The Armed Forces (Service Court Rules) (Amendment) (No. 2) Rules 2022

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules amend the Armed Forces (Court Martial) Rules 2009 (S.I. 2009/2041) (“the Court Martial rules”), the Armed Forces (Service Civilian Court) Rules 2009 (S.I. 2009/1209) (“the SCC rules”) and the Armed Forces (Summary Appeal Court) Rules 2009 (S.I. 2009/1211) (“the SAC rules”), which provide the rules of court for the Court Martial, the Service Civilian Court and the Summary Appeal Court.

These Rules insert a new Part 1A in the Court Martial rules, the SCC rules and the SAC rules, which sets out the overriding objective for each of those sets of rules, places a duty on participants in cases to comply with that objective and requires the court and judge advocates to further the objective when exercising statutory powers or interpreting other rules. They also amend rule 62 of the Court Martial rules, rule 48 of the SCC rules and rule 49 of the SAC rules to make the Director of Service Prosecutions responsible for notifying prosecution witnesses of the time and location of the proceedings at which they are required to give evidence. Finally, these Rules insert a new rule 34A in the Court Martial rules, which places a duty on the court administration officer to ensure that if one or more persons subject to service law are specified as lay members for proceedings in the Court Martial at least one of the lay members for the proceedings will be a woman and one a man.

A full impact assessment has not been prepared for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.