{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-amendment-no-2-rules-2026/rule-8",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-amendment-no-2-rules-2026/rule-8.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2026/721",
  "legislation_title": "The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2026",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-amendment-no-2-rules-2026",
  "path": "rule/8",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "8",
  "heading": "Amendment of Part 7",
  "text": "In Part 7 (starting a prosecution in a magistrates’ court), in rule 7.2 (application for summons, etc.)—\n(a) for paragraph (14) substitute—\n“(14) The court must not issue a summons or warrant if that would be incompatible with a statutory provision or other rule of law.”;\n(b) in the note to the rule, after the second paragraph insert—\n“Where all the relevant statutory requirements for the issue of a summons or warrant are met, including any time limit, the court may nonetheless have to refuse to issue it in circumstances established in case law. Those circumstances include any case in which (but this is not an exhaustive list)—\n(a) the prosecutor asserts facts incapable of proof in a criminal court as a matter of law;\n(b) the defendant has immunity from prosecution for the conduct alleged;\n(c) though made within the statutory time limit applicable, the application is nonetheless delayed for an unconscionable period of time;\n(d) the prosecutor fails to disclose all the information that is material to what the court must decide;\n(e) the same defendant has been acquitted or convicted for substantially the same conduct;\n(f) a court has previously determined an application by the same prosecutor which alleged the same or substantially the same offence against the same defendant on the same or substantially the same asserted facts;\n(g) the same defendant is being, or has been, prosecuted by another prosecutor for substantially the same conduct;\n(h) the prosecution would constitute an assertion that the decision of another court or authority was wrong where that decision has been, or could have been, or could be, questioned in other proceedings or by other lawful means;\n(i) the prosecutor has—\n(i) reached a binding agreement with the defendant not to prosecute, or\n(ii) made representations that no prosecution would be brought, on which the defendant has acted to the defendant’s detriment;\n(j) the prosecutor’s dominant motive would render the prosecution an abuse of the process of the court; or\n(k) the application is in any other respect improper or vexatious.”.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/721/rule/8",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T20:58:54.640429+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}