Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Rules)
These Rules amend the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (S.I. 2025/909) as follows—
| Rule | Amendment |
|---|---|
| Part 5 | The note to rule 5.10 is amended to include a description of the open justice principle as that applies to the supply of information from court records. |
| Part 10 | Rule 10.8 is amended to express the time limit under that rule for the service of a draft indictment in business days instead of in calendar days. |
| Part 16 | Rule 16.4 is amended to ensure that the time limit under that rule for objecting to the admissibility of a written witness statement complies with section 9(2A) of the Criminal Justice Act 1967. The previous limit of 5 business days could fall short of the statutory minimum of 7 days if a statement is served on a Saturday or Sunday. |
| Part 30 | Rule 30.5 is amended to clarify the availability of a magistrates’ court’s power to remit the whole or part of a fine. |
| Part 31 | Rule 31.1 is amended to make more understandable the description of the “behaviour orders” to which Part 31 applies. The note to rule 31.1 is amended to rearrange in chronological order the statutory powers that it lists. The note to rule 31.2 is amended to clarify the references that it makes to statutory provisions. Rule 31.3 is amended to distinguish between (i) behaviour orders that may be made in criminal proceedings on conviction only and for which the prosecutor must apply, (ii) behaviour orders that may be made in criminal proceedings on conviction only and for which no application is needed but which the prosecutor must propose, and (iii) behaviour orders that may be made in criminal proceedings on conviction, on acquittal, or in some other circumstances (for example, at the conclusion of an appeal) and for which no application is needed but which the prosecutor must propose. Rule 31.4 is amended to clarify (i) the occasions on which the court can give a special measures direction for a witness in behaviour order proceedings, and (ii) the information that the party who wants that direction must give the court. The note to rule 31.6 is amended consequentially. |
| Part 47 | Rules 47.51, 47.52 and 47.53 are amended to remove references to powers of magistrates’ courts that have been repealed. |
The corrections in the Schedule to these Rules remove errors in the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 identified by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments and by the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee. Rule 50.23 of the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 is substituted without change to its substance to resolve doubts about its legality raised by the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments in that Committee’s Fortieth Report of the Parliamentary Session 2024 – 26: not all the relevant enabling powers in the Extradition Act 2003 were correctly cited in S.I. 2025/909.
These Rules come into force in accordance with rules 2 and 3, so that—
the corrections in the Schedule come into force on 23rd February 2026; and
the other amendments come into force on 6th April 2026.