The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 5) Rules 2001

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

The primary purpose of these Rules is to insert into the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, as Parts 58 to 62, new rules about procedures for—

(i) the Commercial Court;

(ii) Mercantile Courts;

(iii) Technology and Construction Court claims;

(iv) Admiralty claims; and

(v) Arbitration claims.

These rules supersede the relevant Part 49 Practice Directions.

In addition, a new Section V on reciprocal enforcement of judgments is inserted into RSC Order 71 and amendments are made to CCR Order 35, to provide for applications to the court for the enforcement of judgments under Council Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 of 22nd December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Amendments are made to Part 6 to provide for service out of the jurisdiction where the jurisdiction of the court is determined under the Council Regulation.

A new rule is also made setting out the amounts of fixed costs which may be awarded in enforcement proceedings under Parts 70 to 73, which were inserted into the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 4) Rules 2001 (S.I. 2001/2792).

The opportunity has also been taken to make a number of minor amendments to the rules currently in force, including amendments—

(i) to Parts 8 and 11, to clarify the procedure for disputing the court’s jurisdiction;

(ii) to Part 20, to restrict the right of a defendant to serve a contribution notice without requiring the permission of the court;

(iii) to Part 26, to prohibit parties from varying by agreement the date for filing a completed allocation questionnaire;

(iv) to Parts 31 and 35, to modify the rules about experts, and the inspection of documents mentioned in experts' reports;

(v) to Parts 44 and 48, to clarify the entitlement of a trustee or personal representative to recover costs out of a trust fund or estate;

(vi) to CCR Order 28, in Schedule 2 to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, to modify the procedure on judgment summonses;

(vii) to CCR Order 34, to enable a summons to be issued against a person alleged to have committed a contempt of court under section 118 of the County Courts Act 1984 by wilfully insulting a judge, juror, witness or officer of the court; and

(viii) to CCR Order 38, to modify the circumstances in which fixed costs may be awarded in a claim for possession of land in a county court.