The Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2024

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules amend the Criminal Procedure Rules 2020, S.I. 2020/759, as follows:

Rule	Amendment
Part 2	Rule 2.2 is amended to include a reference to live links in extradition proceedings. Rule 2.8 is amended to allow a justices’ legal adviser to direct the correction of a court record (and see the amendment to rule 5.4).
Part 3	Rule 3.1 is amended to include a reference to extradition proceedings. Rules 3.3 and 3.8 are amended to provide for witness companions and advisors. Rule 3.19 is amended to list all the circumstances in which the prosecutor is required to serve evidence in the Crown Court. Rule 3.35 is amended (i) to apply the rule in extradition proceedings, and (ii) to require the applicant for a live link from abroad to obtain any permission needed from the authorities there.
Part 5	Rule 5.4 is amended to acknowledge the powers of courts and court officers to correct errors in court records.
Part 14	Rule 14.6 is amended to require an application to vary bail conditions to be made to the court that authorised the extension of pre-charge bail, where a defendant is on pre-charge bail that has been extended.
Part 15	Rules 15.1, 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, 15.5 and 15.9 are amended, and the notes at the end of the rule are omitted, (i) to clarify the procedures required by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, and (ii) to provide for the service of a prosecutor’s disclosure management document.
Part 18	Rule 18.1 is amended, and rules 18.14 to 18.17 are omitted, to remove redundant rules about defendant’s evidence directions. Rule 18.8 is amended to provide for the editing of a video recording of pre-trial cross-examination if that is ordered by the court.
Part 33	Rules 33.2 and 33.3 are omitted to allow time limits equivalent to existing time limits to be expressed in business days, as in other Criminal Procedure Rules. Rule 33.13 is replaced with a new procedure for confiscation proceedings. Rules 33.24, 33.25, 33.26, 33.27 and 33.28 are amended or replaced to accommodate statutory amendments made by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Rules 33.47 to 33.50 are revoked so that costs in restraint proceedings can be governed by the costs rules in Part 45 (and see the amendments to those rules). Rule 33.53 is amended to provide explicitly for applications for the release of living expenses from restrained funds.
Part 44	Rule 44.3 is amended to acknowledge a court’s power to substitute a valid for an invalid decision.
Part 45	Rules 45.1, 45.2 and 45.7 are amended to provide for costs orders in restraint proceedings.
Part 47	Rules 47.4, 47.5, 47.9, 47.11, 47.12, 47.13, 47.14, 47.15, 47.16, 47.20, 47.24 and 47.31 are amended or replaced to accommodate statutory amendments made by the National Security Act 2023 and the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023. Rule 47.27 is amended to clarify the requirements for the content of a search warrant.
Part 50	Rule 50.3 is amended the better to accommodate the use of live links in extradition proceedings (and see the amendments to rule 3.35).

Amendments consequent on other rule amendments. In Part 33, rules 33.5, 33.11, 33.15, 33.16, 33.17, 33.18, 33.19, 33.20, 33.22, 33.23, 33.24, 33.26, 33.31, 33.32, 33.46, 33.53, 33.54, 33.56, 33.57, 33.58, 33.59, 33.62 and 33.65 are amended to substitute references to time limits expressed in business days.

Correction of errors. Rules 14.6, 39.3 and 46.4 are amended to correct typographical and other errors.

These Rules come into force on 1st April 2024.