The Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2019

Made: 11th July 2019

Laid before Parliament: 18th July 2019

Coming into force: 1st October 2019

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee, having power under section 2 of the Civil Procedure Act 1997[^f00001] to make rules under section 1 of that Act and after consulting in accordance with section 2(6)(a) of that Act, makes the following Rules.

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

• (1) These Rules may be cited as the Civil Procedure (Amendment No. 3) Rules 2019 and come into force on 1st October 2019.

• (2) In these Rules, a reference to a Part or rule by number alone means the Part or rule so numbered in the Civil Procedure Rules 1998[^f00002].

Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998

2

The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 are amended in accordance with rules 3 and 4 of, and the Schedule to, these Rules.

Amendment of Part 45

3

In rule 45.41(2), for sub-paragraph (a) substitute—

(a) “Aarhus Convention claim” means a claim brought by one or more members of the public by judicial review or review under statute which challenges the legality of any decision, act or omission of a body exercising public functions, and which is within the scope of Article 9(1), 9(2) or 9(3) of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters done at Aarhus, Denmark on 25 June 1998 (“the Aarhus Convention”);

Substitution of Part 53

4

For Part 53, substitute Part 53 as set out in the Schedule to these Rules.

Transitional provision

5

The amendments made by rule 4 of, and the Schedule to, these Rules do not apply in relation to a claim issued before 1st October 2019.

SCHEDULE

Signed

The Right Honourable Sir Terence Etherton, MR — Lord Justice Coulson — Mr Justice Birss — Mr Justice Kerr — Master Cook — District Judge Hovington — John Dagnall — Masood Ahmed

I allow these Rules

Signed by authority of the Lord Chancellor

Paul Maynard — Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice — Ministry of Justice — 11th July 2019

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Rules amend the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (SI 1998/3132) by—

• amending rule 45.42(2)(a), which defines an “Aarhus Convention claim”, so that the definition includes a statutory review which is within the scope of Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention, in addition to a judicial review within the scope of Article 9(3); and

• substituting for Part 53 (defamation claims) a new Part 53 which provides for the Media and Communications List, which is a specialist list in the High Court for defamation claims and other media and communications claims.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 1997 c.12. Section 2(1) was substituted by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4), section 15 and Schedule 4, Part 1. Section 1(3) was substituted by section 82(1) of the Courts Act 2003 (c. 39) and further amended by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, sections 15 and 146 and Schedule 4, Part 1, paragraphs 261 and 262 and Schedule 18. Section 1(1) was amended by the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22), section 17(5) and Schedule 9, Part 3, paragraph 67(a).

[^f00002]: S.I. 1998/3132. There are relevant amendments in S.I. 2001/4015, S.I. 2005/3515, S.I. 2006/1689, S.I. 2007/2204, S.I. 2008/2178, S.I. 2009/3390, S.I 2013/262, S.I. 2014/3299, S.I. 2014/407, S.I. 2014/954; S.I. 2015/670, S.I. 2017/95, S.I. 2017/889, S.I. 2018/975 and section 59(5) of, and Schedule 11, Part 2, paragraph 1(2) to, the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c. 4).