Serving legal documents across international borders

The information below provides a general overview of serving legal documents across international borders in civil and commercial cases.

For more detailed information, see our Serving foreign legal documents in Australia and Serving Australian legal documents overseas pages.

International agreements

Australia is party to several international agreements that make it easier to transmit legal documents internationally for service in civil and commercial cases. These agreements include:

• the 1965 Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters (the Hague Service Convention)
• the 1997 Agreement on Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters and Co-Operation in Arbitration between Australia and the Kingdom of Thailand
• the 1999 Treaty on Judicial Assistance in Civil and Commercial Matters between Australia and the Republic of Korea.

Many international agreements do not include a definition of what is ‘civil and commercial’. The term is generally considered to include legal disputes involving individuals, families and companies. In Australia, civil proceedings are often any cases that are not criminal. In some types of cases where the distinction is less clear, consider seeking legal advice.

Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand have an international agreement to streamline the process for managing and resolving civil and criminal cases, where elements of the legal proceedings span both countries.

This is sometimes called the ‘Trans-Tasman Proceedings Regime’ and is implemented in Australian under the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Act 2010 (Cth). New Zealand has an equivalent piece of legislation with many almost identical provisions.

Under the Trans-Tasman Proceedings Regime, legal documents that originate in an Australian or New Zealand court can be served in the other country in the same manner as a local document. If you are based in Australia or New Zealand and need to serve a legal document in the other country, consult the court in which your matter is being heard for further instructions.

Other ways to serve documents across international borders

Where Australia and another country are party to a treaty governing the service of documents across borders, typically a method under the treaty must be used.

If Australia and another country do not have a treaty in place dealing with the service of documents, it may still be possible to serve documents overseas using diplomatic or other official channels. Some countries may also allow the use of methods such as private process servers to serve documents in their territory.

Our role

The Private International Law (PIL) team within the Attorney-General's Department is Australia's Central Authority for the international agreements mentioned above.

This means we are responsible for processing requests coming into Australia made under treaties. These are requests from foreign countries, requesting the service of documents on people or organisations within Australia for civil or commercial cases overseas, made under a relevant treaty such as the Hague Service Convention.

We are not responsible for outgoing requests. These are requests made by Australian courts or private parties, who wish to have an Australian legal document served on a person or organisation located in another country. If you need to have an Australian legal document served overseas, you should contact the court handling your matter for advice on how to proceed.

We are only responsible for facilitating the transmission of requests for the service of documents in foreign civil or commercial legal cases. We cannot assist with or provide advice about any underlying legal proceedings. 
If you have received or been served with legal documents from a foreign country, consider obtaining independent legal advice, including in connection with the validity of service.

Other teams within our department have been designated as Central Authorities for different treaty frameworks:

• If you are looking for Australia’s Central Authority under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, visit our International Family Law page.
• If you are looking for looking for Australia’s Central Authority in international criminal cooperation, visit our International Crime Cooperation Central Authority page.

If you are looking for Australia’s Central Authority for a different treaty, consult the international organisation or treaty depository responsible for that treaty.

Serving documents on a foreign state

If you need to serve legal documents on a foreign state or state organ, particular rules apply. 

You should never attempt to serve documents yourself on a foreign embassy or consulate. Attempting to serve legal documents on an embassy or consulate may infringe diplomatic or consular inviolability.

In some situations, you might be able to transmit a request for service through a treaty such as the Hague Service Convention. In other situations, you may need to request service through diplomatic channels. Find out more on our Foreign state immunity page.