The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2011

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

These Rules amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 (S.R. 1981 No. 225) (“the principal Rules”) to—

• enable the transposition of article 5 (recourse to mediation), article 6 (enforceability of agreements resulting from mediation) and article 7 (confidentiality of mediation) of Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters (“the Directive”); and

• provide for a general power for the Judge to adjourn proceedings or extend the time for compliance with a court order or a provision in the principal Rules in order to facilitate the parties using a mediation process.

In particular, Schedule 1 to the Rules sets out a new Part II of Order 14, which makes provision for a general power to adjourn for mediation (rule 13) and provides that any application to the Judge for such an order is to be made by notice of motion (rule 14) and made not later than 56 days before the date on which the proceedings are first listed for hearing (rule 15).

Schedule 2 to the Rules sets out the new Part VI of Order 40, which pertains to the Directive and includes provision on the scope of the part and interpretation (rule 18), rules in relation to article 6 of the Directive (rules 19 and 20) and rules in relation to article 7 of the Directive (rules 21 and 22).