Part III: ORIGINATING PROCESSES AND DOCUMENTS

(1) This Practice Direction applies to Originating Applications filed on or after 1 April 2022.

Forms for Originating Applications

(2) Where any legislation requires a party to file an Originating Application and the Form is not provided within the legislation, the Originating Application must be filed using either Form 15 (Originating Application) or Form 16 (Originating Application (without Notice)) of Appendix A2 to these Practice Directions.

(3) The parties in Form 15 of Appendix A2 to these Practice Directions shall be stated as “claimant” or “applicant” and “defendant” or “respondent” as the case may be.

(4) The party in Form 16 of Appendix A2 to these Practice Directions shall be stated as “claimant” or “applicant”, as the case may be.

Parties named in the title of the documents

(1) Where a party to any proceedings in the State Courts first files a document in such proceedings, he shall state his identification number, in parentheses, in the title of the document immediately below or after his name. Thereafter, all documents subsequently filed in the proceedings by any party shall include this identification number in the title of the documents in parentheses below or after the name of the party to which it applies.

Parties not named in the title of the documents

(2) Where a party to any proceedings in the State Courts first files a document in such proceedings, and the name of the party does not appear in the title of the document but does appear in the body of the document, then the identification number of the party should be stated, in parentheses, below or after the first appearance of his name in the document. Thereafter, all documents subsequently filed in the proceedings by any party shall include this identification number in parentheses immediately below or after the first appearance of the name of the party to which it applies in the subsequent document.

Documents filed by two or more parties

(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to documents which are filed by more than one party.

Identification numbers for non-parties

(4) If any person (living or dead), any entity or any property is in part or in whole the subject matter of any proceedings, or is affected by any proceedings, but is not a party thereto, and the name of such person, entity or property is to appear in the title of the documents filed in the proceedings, the party filing the first document in the proceedings must state the identification number of such person, entity or property in parentheses immediately below or after the name of the same. Thereafter, all documents subsequently filed in the proceedings by any party shall include this identification number in parentheses immediately below or after the name of the person, entity or property to which it applies. If the party filing the first document in the proceedings is unable, after reasonable enquiry, to discover the identification number of the person, entity or property, he may state immediately below or after the name of the same “(ID Unknown)”. All documents subsequently filed by any party shall then contain these words in parentheses below or after the name of this person, entity or property.

Special cases

(5) The following directions shall apply in addition to the directions contained in paragraphs (1) to (4):

(a) where a party is represented by a litigation representative, paragraphs (1) to (3) shall apply to the litigation representative as if he were party to the proceedings and the identification numbers of the party and the litigation representative must be stated below or after the name of each, as appropriate;

(b) where parties are involved in any proceedings as the personal representatives of the estate of a deceased person, paragraphs (1) to (3) shall apply to the deceased person as if he were a party; and

(c) where more than one identification number applies to any party, person, entity or property, all the identification numbers shall be stated in any convenient order.

Identification numbers

(6) When entering the identification number in the Electronic Filing Service, the full identification number should be entered, including any letters or characters that appear in, at the beginning of, or at the end of the number. Descriptive text which is required to be entered into the actual document, such as “Japanese Identification Card No”, should not be entered into the electronic form.

Guidelines for the selection of identification numbers

(7) The following guidelines should be followed in deciding on the appropriate identification number.

(a) Natural person with Singapore identity card

For a natural person who is a Singapore citizen or permanent resident, the identification number shall be the number of the identity card issued under the National Registration Act 1965. The seven digit number as well as the letters at the front and end should be stated. For example: “(NRIC No. S1234567A)”.

(b) Natural person with FIN number

For a natural person, whether a Singapore citizen or permanent resident or not, who has not been issued with an identity card under the National Registration Act 1965, but has been assigned a FIN number under the Immigration Regulations , the identification number shall be the FIN number. The number should be preceded by the prefix “FIN No.”

(c) Natural person: birth certificate or passport number

For a natural person, whether a Singapore citizen or permanent resident or not, who has not been issued with an identity card under the National Registration Act 1965 or assigned a FIN number, the identification number shall be the birth certificate or passport number. The number should be preceded by either of the following, as appropriate, “(Issuing country) BC No.” or “(Issuing country) PP No.

(d) Natural person: other numbers

For a natural person who is not a Singapore citizen or permanent resident and has not been assigned a FIN number and does not have a birth certificate or passport number, the identification number shall be the number of any identification document he may possess. Both the number as well as some descriptive words which will enable the nature of the number given and the authority issuing the identification document to be ascertained, should be stated. For example: “Japanese Identification Card No.”

