{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-3.26",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-3.26.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2025/909",
  "legislation_title": "The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025",
  "path": "rule/3.26",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "3.26",
  "heading": "Commencement of preparatory hearing",
  "text": "At the beginning of a preparatory hearing, the court must—\n(a) announce that it is such a hearing; and\n(b) take the defendant’s plea under rule 3.32 (Arraigning the defendant on the indictment), unless already done.\n[Note. See section 8 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 and section 30 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996.]",
  "extent": "E+W",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "I",
      "label": "I1",
      "text": "Rule 3.26 in force at 6.10.2025, see Preamble"
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "1987 c. 38."
    },
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f2",
      "text": "1996 c. 25."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "word inserted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2026/721",
      "affecting_title": "The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2026"
    },
    {
      "type": "word omitted",
      "affecting": "uksi/2026/721",
      "affecting_title": "The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2026"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/3.26",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-28T21:12:44.140935+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."
}