The Crown Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2021

Made: 27th January 2021

Laid before Parliament: 1st February 2021

Coming into operation in accordance with Rule 1

The Crown Court Rules Committee makes the following Rules in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 52(1) and 53A of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978[^f00001], section 49 of the Crime (International Co-Operation) Act 2003[^f00002] and section 11(1) of the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019[^f00003].

Citation and commencement

1

• (1) These Rules shall be cited as the Crown Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2021.

• (2) Except as provided by paragraph (3), these Rules shall come into operation on the twenty-first day after the date upon which this instrument is laid before Parliament.

• (3) Rule 2(4) shall come into operation on the same day as section 1(1) to (4) and (7) and sections 2 to 14 of the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019, so far as they extend to Northern Ireland, come into force for all remaining purposes.

Amendment to the Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979

2

The Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979[^f00004] are amended as follows:

• (1) In rule 61—

• (a) in the title, after “television” insert “or telephone”;

• (b) in sub-paragraph (1), after “links)” insert “or section 31(4) (hearing witnesses in the UK by telephone)”;

• (c) in sub-paragraph (2), after “Part 1” insert “or 2”; and

• (d) in sub-paragraph (3), after “section 30(1)” insert “or, as the case may be, section 31(1)”.

• (2) After rule 62, insert—

(62A) (1) In proceedings before a court nominated pursuant to a notice under section 31(4), the chief clerk shall make a record of the evidence given in the presence of the Court and the information prescribed in paragraph (2). (2) The information referred to in paragraph (1) is— (a) details of the request in respect of which the notice under section 31(4) was given; (b) the date on which, and place at which, the proceedings under Part 2 of Schedule 2 took place; (c) the name of the witness who gave evidence; (d) the name of any person who took part in the proceedings as a legal representative or as an interpreter; and (e) the language in which the evidence was given. (3) As soon as is reasonably practicable after the proceedings under Part 2 of Schedule 2, the chief clerk shall send to the external authority that made the request a copy of an extract of so much of the record as relates to the proceedings in respect of that request.

• (3) In rule 62B—

• (a) for the title, substitute “Restriction on access to records kept under rules 60, 62, and 62A”; and

• (b) for “60 and 62”, substitute “60, 62 and 62A”.

• (4) After rule 62M, insert the new Part VIIIB set out in the Schedule to these Rules.

SCHEDULE

Signed

Declan Morgan — Seamus Treacy — John O’Hara — Stephen A Fowler — Gavan Duffy — Dated 18th January 2021

Signed by the authority of the Lord Chancellor

In exercise of the powers conferred upon me by section 53A of the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978, I allow these Rules.

Alex Chalk MP — Parliamentary Under Secretary of State — Ministry of Justice — Dated 27th January 2021

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Rules amend the Crown Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1979 (S.R. 1979 No. 90) to—

• take account of The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (2019 c. 5) which enables law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to apply to the courts of the United Kingdom for a court order requiring service providers outside the UK to produce or grant access to electronic data for the purposes of investigating and prosecuting serious crimes. The Rules prescribe procedural matters relating to such applications; and

• insert rules relating to hearing evidence by telephone under The Crime (International Co- Operation) Act 2003 (2003 c. 32).

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1978 c.23, to which the most recent relevant amendments were made by paragraphs 26 and 28 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c.4); paragraph 6 of Schedule 17 to, and paragraphs 14 and 26 of Schedule 18 to, the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Devolution of Policing and Justice Functions) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/976); and paragraph 2 of the Schedule to the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 (c.13).

[^f00002]: 2003 c.32, to which there have been no recent amendments.

[^f00003]: 2019 c.5, to which there has been no amendment

[^f00004]: S.R. 1979 No. 90, to which the most recent relevant amendments were made by S.R. 2010 No. 133, S.R. 2011 No. 230, S.R. 2016 No. 297, S.R. 2018 No. 24 and S.I. 2019/908.

[^f00005]: 2019 c.5

[^f00006]: 1971 c.80

[^f00007]: 2000 c.11