The Crown Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2001

Made23rd June 2001

To be laid before Parliament

Coming into operation in accordance with Rule 1

We, the Crown Court Rules Committee, in exercise of the powers conferred upon us by sections 52(1) of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 19781, Articles 26(6) and (7) and 39(1) of the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 19992 and of all other powers enabling us in that behalf, hereby with the concurrence of the Lord Chancellor make the following Rules:—

Citation, commencement and interpretation1.

(1)

These Rules may be cited as the Crown Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2001.

F1(2)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(3)

Rule 2(b) shall come into operation on the same day as Article 4 of the Financial Investigations (Northern Ireland) Order 20013 comes into operation.

(4)

In these Rules, “the principal Rules” shall mean the Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 19794 and a reference to a rule by number shall mean a rule so numbered in the principal Rules.

Amendment to the principal Rules2.

The principal Rules shall be amended by—

F2(a)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(b)

inserting in rule 54(2)(b) after the words “the constable”, the words “or the financial investigator”.

R. D. Carswell

A. R. Hart

J. Brady

F. Keenan

P. Lynch

Dated 17th May 2001

I concur

Irvine of Lairg, C.

Dated 23rd June 2001

(This note is not part of the Rules.)

These Rules amend the Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979 to—

(a)

prescribe the time when, and the manner in which, a legal representative is to be appointed to act for the defendant for the purpose of cross-examining any witness which the defendant is prevented from cross-examining in person by virtue of Article 22 or Article 23 of the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1999;

(b)

provide for the appointment by the Court of a qualified legal representative where the defendant fails to appoint a legal representative to act for him;

(c)

make a minor amendment to rule 54(2)(b) to take account of the additional powers conferred on financial investigators by the Financial Investigations (Northern Ireland) Order 2001.