{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/standing-civilian-courts-order-1997/article-13",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/standing-civilian-courts-order-1997/article-13.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1997/172",
  "legislation_title": "The Standing Civilian Courts Order 1997",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/standing-civilian-courts-order-1997",
  "path": "article/13",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "13",
  "heading": "Changes to the charge sheet before trial",
  "text": "(1) Without prejudice to any other power of his in relation to the conduct of the proceedings, at any time before the opening of proceedings in respect of a charge, the prosecutor may—\n(a) amend, or substitute another charge or charges for, that charge;\n(b) discontinue proceedings on that charge;\n(c) prefer an additional charge against the accused and direct that the additional charge shall be tried at the same time as the original charge;\n(d) determine that a charge originally preferred for trial by a Standing Civilian Court be tried by court-martial.\n(2) If the prosecutor exercises any of his powers under paragraph (1) above, he shall serve notice in writing, together with any papers which are required to be added to the prosecution papers, on the accused and the court administration officer.\n(3) If the prosecutor exercises his power under paragraph (1)(d) above, he shall proceed with the charge in accordance with courts-martial rules.\n(4) Where the court administration officer receives notice in accordance with paragraph (2) above, he shall send a copy of the notice to the magistrate.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/172/article/13",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T12:27:04.339831+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."
}