Rule 66B Request for information about a caseF1

(1)

This rule applies where anyone, including a member of the public or a reporter, requests information about a case.

(2)

A person requesting information must—

(a)

ask the designated officer;

(b)

specify the information requested; and

(c)

pay any fee prescribed.

(3)

The request—

(a)

may be made orally or in writing, and need not explain why the information is requested, if this rule requires the designated officer to supply that information; but

(b)

must be in writing, unless the court otherwise permits, and must explain why the information is requested, if this rule does not so require.

(4)

Subject to paragraph (5), the designated officer must supply to the person making the request—

(a)

the date of a hearing in public;

(b)

in general terms, the subject of the proceedings;

(c)

the court’s decision at a hearing in public;

(d)

whether the case is under appeal;

(e)

the identity of—

(i)

the parties,

(ii)

the parties’ representatives, including their addresses, and

(iii)

the judge, magistrate or magistrates, or justices’ legal adviser by whom a decision at a hearing in public was made;

(f)

such other information about the case as is required by arrangements to which paragraph (6)(c) refers; and

(g)

details of any reporting or access restriction ordered by the court.

(5)

The designated officer must not supply the information requested if—

(a)

the supply of that information is prohibited by a reporting restriction;

(b)

that information is the date of a hearing in public of which a party has yet to be notified;

(c)

that information concerns proceedings determined by the court without notice to—

(i)

a party to those proceedings, or

(ii)

a person affected by those proceedings; or

(d)

that information is not readily available to the designated officer (for example, because of the location or conditions of its storage).

(6)

Where the designated officer must supply the information requested the supply may be—

(a)

by word of mouth;

(b)

in writing, including by written certificate or extract from a court record; or

(c)

by such other arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs, including supply by electronic means.

(7)

Where this rule does not require the designated officer to supply the information requested then unless that information can be supplied under rule 66C—

(a)

the designated officer must refer the request to the court; and

(b)

rule 66D applies.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1: Rules 66A-66E substituted for rules 66A, 66B (28.6.2021) by The Magistrates’ Courts (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2021 (S.I. 2021/626), rules 1(1), 2(8)