Nevada Court Rules|Rule 5 - EFS and Conversion System Requirements

Any EFS or conversion system must conform to the following minimum requirements:

(a)Technical Requirements. A court must comply with any AOC technical standards concerning an EFS or conversion system that may be adopted. An EFS must support text searches wherever possible.

(b)Electronic Viewing. An EFS must presume that all users will view documents on their computer screens. Paper copies are to be available on demand, but their production will be exceptional, not routine.

(c)Document Format; Software.

(l) Electronic documents must be submitted in or converted to a nonproprietary format determined by the court that:

(A) can be rendered with high fidelity to originals;

(B) is easily accessible by the public; and

(C) is searchable and tagged when possible.

(2) The software necessary to read and capture electronic documents in the required formats must be available for free use and viewing at the courthouse, and available free or at a reasonable cost for remote access and printing.

(d)Data Accompanying Submitted Documents.

(1) Filers submitting documents for filing must include data needed to identify:

(A) the document submitted;

(B) the filing party; and

(C) sufficient additional data necessary for filing the document in the court's docket or register of actions.

(2) If a document initiates a new case, sufficient additional data must be included to create a new case in the case management system.

(3) This data may be specified with particularity by the court receiving the document.

(e)Identity of Users. A court or service provider must use some means to identify persons using an EFS.

(f)Integrity of Submitted and Filed Documents and Data. A court must maintain the integrity of submitted documents and data, and documents and data contained in official court records, by complying with current Federal Information Processing Standard 180-4 or its successor. Nothing in this rule prohibits a court or clerk from correcting docketing information errors, provided that a record of each change is maintained, including the date and time of the change and the person making the change.

(g)Electronic Acceptance of Payments. A court may establish a means to accept payments of fees, fines, surcharges, and other financial obligations electronically, including the processing of applications to waive fees. Any such system developed must include auditing controls consistent with generally accepted accounting principles and comply with any AOC technical standards that may be adopted.

(h) Surcharges. Mandatory use of an EFS should be publicly funded to eliminate the need to impose surcharges for filing of or access to electronic documents. A court may, however, impose such surcharges or use a service provider that imposes surcharges when sufficient public funding is not available. Such surcharges must be limited to recouping the marginal costs of supporting an EFS, if collected by the court, or to a reasonable amount, if collected by a service provider. Collection of surcharges by a service provider must be audited annually to ensure that the fee charged is reasonable and is properly assessed. The court must also require, at a minimum, a biennial periodic performance audit to assess the service provider's system regarding adequate service to the court, attorneys, and the public, including the accuracy and authenticity of data produced, stored, or transmitted by the service provider; the reliability of the hardware and software used by the service provider; the integrity and security of the service provider's system; the timeliness of access to documents and other data produced, stored, or transmitted by the service provider; and the service provider's compliance with Nevada law requiring the safeguarding of personal information. The audit may be performed by internal staff or by external experts.

(i)Court Control Over Court Documents.

(l) The official court record of electronic documents must be stored on hardware owned and controlled by the court system or other governmental entity providing information technology services to the court.

(2) Copies of a court's electronic documents may reside on hardware owned or controlled by an entity other than the court, if the court ensures, by contract or other agreement, that ownership of, and the exercise of dominion and control over, the documents remains with the court or clerk.

(3) All inquiries for court documents and information must be made against the current, complete, and accurate official court record.

(4) Court documents stored by an outside entity cannot be accessed or distributed absent written permission of the court.

(j)Special Needs of Certain Users. In developing and implementing an EFS, a court must consider the needs of indigent, self-represented, non-English-speaking, or illiterate persons and the challenges facing persons lacking access to or skills in the use of computers.

(k)Limiting Access to Specified Documents and Data. Any EFS and case and document management systems must contain the capability to restrict access to specific documents and data in accordance with the applicable statutes, rules, and court orders.

(1) System Security. Any EFS and case and document management systems must include adequate security features to ensure the integrity, accuracy, and availability of the information contained in those systems,

(l) The security features should include, at a minimum:

(A) document redundancy;

(B) authentication and authorization features;

(C) contingency and disaster recovery;

(D) system audit logs;

(E) secured system transmissions;

(F) privilege levels restricting the ability of users to create, modify, delete, print, or read documents and data;

(G) means to verify that a document purporting to be a court record is in fact identical to the official court record; and

(H) reliable and secure archival storage of electronic records in inactive or closed cases.

(2) System documentation should include:

(A) the production and maintenance of written policies and procedures;

(B) on-going testing and documentation as to the reliability of hardware and software;