Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Rules)
These Rules amend the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015, S.I. 2015/1490, as follows:
| Rule | Amendment |
|---|---|
| Part 3 | Rule 3.1 is amended to include a reference to rule 3.27. Rule 3.21 is amended for consistency with section 5 of the Indictments Act 1915 (Orders for amendment of indictment, separate trial, and postponement of trial). |
| Part 5 | Rule 5.5 is amended to clarify the circumstances in which a person who transcribes a recording of proceedings in the Crown Court may not supply a transcript to a person requesting it. Rules 5.7 and 5.8 are amended to clarify their relationship with rule 5.5. |
| Part 7 | Rule 7.2 is amended to set out in detail the procedural requirements for an application to start a prosecution by summons or arrest warrant. Rules 7.3 and 7.4 are amended consequentially. |
| Part 13 | Rule 13.3 is amended for consistency with section 11 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 (Non-appearance of accused: general provisions), and in particular section 11(3A) which requires a defendant to be brought before the magistrates’ court after being sentenced in absence to imprisonment or detention before being taken to a prison or other institution. |
| Part 19 | Rule 19.4(e) is amended for consistency with section 127 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Expert evidence: preparatory work), and in particular to require an expert witness to identify only those persons upon whose preparatory work the expert bases an opinion or inference. |
| Part 22 | The rules in the current Part are replaced with new rules that include a clearer time limit for applying to introduce sexual behaviour evidence and which include explicit provision requiring directions for the treatment and questioning of a witness about whom such evidence is due to be introduced. |
| Part 23 | Rule 23.2 is amended to specify the information and material that must be supplied to an advocate who is appointed by the court to cross-examine a witness where the defendant is prohibited from doing so, and to allow the advocate to apply if necessary for prosecution disclosure. |
| Part 24 | Rule 24.12 is amended to complement the amendment to rule 13.3. |
| Part 25 | Rule 25.14 is amended to prescribe the procedure on taking verdicts where the jury is due to return more than one verdict and reaches some before others. |
| Part 36 | A new rule 36.15 is added to prescribe the procedure where the Court of Appeal is asked to reopen a previous decision. Rule 36.6 is amended consequentially. |
| Part 39 | Rule 39.3 is amended to prescribe requirements for grounds of appeal that encourage clarity and concision. |
| Part 41 | Rule 41.2 is amended to remove from the Registrar of Criminal Appeals to the Attorney General the responsibility for notifying a defendant of an Attorney General’s reference or application to the Court of Appeal. Rules 41.3 to 41.8 are renumbered and amended consequentially. |
| Part 46 | Rule 46.2 is amended to require a defendant’s legal representative who withdraws from an extradition appeal case in the High Court to give specified information to the Administrative Court Office. Rule 46.3 is amended consequentially. |
| Part 47 | Rules 47.4, 47.13 and 47.20 are amended to provide for applications for further information orders made under amendments by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 to the other Acts to which those rules refer. Rule 47.9 is amended consequentially. |
Amendments to cross-references. The following rules, and notes to rules (‘n’), of the Criminal Procedure Rules are amended to make consequential and other corrections to the cross-references that they contain: 2.2, 10.2(n), 32.2, 36.3(n), 39.7(n), 42.6, 42.10, 47.33(n) and 47.62(n). In the preamble to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015 the entry for rule 5.5 is added and the entry for Part 23 amended for the same purpose.
These Rules come into force on 2nd April 2018.