(This note is not part of the Order)
This Order revokes and re-enacts the provisions of the Prosecutions of Offences Act (Specified Proceedings) Order 1985 with amendments to take account of section 1 of the Magistrates' Courts (Procedure) Act 1998. It specifies proceedings for the offences set out in the Schedule for the purposes of section 3 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 if those proceedings are commenced by the prosecution so as to give the accused the opportunity of pleading guilty by post under section 12 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980. Section 12 was amended by section 1 of the Magistrates' Courts (Procedures) Act 1998 to permit the prosecution to serve a witness statement or statements instead of a statement of facts. Proceedings cease to be specified if at any time a magistrates' court begins to receive evidence in those proceedings. The effect is that the duty of the Director of Public Prosecutions as Head of the Crown Prosecution Service to take over the conduct of all criminal proceedings instituted on behalf of a police force will not include a duty to take over the conduct of proceedings specified by this Order.