# The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2016, Article 4: Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015


In rule 3.24 (Arraigning the defendant on the indictment)—
(a) after paragraph (4) insert—
“(5) In a case in which a magistrates’ court sends the defendant for trial, the Crown Court must take the defendant’s plea—
(a) not less than 2 weeks after the date on which that sending takes place, unless the parties otherwise agree; and
(b) not more than 16 weeks after that date, unless the court otherwise directs (either before or after that period expires).”; and
(b) in the first paragraph of the note to the rule, after ‘section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1967’ insert ‘, section 77 of the Senior Courts Act 1981’.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/120/article/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-amendment-rules-2016/article-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.