The County Court Remedies Regulations 2014

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

These Regulations revoke and replace the County Court Remedies Regulations 1991 (SI 1991/1222) (“the 1991 Regulations”). The 1991 Regulations prohibited the County Court from granting (except in specified circumstances)—

(a) an order allowing one party to search premises for the purpose of obtaining evidence in proceedings (formally known as an “Anton Piller” order, but now referred to as a “search order” in the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (SI 1998/3132)); and

(b) an interlocutory injunction preventing a party from either removing assets out of the jurisdiction of the High Court or dealing with assets whether within the jurisdiction of the High Court or outside that jurisdiction (formally known as a “Mareva” injunction, but now referred to as a “freezing injunction” or “freezing order” in the Civil Procedure Rules).

By revoking the 1991 Regulations without replacing their provisions relating to freezing injunctions, the County Court’s power to grant these injunctions will no longer be subject to restriction. However, these Regulations still prohibit the County Court from granting a search order except in the circumstances previously specified in the 1991 Regulations. Accordingly, these Regulations enable judges who would normally sit in the High Court or the Court of Appeal to grant a search order when sitting as a judge of the County Court (regulation 3(2)). The Regulations also provide that an application to the High Court for a search order shall be deemed to include an application for transfer of the proceedings (regulation 4). Where the proceedings (and not just the application) are transferred to the High Court, the Regulations provide for transfer back to the County Court once the application has been dealt with (regulation 5). The definition of “search order” in regulation 1 reflects the wording used to describe such an order made in the High Court under section 7 of the Civil Procedure Act 1997 (c.12).