Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered ActsAfter section 55 of the Principal Act insert —
(1) Subject to subsection (2), if all parties to a proceeding consent, a court may order or direct a party to provide all documents in the party's possession or control which relate to the issues in the proceeding to any other party on the basis that privilege is not waived.
(2) The court may make an order or give a direction under subsection (1) if satisfied that—
(a) giving the receiving party access to the documents is not likely to give rise to any substantial prejudice to the party providing the documents; and
(b) the documents can be identified and located without unreasonable cost to the party providing the documents; and
(c) the documents are able to be identified by a general description or category.
(3) An order or direction under subsection (1) may—
(a) specify that the documents are to be provided—
(i) in a searchable electronic format, if practicable; or
(ii) in any other manner or format that the court considers appropriate; and
(b) include any other order or direction that the court thinks fit, including, but not limited to, any order or direction in relation to the maintenance of privilege claims.
(4) Subject to subsection (5), if an order is made or a direction is given under subsection (1), the party providing documents to which the order or direction applies, at that party's own expense, may exclude any privileged documents prior to providing the documents to the other party in accordance with the order or direction.
(5) A party who excludes any privileged documents in accordance with subsection (4) must provide to the other party a list of the documents for which privilege is claimed which specifies the grounds on which privilege is claimed.
(6) An order or a direction under subsection (1) may apply to documents whether or not those documents are required to be discovered in accordance with any rules of court.
(7) Nothing in this section limits any other power of a court under this Part or the rules of court.
(1) For the purpose of assisting a court to make any appropriate orders or directions in relation to discovery, the court may order or direct that a party provide to the court an affidavit of document management.
(2) An affidavit of document management may include the following—
(a) the volume, manner of arrangement or storage, type or location of discoverable documents;
(b) the party's processes of document management.
(3) An affidavit of document management is in addition to any affidavit of documents which may be required in any proceeding.
(1) A court may order that the deponent of an affidavit of document management be subject to oral examination in relation to the affidavit of document management.
(2) A court may order that an appropriate person (other than the deponent of an affidavit of document management) who is able to provide information in relation to the matters dealt with in the affidavit of document management be subject to oral examination in relation to those matters.
(3) An order under subsection (1) or (2) may—
(a) specify the time, place and manner of conducting the examination; and
(b) specify whether the oral examination is to be conducted by—
(i) the court; or
(ii) the court constituted by a judicial officer other than the judicial officer constituting the court that made the order; and
(c) specify who is to pay the costs of the oral examination in the first instance; and
(d) include any other orders or directions that the court considers appropriate.
(4) Nothing in this section limits section 57 or any other powers of a court in relation to oral examination.".