The Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) (Amendment No. 3) 2000

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Rules may be cited as the Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) (Amendment No. 3) 2000 and shall come into operation on 8th January 2001.

(2) In these Rules an Order referred to by number or an Appendix referred to by letter means the Order so numbered or the Appendix so lettered in the Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) 1980(1).

Arrangement of Orders

2.  The arrangement of Orders at the beginning of the Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) 1980 shall be amended by adding after the entry relating to Order 121 the following—

“122.   The Competition Act 1998(2)”.

Business of the Supreme Court

3.  Order 1, rule 10 shall be amended by adding after paragraph (g) the following new paragraphs—

“(h) applications under sections 28, 62 or 63 of the Competition Act 1998;

(i) proceedings under Part III of the Fair Trading Act 1973(3).”.

Appeal on a point of law

4.  Order 61 shall be amended by adding after rule 16 the following new rules—

“Application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal under section 49(1)(a) of the Competition Act 1998

17.— (1) In this rule and rule 18—

“the Act” means the Competition Act 1998(4); and

“the appeal tribunal” means the appeal tribunal established under section 48(1) of the Act and constituted in accordance with the provisions of Part III of Schedule 7 to the Act.

(2) An application for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal under section 49(1)(a) of the Act shall be made within 28 days of the appeal tribunal’s decision to refuse leave to appeal.

(3) Such an application shall be made ex-parte by lodging the following documents in the Central Office, namely—

(a) a certified copy of the appeal tribunal’s decision to refuse to grant leave to appeal and

(b) a statement of the grounds of the application.

(4) The proper officer shall notify the parties of the determination of the Court of Appeal.

(5) Where leave to appeal has been granted the applicant shall notify the Chairman of the appeal tribunal.

Appeal from the appeal tribunal

18.— (1) Where leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal under section 49(1)(a) of the Act has been granted by the appeal tribunal or by the Court of Appeal, the time limit specified in rule 1(2)(a) for lodging the requisition to state the case shall be calculated from the date leave was so granted.

(2) On entering an appeal for hearing a copy of the order granting leave to appeal by the appeal tribunal or by the Court of Appeal must be lodged in the Central Office together with the case stated and the requisition for hearing.”.

5.  Order 94, rule 2 shall be amended by adding after paragraph (xii) the following new paragraph—

“(xiii) section 92(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998(5);

(xiv) section 49(1)(a) of the Competition Act 1998.”.

Amendment of Order 121

6.  Order 121, rule 7 shall be amended by substituting for paragraph (2) the following new paragraph—

“(2) The notice referred to in paragraph (1) shall be in writing and—

(a) shall be filed in the Central Office, not later than 21 days, or such other period as the Court may specify, after the date of service of notice under rule 6;

(b) a copy shall be served on each of the parties to the proceedings as soon as practicable thereafter; and

(c) where a Minister has nominated a person or government department under section 9(5) of the Act, shall be accompanied by a copy of that nomination in writing.”.

Application for warrant

7.—(1) After Order 121 there shall be added the Order set out in Schedule 1 to these Rules.

(2) After Form No. 68 in Appendix A there shall be added the Forms set out in Schedule 2 to these Rules.

R. D. Carswell

Anthony Campbell

F. P. Girvan

Caroline McGonagle

Tony Caher

R. Weatherup

H. P. Kennedy

Brian Kerr

Dated 29th November 2000

I concur

Irvine of Lairg, C.

Dated 13th December 2000