                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ELECTRONIC FILING IN CIVIL OR CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS (§ 17.1-258.3)

Any clerk of circuit court may establish and operate a system for electronic
filing in civil or criminal proceedings that shall be governed by the Rules of
Supreme Court of Virginia. The circuit court clerk may require each person whom
the clerk authorizes to file documents electronically to provide proof of
identity to the clerk and to enter into an agreement specifying the electronic
filing procedures to be followed, including, but not limited to, security
procedures, as defined in the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (§ 59.1-479
et seq.), for transmitting signed or notarized documents. The clerk may charge
copy fees per page, as provided in subdivision A 8 of § 17.1-275, and obtain
reimbursement for fees paid by subscribers to its designated application service
providers for the technology systems used to operate electronic filing in civil
and criminal cases in the clerk&#8217;s office. The fees and reimbursements
collected shall be deposited by the clerk into the clerk&#8217;s nonreverting
local fund to be used to cover operational expenses as defined in § 17.1-295.
Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the clerk from entering into
agreements with designated application service providers to provide all or part
of the network or system for electronic filing of civil or criminal records as
provided herein. Further, nothing herein shall be construed to require the
electronic filing of any civil or criminal record, and such records may continue
to be filed in paper form.
		Any clerk of circuit court with an electronic filing system established in
accordance with the Rules of Supreme Court of Virginia may charge an additional
$5 fee for every civil case initially filed by paper, except that a person who
is determined to be indigent pursuant to § 19.2-159 shall be exempt from the
payment of such fee. The fee shall be paid to the clerk&#8217;s office and
deposited by the clerk into the clerk&#8217;s nonreverting local fund to be
exclusively used to cover the operational expenses as defined in § 17.1-295.

HISTORY: 2005, c. 744; 2008, cc. 823, 833; 2010, cc. 430, 717, 760; 2013, cc.
74, 77; 2014, c. 460; 2015, c. 317.