# County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981, Rule 3: Lodging of certificate of readiness

Extent: N.I.

(1) In any proceedings commenced by civil bill in which a notice of intention to defend has been served the plaintiff shall, [subject to paragraph (1A) and] after the conclusion of all interlocutory matters, request the chief clerk to enter the proceedings for hearing by delivery to the chief clerk at his office of a certificate of readiness in Form 43 and shall, at the same time, cause to be served on the other party or parties to the proceedings a copy of the certificate of readiness.
[(1A) [ Subject to paragraph (1B),] a certificate of readiness may not be delivered to the chief clerk until the expiry of 21 days following the date of service of the notice of intention to defend.]
[(1B) The plaintiff must notify the defendant in writing of his intention to lodge the certificate of readiness no later than 14 days prior to lodging the certificate.]
(2) In any proceedings in which a notice of intention to defend has been served the chief clerk shall, if no certificate of readiness has been delivered to him within a period of 6 months immediately following the date of service of the notice of intention to defend, list the proceedings before the judge [) or district judge as the case may be] and notify the parties accordingly and the judge [ or district judge as the case may be] may issue such directions concerning the future conduct of any such proceedings as he considers appropriate [ including, in particular, an order that the proceedings be stayed or dismissed.]

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1981/225/part/8/rule/3 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/county-court-rules-northern-ireland-1981/part-8/rule-3
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.