Rule 49 Privacy and restrictions on disclosureI1

England, Wales and Scotland

(1)

The Tribunal may, on its own initiative or on the application of a party, make an order with a view to preventing or restricting the public disclosure of any aspect of proceedings so far as it considers necessary in the interests of justice or in order to protect the Convention rights of any person.

(2)

In considering whether to make an order under this rule, the Tribunal must give full weight to the principle of open justice and to the Convention right to freedom of expression.

(3)

Any order made under this rule may require—

(a)

that a hearing that would otherwise be held in public be conducted, in whole or in part, in private;

(b)

that the identities of specified parties, witnesses or other persons referred to in the proceedings should not be disclosed to the public, by the use of anonymisation or otherwise, whether in the course of any hearing or in its listing or in any documents entered on the Register or otherwise forming part of the public record;

(c)

that measures are to be taken to prevent witnesses at a public hearing being identifiable by members of the public;

(d)

that a restricted reporting order is in place within the terms of section 11 (restriction of publicity in cases involving sexual misconduct) or 12 (restriction of publicity in disability cases) of the Employment Tribunals Act;

(e)

that the name, address or other information of, or relating to, any person be redacted from a claim form, response form, witness statement or any other document in the proceedings.

(4)

Any party, or other person with a legitimate interest, who has not had a reasonable opportunity to make representations before an order under this rule is made may apply to the Tribunal in writing for the order to be revoked or discharged, either on the basis of written representations or, if requested, at a hearing.

(5)

Where an order is of the kind mentioned in paragraph (3)(d), the order—

(a)

must specify the person whose identity is protected,

(b)

must specify the duration of the order,

(c)

may specify particular matters of which publication is prohibited as likely to lead to that person’s identification, and

(d)

may specify that it also applies to any other proceedings.

(6)

The Tribunal must ensure that a notice that an order has been made under this rule in respect of particular proceedings is displayed on the notice board of the Tribunal with any list of the proceedings taking place before the Tribunal, and on the door of the room in which the proceedings affected by the order are taking place.

(7)

”Convention rights” has the meaning given to it in section 1 of the Human Rights Act 1998^f1.

Annotations

Commencement

I1: Rule 49 in force at 6.1.2025 immediately after S.I. 2024/1156 comes into force, see rule 1(1)

Footnotes

f1: 1998 c. 42, amended by S.I. 2003/1887 and 2004/1574.