Brexit and the Civil Procedure Rule Committee

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee was established under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 to make rules of court in England and Wales for the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal, the High Court and the County Court.

The Committee has now published approved minutes of its meeting on 6 March 2020 proposing amendments to Rule 34 of the Civil Procedure Rules dealing with taking of evidence in England and Wales for use in foreign courts. These changes have been agreed in principle by members of the Committee and would come into force at the end  of the transition period under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement  currently due to occur on 31 December 2020. They would reflect the fact that (unless new or  parallel arrangements are agreed as part of the negotiations taking place for the new post-transition period UK-EU relationship) the UK would no longer  effectively be part of the EU and its civil jurisdiction procedures.

Details are currently sketchy but the implications of Brexit for civil court procedures in the UK need to be borne in mind as well as for other judicial procedures in the UK.