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The Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) is part of the system established by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts

Administrative Office of the United States Courts

The Administrative Office of the United States Courts is the administrative agency of the United States federal court system. It was established in 1939.The AO is the central support entity for the federal judicial branch...

 through the docketing and access systems of PACER

PACER (law)

PACER is an electronic public access service of United States federal court documents. The system is managed by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts...

 & CM/ECF

CM/ECF

CM/ECF is the case management and electronic case files system for most of the United States Federal Courts...

. PACER is a public-access system accessible by any person after registration and for a fee. CM/ECF is the Case Management/Electronic Court Filing system, available only to those admitted to a particular U.S. District or U.S. Court of Appeals. The NEF provides a record of service

Service of process

Service of process is the procedure employed to give legal notice to a person of a court or administrative body's exercise of its jurisdiction over that person so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal...

 of an electronically filed document by parties, or of service of the electronically filed orders and judgments of the courts, upon attorneys in the case and the court. For such parties, the NEF has replaced the traditional service via US Mail or other "paper" methods. (Figures 1, 2)

Sources of information

The central source for information regarding NEFs remains in CM/ECF

CM/ECF

CM/ECF is the case management and electronic case files system for most of the United States Federal Courts...

manuals.

For example, the most explicit definition of the power and effect of NEF in the Central District of California, one of the most populous in the U.S., including Los Angeles County, remained in the "Unofficial Manual" of CM/ECF as follows (Rev 07, 2008, page 13):

L. The Notice of Electronic Filing

The system will present you with a Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) screen and will also e-mail you a copy of the NEF. The Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) is your proof that the document has been E-Filed. You should print the screen to a piece of paper or a PDF (or both) before proceeding, because you will need to attach the NEF as the last page of the courtesy copy that you submit to the Court. The NEF includes a “document number” and a link. Be sure to note that document number, as you will need it if you need to e-mail a proposed order to the Court. The NEF also includes an “Electronic Document Stamp” which is a string of letters and numbers which Court staff can use to verify the authenticity of the NEF. The NEF also contains the path and file name of the document you uploaded and any attachments.

A more specific definition is found in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas
Administrative Policies and Procedures for Electronic Filing.

Section 2: Definitions and Related Requirements: (page 5)

h. Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) is an electronic notice automatically generated
by the Electronic Filing System at the time a document is docketed. The NEF
includes the time of filing and docketing, the name of the party and Filing User filing
the document, the type of document, the text of the docket entry, the name of the
party and Filing User receiving the notice. If a document is attached to the docket
entry, the NEF will contain a Hyperlink to the filed document allowing recipients to
retrieve the document.

Section 7: Consequences of Electronic Filing (page 11)

a. Electronic transmission of a document through the Electronic Filing System
constitutes the filing of the document pursuant to Rule 5(e), FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL
PROCEDURE, and Rule 49, FEDERAL RULES OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

b. The transmission of a NEF constitutes entry on the docket pursuant to Rules 58 and
79, FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, and Rules 49 and 55, FEDERAL RULES OF
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

Section 16: Notice of Court Orders and Judgments

a. Immediately upon entry of an order or judgment, the Clerk will transmit a NEF to
Filing Users. Transmission of the NEF constitutes the notice required by Rule 77(d),
FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, and Rule 49(c), FEDERAL RULES OF CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE. The Clerk will send paper copies of orders and judgments to non-Filing
Users.

The General Order 08-02 of the US District Court, Central District of California provided additional information, pertaining to the significance of the "electronic document stamp" in the process of entry:

IV. Electronic Filing. (page 17)

...

O. Certification of Electronic Documents. Pursuant to Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure 44(a)(1) and 44(c), the method of electronic certification described
herein is deemed proof of an official court record maintained by the Clerk of Court.
The NEF contains the date of electronic distribution and identification of the United
States District Court for the Central District of California as the sender. An
encrypted verification code appears in the electronic document stamp section of the
NEF. The electronic document stamp shall be used for the purpose of confirming
the authenticity of the transmission and associated document(s) with the Clerk of
Court, as necessary. When a document has been electronically filed into CMIECF,
the official record is the electronic recording of the document kept in the custody of
the Clerk of Court. The NEF provides certification that the associated document(s)
is a true and correct copy of the original filed with the court.

Although such information is derived from disparate US courts, it can be assumed to be universally applicable, since the basic platforms of PACER and CM/ECF were universally implemented in all US courts. However, significant variations are found in the manner in which the NEFs are employed. (Figures 2,3,4)

Significance

As documented, above, in the texts from the US District Courts in California and Texas, the NEF today serves in the form of a receipt for the original filer and as an electronic notice to the court and other parties of a filing on a case in the US courts. The listing of entries in the CM/ECF and PACER dockets is the official record and, in itself, necessarily indicative of entry of such records filed by or with the court.

The CM/ECF system includes a Document Verification Utility, which permits the user to plug in the case number, document number, and the "Electronic Document Stamp" from the NEF. The Utility then compares the current version of the document with the NEF's Electronic Document Stamp and verifies that the document, as it appears in the PACER docket was not altered. (Figures 5,6)

Criticism

The Notice of Electronic Filing has come under some criticism for not being a public document and therefore not available to non-participants in the related case. This has led some pro-se litigants and others to misinterpret what an NEF is and its significance.

Peer-reviewed presentation in the 16th World Criminology Congress (Kobe, Japan, 2011)provided examples of fraud on the court in the US District Court, Southern District of New York, under SEC v Bank of America Corporation (1:09-cv-06829) through the conduct of simulated litigation, where court records were unauthenticated.