Guidance: Service of documents and taking of evidence

Overview

Enquiries about serving documents overseas should be directed to the Foreign Process Section (FPS) at the Royal Courts of Justice. FPS will advise whether your documents need to be submitted via our diplomatic channels.

Service of process

Contact details for FPS

If you need to serve documents through our diplomatic channels, then you must pay a Consular Fee to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) for this service. The fee is £150. Please telephone the Service of Process payment line on 020 7008 4126 to make payment by credit or debit card.

How your documents are processed overseas

Once you have paid the consular fee, you will need to contact the Foreign Process Section who will advise you on how to submit the documents to them for service of process.

Once FPS has received and processed your documents, they will be forwarded to the FCDO in London. Please allow 10 working days for the FCDO to process your documents. The documents will then be sent to the relevant British Embassy/High Commission overseas. You should allow at least two weeks travel time for this to happen.

When the British embassy or high commission receives the documents, they will be passed to the host country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You should allow 10 working days for this to happen. The host country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will arrange for service locally.

After the documents have been passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the process is out of our hands. We cannot influence how quickly or whether the documents are served. We regret that we are not resourced to chase updates on your case.

What you should do in the documents process from abroad

• check with the Foreign Process Section first to establish how your documents can be served
• each country has different requirements, so please contact the Foreign Process Section for details on the country you wish to serve in
• provide 2 x identical duplicate sets of documents. Ensure that both sets of documents are identical otherwise they will be returned to you
• check with FPS whether you need to provide translated copies of your documents. If yes, provide 2 x identical duplicate sets of translations of the documents if necessary
• provide full and complete addresses for the documents to be served. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs often return documents marked ‘unable to serve due to an incomplete address’, eg addresses with PO Box numbers
• criminal cases are dealt with by the Home Office

Taking of evidence in a UK Court

Documentary evidence

Enquiries about taking of evidence overseas should be directed to the FPS at the Royal Courts of Justice. See contact details above. FPS will advise if your documents need to be submitted via our diplomatic channels.

If the documents are to be sent through diplomatic channels, you must pay a Consular Fee to the FCDO for this service. The fee is £150. Please telephone the Service of Process payment line on 020 7008 4126 to make payment by credit or debit card. We do not accept any other form of payment.

What you should do in the documentary evidence process

• once you have paid the FCDO Consular fee, you will need to contact the Foreign Process Section who will advise you on how to submit the documents to them for taking of evidence
• once FPS has received and processed your documents, they will be forwarded to the FCDO in London. Please allow 10 working days for the FCDO to process your documents. The documents will then be sent to the relevant British Embassy/High Commission overseas. You should allow at least two weeks travel time for this to happen
• when the British Embassy/High Commission receives the documents, they will be passed to the host country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You should allow 10 working days for this to happen. The host country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will arrange for the evidence to be taken and recorded
• after the documents have been passed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the process is out of our hands. We cannot influence how quickly the evidence will be taken and recorded. We regret that we are not resourced to chase updates on your case

Evidence via video link

Witnesses or appellants who are abroad may wish to give evidence to Administrative Tribunals, such as Immigration and Asylum appeals or Tax appeals, and may want to submit evidence by video link. If you have an enquiry about this, email TOE.Enquiries@fco.gov.uk.

Your enquiry may need to be sent to an Embassy or High Commission for guidance, and this can take time. You should contact us about video link enquiries before arranging hearing or court dates. If the hearing date has already been set, you should aim to make the enquiry a minimum of 8 weeks before the hearing date.

You need to provide the following information:

• the tribunal that you wish to give evidence to
• the country(ies) from which you wish to give this evidence

If the FCDO does not hold on file the information you are requesting, you will need to pay a fee. Currently the fee is £150. After reviewing your request, the FCDO will advise if you need to pay the fee.

For information about giving evidence via video link for criminal cases, read the Home Office guidance on mutual legal assistance.

Service of documents to and from other countries, and requests for taking evidence in and from other countries, are governed by:

Each country has different requirements, so please contact the Foreign Process Section for details.

Other useful links

European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters

FCDO contact details for service of documents and taking of evidence

Source