Emailing A Link Is Not Enough: Court Clarifies Service Requirements Under WA SOPA

The Court of Appeal of the NSW Supreme Court has found that emailing a link to documents stored in an online repository did not constitute valid service under the Building and Construction Industry (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA), and that strict compliance with the Act’s one-business-day service requirement was necessary to establish jurisdiction.

The decision turned largely on the statutory interpretation of the Act, pursuant to cross-vesting legislation. Although the decision concerns a Perth-based development and WA legislation, it may influence decisions in other jurisdictions in relation to the service of electronic documents by email.

The decision may also lead to amendments to similar statutes across Australia to clarify whether emailing links to documents, rather than the documents themselves, constitutes valid service.