These Rules amend the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (S.I. 1998/3132) by—

• amending rule 3.1 (court’s general powers of management) to make it clear that the court’s powers include hearing an Early Neutral Evaluation;

• inserting a new rule 3.1A making provision for the way in which the court is to approach case management in a case where at least one of the parties is unrepresented;

• inserting in Part 5 a cross-reference to provisions which disapply, or apply with modifications, provisions in that Part about access to court documents;

• amending rule 7.4 to ensure that the claimant not only serves particulars of claim on the defendant, but also files them;

• amending rule 47.6 to alter requirements for the commencement of detailed assessment proceedings;

• inserting a new rule 52.15B covering appeals in planning statutory reviews; and

• inserting a new Part 63A to introduce a new specialist list called the Financial List, to handle the more complex and important financial markets cases.