Filing of written submissions during the COVID-19 crisis

Since mid-March most of the international organisations under the Tribunal’s jurisdiction have introduced mandatory teleworking for their staff. The Registry’s staff have also been teleworking since 16 March 2020. Moreover, the international postal service has been affected by limits on transportation means. Consequently, the filing of written submissions by post has become difficult.

While the Tribunal continues to receive submissions filed by post, in particular from within Switzerland, it has decided to introduce provisionally an alternative method for filing written submissions. To facilitate the filing of submissions, and to support the measures aimed at encouraging people to stay at home and avoid outside contacts, the Tribunal is also accepting electronic versions of written submissions filed by email. The date of filing is the date on which the electronic version is received by the Tribunal. The Registry will normally request the hard copies later once it returns to the normal way of functioning. In the meantime, the electronic versions of submissions are forwarded by email to the other party to allow the written procedure to proceed.

This alternative procedure has been successfully implemented since 16 March 2020 and will continue until further notice.

For further information, please contact the Registry at trib@ilo.org.