The Criminal Procedure (Amendment No. 2) Rules 2022

Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Rules

7.  In Part 5 (Forms and court records)—

(a) in rule 5.4 (Duty to make records), for paragraph (1)(k) substitute—

“(k) in the Crown Court—

(i) any request for assistance or other communication about the case received from a juror,

(ii) the date and time at which the court gives the jury directions about the law under rule 25.14(2) or (3)(a),

(iii) the date and time at which the court gives the jury other assistance in writing under rule 25.14(5), and

(iv) the date, time and subject matter of submissions and rulings that relate to such directions and assistance;”;

(b) in rule 5.6 (Custody of case materials)—

(i) in the words before paragraph (a), for “may” substitute “must”, and

(ii) for paragraph (a) substitute—

“(a) keep—

(i) any evidence, application, representation or other material served by the parties, and

(ii) any evidence or other material prepared for the court; or”;

(c) in rule 5.8 (Request for information about a case), in paragraph (1) after “information about a case” insert “including information contained in materials kept by the court officer for the purposes of the case”;

(d) in rule 5.9 (Request for information by a party or person directly affected by a case), after “information about their case” insert “including information contained in materials kept by the court officer for the purposes of that case”;

(e) in rule 5.10 (Request for information determined by the court), in paragraph (10)—

(i) in the words before sub-paragraph (a) after “at the court’s direction” insert “and on such terms as the court directs”,

(ii) at the end of sub-paragraph (b) omit “or”,

(iii) at the end of sub-paragraph (c) insert “or”, and

(iv) after sub-paragraph (c) insert—

“(d) by allowing access to a document, including a recording (other than a recording to which rule 5.5 applies (Recording and transcription of proceedings in the Crown Court)).”; and

(f) in rule 5.11 (Publication of information about court hearings)—

(i) for paragraph (2)(c)(v) substitute—

“(v) any reporting or access restriction that applies.”,

(ii) for paragraph (4)(d) substitute—

“(d) such other information as it may be practicable to publish about any reporting restriction that applies.”, and

(iii) after paragraph (4) insert—

“(5) If it is not practicable to publish the information about reporting or access restrictions that this rule requires then the court officer must publish a notice or notices by such arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs—

(a) warning that such restrictions may apply to a case information about which is published under this rule;

(b) explaining the general effect of such restrictions; and

(c) explaining how further information about such restrictions may be obtained, generally and in relation to an individual case.”