EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Rules)
These Rules amend the Criminal Procedure Rules 2015, S.I. 2015/1490, as follows:
Rule | Amendment
Part 3 | Rule 3.2 is amended to require the court to conduct pre-trial hearings by live link or telephone, and to receive evidence by live link, where prescribed conditions are met. Rule 3.3 is amended to require the parties to alert the court to any reason why a hearing should not be conducted by those means. Rule 3.21 is amended to provide for the circumstances in which the Crown Court must, or may, order separate trials. Rule 3.24 is amended to require the Crown Court, before taking the defendant’s plea, to obtain the prosecutor’s confirmation that the indictment, or draft indictment, is in the terms on which the prosecutor relies.
Part 9 | The terms of the Sentencing Council allocation guideline are included in the note to rule 9.10.
Part 10 | The rules in the current Part are substituted and rearranged to include a new rule about the generation of an indictment by electronic means from information sent by the magistrates’ court to the Crown Court.
Part 14 | A note is added to rule 14.7 and rule 14.16 is amended to require the submission to the court of a draft order and other documents where a defendant wants the court to make a European Supervision Order (bail with conditions to be supervised in another European Union member State).
Part 16 | Rule 16.3 is amended to clarify the obligation to identify an exhibit to a written witness statement.
Part 18 | Rule 18.4 is amended explicitly to require the court to take account of the parties’ obligations under the Victims’ Code.
Part 29 | A note is added to rule 29.1 to draw attention to the provisions of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 which require the court to extend a period of disqualification from driving imposed at the same time as a custodial sentence.
Part 31 | A note is added to rule 31.1, and rule 31.3 is amended, to provide for prohibition orders made under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
Part 34 | Rule 34.2 is amended, and a note is added to the rule, to draw attention to the concurrent powers of magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court to grant bail pending appeal to the Crown Court.
Part 35 | A note is added to rule 35.2 to draw attention to the powers of magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court to grant bail pending appeal to the High Court.
Part 47 | New rules 47.53 to 47.57 are added to provide for applications by the Criminal Cases Review Commission for access to documents under section 18A of the Criminal Appeal Act 1995.
Rules 6.3(1)(d)(ii), 9.6(2), 31.3(4)(a), 31.4(2)(a), 31.5(3)(a), 31.6(1)(a), 31.8(2)(a) and (3)(b), 45.6(5)(b), 45.8(6)(b), 45.9(6)(b), 45.10(6)(b), 45.11(7)(c)(vi) and 48.15(2)(a) and (3)(b) all are amended to omit superfluous references to ‘writing’ and ‘written’ and to make consistent the expression of those rules.
These Rules come into force on 3rd October 2016.