The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2019

Made: 17th December 2019

Coming into operation in accordance with rule 1

The County Court Rules Committee makes the following Rules in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 47 of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

These Rules may be cited as the County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2019 and shall come into operation on exit day.

2

In these rules a reference to an Order, rule or paragraph is a reference to that Order, rule or paragraph so numbered in the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981[^f00002].

Amendments to the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981

3

The County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 are amended as follows—

• (1) In the Arrangement of Rules, omit the entries for Orders 23 and 27.

• (2) In Order 6A—

• (a) in rule 1, in the definition of “convention territory” omit “to which the Brussels Conventions or the Lugano Convention as defined in section 1(1) of that Act applies”;

• (b) in rule 2(1), omit sub-paragraph (o);

• (c) in rule2(2)(b)—

• (i) in head (ii), omit “Article 16 of Schedule 1,”;

• (ii) in head (iii), omit “Article 17 of Schedule 1,”.

• (3) In Order 14, omit rule 10B.

• (4) Omit Order 23.

• (5) Omit Order 27.

• (6) In Order 40, omit Part VI Mediation Directive (Rules 18 to 22).

• (7) In Order 45, in rule 3—

• (a) in paragraph (1) in the definition of “gilt unit trust scheme” omit “or in a relevant state” and “or a relevant state”;

• (b) omit paragraph (2).

Saving and transitional provisions

4

In relation to a mediation to which the Cross-Border Mediation Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2011[^f00003] applied before exit day, Order 40 continues to apply on and after exit day as if the amendments made by these Rules had not been made.

Signed

David K McFarland — Paul Brennen — S Crawford — Alistair F Devlin — Fiona Fee

Dated 17th December 2019

In the exercise of the power conferred by Article 47(4) of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, the Department of Justice allows these Rules.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 20th December 2019

Peter May — A senior officer of the Department of Justice

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Rules amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 (S.R. 1981 No. 225) to address deficiencies arising from the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 1980 No. 397 (N.I. 3); Article 47 was amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4) and paragraph 33 of Schedule 17 to, and paragraph 118 of Schedule 18 to, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Devolution of Policing and Justice Functions) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/976).

[^f00002]: S.R. 1981 No. 225, to which the most recent relevant amendments were made by S.R. 2009 No. 176 and S.R. 2011 No. 58.

[^f00003]: S.R. 2011 No. 157.