“Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 5, the date on which
a copy of the signed original of a pleading, including the schedule of
documents referred to in paragraph 4, is received at the Registry by telefax
or other technical means of communication available to the Court shall be
deemed to be the date of lodgment for the purposes of compliance with the
time-limits for taking steps in proceedings, provided that the signed original
of the pleading, accompanied by the annexes and copies referred to in the
second subparagraph of paragraph 1 above, is lodged at the Registry no
later than ten days thereafter.”
48.
From the above provisions, it is undisputable that pleadings can be
submitted to the Registry by telex and other technical means, including emails
and it will be deemed as validly filed at the Registry of the Court. Furthermore,
for the purposes of compliance with the time limits set by the Rules of Court,
the relevant date is that which indicates when the email containing the
pleadings was sent. The only other requirement is that for the email process
to be valid, the signed hard copies of the pleadings must be received at the
Registry within ten days after the email was sent.
49. In the instant case, the Respondent received the Initiating Application on
the 10th of February 2017 and sent their defence via email on the 10th of March
2017. The hard copies were received at the Registry on the 14th of March 2017,
six (6) days before the due date. From all indications, not only did the
Respondent file its Defence within the one-month time limit via email, it also
complied with the provision of the Rules requiring hard copies to be submitted
to the Registry within ten (10) days of sending the email.
50. In light of these considerations, the Court rules that the Respondent filed
its defence within the time limits stipulated by Article 35 of the Rules, and
therefore the objection of the Applicant to that effect is dismissed.
Issue 4- Whether the African Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights (The Charter) and the Universal Declaration of Human
Right (UDHR) are applicable to the Application;
16