court is open, see rule 3.01 of the Chapter I Rules].
Multiple subpoenas filed in the Criminal Division should also be uploaded to RedCrest in one PDF document.
Service of Subpoenas
Once a subpoena has been accepted, a sealed copy of the Subpoena must be printed for service.
When service of a subpoena outside of Victoria is required, ensure that the Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 (Cth) (SEPA) Form 2 is attached to the document.
Short service of subpoenas
To eFile a subpoena using Form 42A, 42B or 42C (civil) or Form 6-1A, 6-1B or 6-1C (criminal) for production of documents and/or attendance at the trial of the proceeding, where less than 5 business days remain before the beginning of trial (or 14 days, where the addressee is to be served outside of Victoria), an order of a Judge abridging the time for service must be obtained before eFiling and subsequently attached to the eFiled document.
Please contact the Trial Judge’s Associate to arrange an order, or contact the relevant Registry for more information.
Inspecting subpoena (Civil)
As noted in section 1.5.3, documents produced in response to a subpoena cannot be eFiled. If a party has issued a subpoena using Form 42AA, that party must eFile an Affidavit of Service, using the Document Type ‘Subsequent Filing – Affidavit of Service of Subpoena’ [see rule 42A.04 of the Chapter I Rules.]
The requisite fees to inspect subpoenaed documents cannot be paid via RedCrest; payment must be made in person at the Prothonotary’s office on the day of your appointment for inspection.
Appointments to inspect subpoenaed documents may be made by phoning (03) 8600 2038 or by email to fhocbranf@fhcpbheg.ivp.tbi.nhua.vog.civ.truocpus@saneopbus .