Short answer. No. Service by electronic means or facsimile is only valid if the party being served consents to that mode; absent consent, or an agreement between the parties, or a court directive, you cannot substitute email or fax for the usual modes of service.
What the law says
Service by electronic means and facsimile shall be made if the party concerned consents to such modes of service. Service by electronic means shall be made by sending an e-mail to the party 's or counsel 's electronic mail address, or through other electronic means of transmission as the parties may agree on, or upon direction of the court.
Rule 13, Section 9 — Service by electronic means and facsimile. Read the full provision →
Consent is the gatekeeper
The rule opens with a plain condition: service by electronic means and facsimile is made only if the party concerned consents to it. That single word — consents — is doing all the work in this provision. A party cannot unilaterally decide to serve pleadings by email or fax and expect it to count as valid, no matter how convenient it would be for the serving party, unless the receiving party has actually agreed to be served that way in the first place.
What counts as electronic service once consent exists
Once consent is present, electronic service is carried out by sending an e-mail to the party's or counsel's electronic mail address, or through some other electronic means of transmission the parties themselves have agreed on, or as the court may direct. Facsimile service works the same way, sent to the party's or counsel's given facsimile number, again resting on the same underlying requirement that the receiving party has consented to that mode of service.
Three separate sources of authorization
Notice that consent is not the only path named in the text: the parties may also agree between themselves on a different electronic means of transmission, or the court may direct that a particular electronic mode be used instead. In practice this means electronic or fax service can be authorized in three ways — by the receiving party's consent, by mutual party agreement, or by a court order — but never simply by the serving party's own unilateral choice to send by email.
Practical takeaway
If a party has never consented to electronic service, and no agreement between the parties or court order says otherwise, sending a pleading only by email or fax does not satisfy this rule, and the serving party should fall back on personal service or registered mail to be safe and to avoid any later challenge to the validity of that service.
Related provisions
- Rule 13, Section 9 — Service by electronic means and facsimile
- Rule 13, Section 8 — Substituted service
- Rule 13, Section 10 — Presumptive service