The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 4) Rules 2021

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Rules)

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

• amending Part 2 to provide for “tape recorded” and cognate terms to have a broad meaning encompassing recordings made using or by means of devices other than tape recorder;

• amending Part 21 to make it clear—

  • that applications for approval of voluntary and interim payments in cases involving children or protected parties should be made under Part 8; and

  • that the court is able to order payment of costs to the child’s litigation friend in a case where detailed assessment of costs has been dispensed with under rule 46.4(3);

• amending Part 24 to remove admiralty proceedings in rem from the categories of cases in which summary judgment may not be given against a defendant;

• amending Part 25 to clarify the position where a defendant who has brought a counterclaim is granted an interim injunction in the counterclaim, but the counterclaim is struck out for non-payment of fees;

• amending Part 27 to provide that rule 39.9 (recording and transcription of proceedings) applies in relation to proceedings on the small claims track;

• amending Part 40 and Part 52 to cover cases where a hearing at which a judgment or order is made is adjourned, so that an application for permission to appeal (or, for example, for extension of time for filing of an appellant’s notice) may be applied for not only at the hearing, but on the adjournment of it;

• amending Part 61 to make it clear that when the court in an Admiralty claim in rem makes an order for sale, the court’s power to set a time period within which notice of claims against the proceeds of sale must be filed is to be exercised unless the court is satisfied that there is good reason not to;

• amending Part 70 to amend references to Practice Direction 70 so that they refer to Practice Direction 70A, following the addition of a second Practice Direction supporting Part 70 and the renumbering of Practice Direction 70 as Practice Direction 70A (the new Practice Direction being Practice Direction 70B);

• amending Part 83 to provide that if an eviction does not take place following a notice of eviction which specifies the time and date for the eviction, a further notice of eviction, giving at least 7 days’ notice of the new time and date for the eviction, must be delivered before the eviction can proceed; and

• amending the Glossary to update the meaning given for the term “defence of tender before claim”.