# Administration of Justice Act 1973, Section 18: Payment of interpreters in criminal cases (Northern Ireland).

Extent: E+W+N.I.

(1) In the Costs in Criminal Cases Act (Northern Ireland) 1968, after section 5 thereof, there shall be inserted the following section—
“ Fees of required interpreter.
5A Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, where in any criminal proceedings an interpreter is required because of a defendant’s lack of English, the expenses properly incurred on his employment shall, in accordance with rules made pursuant to section 7, be defrayed by the Ministry.”
(2) Where in any of the following proceedings, that is to say,—
(a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(b) any proceedings before . . . the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland in a criminal cause or matter;
(c) any proceedings on an appeal to the Court of Judicature from a decision in proceedings within . . . (b) above or an application for leave to appeal from such a decision;
an interpreter is required because of a defendant’s lack of English, the expenses properly incurred on his employment shall be defrayed by the Department of Justice, up to an amount allowed by the High Court or (in the case of proceedings in the Court of Judicature) by the Court of Judicature.
In this subsection “defendant” means the person (whether convicted or not) who is alleged to be guilty of an offence.
(3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1973/15/section/18 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/administration-of-justice-act-1973/section-18
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.