# The Criminal Procedure Rules 2025, Rule 5.7: The open justice principle

Extent: E+W

(1) Where rules 5.8, 5.9, 5.10 and 5.11 apply, as well as furthering the overriding objective in accordance with rules 1.2 and 1.3 the court officer and the court must have regard to the importance of—
(a) dealing with criminal cases in public;
(b) allowing a public hearing to be reported to the public; and
(c) the rights of a person affected by a direction or order made, or warrant issued, by the court to understand why that decision was made.
(2) In rules 5.10 and 5.11 this requirement is called ‘the open justice principle’.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2025/909/rule/5.7 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/criminal-procedure-rules-2025/rule-5.7
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.