PART 6REPORTING, ETC. RESTRICTIONS

GENERAL RULES

When this Part applies6.1.

(1)

This Part applies where the court can—

(a)

impose a restriction on—

(i)

reporting what takes place at a public hearing, or

(ii)

public access to what otherwise would be a public hearing;

(b)

vary or remove a reporting or access restriction that is imposed by legislation;

(c)

withhold information from the public during a public hearing;

(d)

order a trial in private; or

(e)

allow there to take place during a hearing—

(i)

sound recording, or

(ii)

communication by electronic means.

(2)

This Part does not apply to arrangements required by legislation, or directed by the court, in connection with—

(a)

sound recording during a hearing, or the transcription of such a recording; or

(b)

measures to assist a witness or defendant to give evidence.

[Note. The court can impose reporting restrictions under—

(a)

section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981183 (postponed report of public hearing);

(b)

section 11 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 (matter withheld from the public during a public hearing);

(c)

section 58 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996184 (postponed report of derogatory assertion in mitigation);

(d)

section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999185 (identity of a person under 18);

(e)

section 45A of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999186 (identity of a witness or victim under 18);

(f)

section 46 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999187 (identity of a vulnerable adult witness);

(g)

section 82 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003188 (order for retrial after acquittal); or

(h)

section 75 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005189 (identity of a defendant who assisted the police).

There are reporting restrictions imposed by legislation that the court can vary or remove, under—

(a)

section 49 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933190 (youth court proceedings);

(b)

section 8C of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980191 (pre-trial ruling in magistrates’ courts);

(c)

section 11 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987192 (preparatory hearing in the Crown Court);

(d)

section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992193 (identity of complainant of sexual offence);

(e)

section 37 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996194 (preparatory hearing in the Crown Court);

(f)

section 41 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996195 (pre-trial ruling in the Crown Court);

(g)

section 52A of, and paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to, the Crime and Disorder Act 1998196 (allocation and sending for trial proceedings);

(h)

section 47 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999197 (special measures direction);

(i)

section 141F of the Education Act 2002198 (restrictions on reporting alleged offences by teachers);

(j)

section 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003199 (prosecution appeal against Crown Court ruling); and

(k)

section 4A of, and paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to, the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003200 (identity of person against whom a female genital mutilation offence is alleged to have been committed).

There are reporting restrictions imposed by legislation that the court has no power to vary or remove, under—

(a)

section 1 of the Judicial Proceedings (Regulation of Reports) Act 1926201 (indecent or medical matter);

(b)

section 2 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981202 (risk of impeding or prejudicing active proceedings).
Access to a youth court is restricted under section 47 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933203. See also rule 24.2 (Trial and sentence in a magistrates’ court – general rules).
Under section 36 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933204, no-one under 14 may be present in court when someone else is on trial, or during proceedings preliminary to a trial, unless that person is required as a witness, or for the purposes of justice, or the court permits.

The court can restrict access to the courtroom under—

(a)

section 8(4) of the Official Secrets Act 1920205, during proceedings for an offence under the Official Secrets Acts 1911 and 1920;

(b)

section 37 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933206, where the court receives evidence from a person under 18;

(c)

section 75 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005207, where the court reviews a sentence passed on a defendant who assisted an investigation.

The court has an inherent power, in exceptional circumstances—

(a)

to allow information, for example a name or address, to be withheld from the public at a public hearing;

(b)

to restrict public access to what otherwise would be a public hearing, for example to control disorder;

(c)

to hear a trial in private, for example for reasons of national security.

Under section 9(1) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981208, it is a contempt of court without the court’s permission to—

(a)

use in court, or bring into court for use, a device for recording sound;

(b)

publish a recording of legal proceedings made by means of such a device; or

(c)

use any such recording in contravention of any condition on which permission was granted.

Under section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925209, it is an offence to take or attempt to take a photograph, or with a view to publication to make or attempt to make a portrait or sketch, of any judge, juror, witness or party, in the courtroom, or in the building or in the precincts of the building in which the court is held, or while that person is entering or leaving the courtroom, building or precincts; or to publish such a photograph, portrait or sketch.
Section 32 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013210 (Enabling the making, and use, of films and other recordings of proceedings) allows for exceptions to be made to the prohibitions imposed by section 9 of the 1981 Act and section 41 of the 1925 Act.
By reason of sections 15 and 45 of the Senior Courts Act 1981211, the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court each has an inherent power to deal with a person for contempt of court for disrupting the proceedings. Under section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981212, a magistrates’ court has a similar power.

See also—

(a)

rule 5.5, under which the court officer must make arrangements for recording proceedings in the Crown Court;

(b)

Part 18, which applies to live links and other measures to assist a witness or defendant to give evidence;

(c)

rule 45.10, which applies to costs orders against a non-party for serious misconduct; and

(d)

Part 48, which contains rules about contempt of court.]