{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979/rule-44I",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979/rule-44I.json",
  "legislation": "nisr/1979/90",
  "legislation_title": "The Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/crown-court-rules-northern-ireland-1979",
  "path": "rule/44I",
  "kind": "rule",
  "number": "44I",
  "heading": "[ Application for reporting direction",
  "text": "(1) An application by a party to any criminal proceedings for a reporting direction under section 46 of the 1999 Act in relation to a witness in those proceedings may be made at any time after the commencement of the proceedings by giving notice in writing which shall be in Form 7A in the Schedule.\n(2) For the purpose of this rule, rule 44J and rule 44K, proceedings commence on the date—\n(a) of the committal of the defendant; or\n(b) on which Notice of Transfer under Article 3 of the Criminal Justice (Serious Fraud) (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 or under Article 4 of the Children's Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 was given, or\n(c) on which leave to present an indictment under section 2(2)(e) of the Grand Jury (Abolition) Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 was given, or\n(d) on which an order for retrial is made.\n(3) The notice under paragraph (1) shall be served on the chief clerk, and at the same time a copy thereof shall be served, by the applicant, on every other party to the proceedings.\n(4) Any party who wishes to oppose the application shall, within 7 days of the date that notice of the application was served on him, notify the applicant and the chief clerk, in writing, of his opposition giving reasons for it.\n(5) In order to comply with paragraph (4) a party shall state in the written notification whether he—\n(a) disputes that the witness is eligible for protection under section 46 of the 1999 Act; and\n(b) disputes that the granting of protection would be likely to improve the quality of evidence given by the witness or the level of co-operation given by the witness to any party to the proceedings in connection with the party's preparation of its case.",
  "extent": "N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "footnote",
      "label": "f1",
      "text": "Rules 44I - 44M inserted by S.R. 2004 No. 233 with effect from 17.05.04"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/1979/90/rule/44I",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:01:57.370490+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."
}