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 4 | Rules 4.3 and 4.4 are amended to define as the court office at which a document must be served on a court officer for a magistrates’ court or the Crown Court the office advertised as the one at which that court’s business is administered (which may not be in the same place as that court’s courtrooms). |
| Part 5 | Rule 5.8 is amended to allow the provision of information from court records in writing, not only by word of mouth; and to require the publication of information about cases due to be tried without a hearing under rule 24.9 (the single justice procedure) as well as information about cases due to be heard in public. The note to rule 5.9, and the rule heading, are amended to emphasise that that rule applies only to the supply of information from court records where that is needed for use in evidence or for some other purpose specified in legislation. |
| Part 7 | Rule 7.2 is amended to require all private prosecutors to provide the information listed in the rule, not only those who have no legal representative. |
| Part 19 | Rules 19.3 and 19.4 are amended to require an expert witness to disclose to the party by whom he or she is commissioned, and to require that party to disclose to each other party and to the court, anything that might reasonably be thought capable of undermining the reliability of the expert’s opinion or detracting from the expert’s credibility or impartiality. A new rule 19.9 is added to govern the procedure where a party who introduces expert evidence wants to withhold in the public interest part of what the expert witness otherwise could say, for example because to say it would reveal confidential investigative techniques. |
| Part 34 | Rule 34.7 is amended to align the time limits under that rule with the time limit for the service of a respondent’s notice under rule 34.2. |
| Part 50 | Rule 50.4 is amended to require in some extradition cases an identification of the offence or offences under English and Welsh law that the defendant’s conduct in another country would have amounted to had it occurred in England or Wales. |
Amendments to cross-references. The note to rule 5.4 and rule 24.9(10)(a) are amended to correct the cross-references that they contain.
These Rules come into force on 1st April 2019.