(e) Deceased person

For a deceased natural person, the identification number shall be as set out in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) above. However, if such numbers are not available, the identification number shall be the death registration number under the Registration of Births and Deaths Rules or the equivalent foreign provisions, where the death is registered abroad. The number as well as the following words should be stated: “(Country or place of registration of death) Death Reg. No.”

(f) Company registered under the Companies Act 1967

For a company registered under the Companies Act 1967, the identification number shall be the Unique Entity Number (UEN).

(g) Company registered outside Singapore

For a company registered outside Singapore which is not registered under the Companies Act 1967, the identification number shall be the registration number of the company in the country of registration.

(h) Business registered under the Business Names Registration Act 2014

For a body registered under the Business Names Registration Act 2014, the identification number shall be the UEN.

(i) Limited Liability Partnership registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005

For a limited liability partnership registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005, the identification number shall be the UEN.

(j) Other bodies and associations

For any other body or association, whether incorporated or otherwise, which does not fall within any of the descriptions in sub-paragraphs (f) to (i) above, the identification number shall be any unique number assigned to the body or association by any authority. Both the number as well as some descriptive words which will enable the nature of the number given and the authority assigning the number to be ascertained, should be stated. For example: “Singapore Trade Union Reg. No. 123 A”.

(k) No identification numbers exist

Where the appropriate identification numbers referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) to (j) above do not exist in respect of any party, person, entity or property, the following words should be stated immediately below or after the name of that party, person, entity or property concerned: “(No ID No. exists)”.

Inability to furnish identification number at the time of filing a document

(8) If a party who wishes to file a document is unable at the time of filing to furnish the necessary identification numbers required by this Practice Direction, the party may indicate “(ID Unknown)” at the time of filing. However, when the necessary identification numbers have been obtained, the party must furnish the necessary identification numbers to the Registry through the Electronic Filing Service.

Identifying party whose name is unknown, under r 67 of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Protection from Harassment) Rules 2021

(9) If a party who wishes to file a document is unable at the time of filing to identify a party by name, and wishes instead to identify the party by:

(a) an internet location address or website associated with that person, then the internet location address or website should be in the form of a Uniform Resource Locator (“URL”). In particular:

(i) The URL should not be a dynamic URL (in such a case, the filing party should identify the respondent in a different way).

(ii) The URL must contain the appropriate scheme (eg, “http://”, “https://” or “ftp://”);

(iii) The URL should contain the shortest possible path required to uniquely identify the intended respondent(s).

(iv) A host or domain name should be used in preference to an Internet Protocol Address.

(b) a username, account or other unique identifier used by or associated with that person, then the naming convention should be as follows: [Service] account [Username]. In particular:

(i) The internet service should be described accurately but as succinctly as possible. In the case of social media/messengers, the short name of the service should be used. In the case of online forums, the top-level domain name should be used.

(ii) The username must uniquely identify the party. It is not necessarily the person’s display name (eg, “John Doe”).

Eg:

Instagram account john.doe.67890 https://ubuntuforums.org/ account john.doe.67890

(c) a phone number (including a phone-based messaging service (eg, WhatsApp)), then the naming convention should be as follows: [Type of Number] number [Phone Number]:

(i) The Type of Number should be either “Mobile” or “Phone”. If the applicant is in doubt, use “Phone”.

(ii) In the case of a Singapore number, the phone number should contain eight digits, with a space after the first four digits. In any other case, the phone number may contain spaces between every two, three or four digits, in accordance with any common convention for writing a phone number of that country. Do not use hyphens or dashes.

(iii) For a non-Singapore number, the country code must be indicated in parentheses, with a space thereafter.

(10) An applicant must have made reasonable attempts at identifying a party by name before identifying a party by an internet location address, username, account or unique identifier.

(11) The applicant must, in the supporting document(s) or supporting affidavit filed with the claim or originating application (as the case may be):

(a) demonstrate the steps taken to identify the other party by name (eg, searches);

(b) demonstrate why such steps were reasonable; and

(c) exhibit proof of the internet location address or internet service (as the case may be), and proof of the relevant identifier.

Meaning of document

(12) For avoidance of doubt, the words “document” and “documents” when used in this Practice Direction include all originating processes filed in the State Courts regardless of whether they are governed by the Rules of Court 2021 or not.

Non-compliance

(13) Any document which does not comply with this Practice Direction may be rejected for filing by the Registry.

(1) All originating processes and summonses filed in civil matters in the State Courts on or after 1 April 2022 shall bear case numbers in the following Format:

Description of Court / Type of Application [Case number] / Year filed