The Rules came into force on 26 April 1999 |
[This page was last updated on 27 August 1999] | ||
Please note - our website service is provided as a convenience to court users: the definitive version is the printed version published by The Stationery Office. | ||
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GENERAL COMMENTS
Effective Date - apart from the Practice Direction on appeals from Masters which came into force on 30 July 1999, the 7th set of amendments and additions comes into force on Monday 13 September.
Next Amendments - there will be no amendments in September. The 8th set of amendments & additions will be available on Wednesday 27 October.
New Index - a new index is included this month in pdf and Word 6 formats. It is being replaced on average with every third set of amendments - this is why we are not making it available in html, as it would be out of date for the following two sets of amendments.
Forms
Court Guides - Further information about the operation of the new rules and practice directions in the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the Mercantile Courts are contained in guides, printed copies of which are available from the respective courts. They have also been posted on the Court Service website:
Statutory Instruments - Two Statutory Instruments relate to the new rules:
USER RECOMMENDATION - REFRESH!
To ensure that you are viewing the latest version of a rule, practice direction, etc. we strongly recommend that each time you open a file, you should refresh it.
This refreshing is especially important where you bookmark pages, but also it will overwrite and update a file that may have been "cached" earlier by your computer.
SLUGGISHNESS?
As at the end of August this has still to be fixed. We are aware that many of you sometimes find our website tardy in the extreme and we do apologise. We find it as frustrating as you. Our service provider, the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (or CCTA), has identified two problems - one it intends to fix; the other over which it has no control. Local networks and modem speeds can also affect performance.
Although the CCTA does not have a problem with its web server capacity, it does have a problem with bandwidth between its server and the Internet backbone. At the moment CCTA has a 2mb pipe with 1mb 'committed' (this means 1mb as standard, but with a peak capacity at 2mb) and is running at capacity some of the time. CCTA is in discussion with its supplier to upgrade the bandwidth to 8mb with 4mb 'committed' ie a quadrupling of capacity.
Folk at the CCTA assure us that once the upgrade has been installed download speeds should improve as they have already done a lot of work to improve server performance.
The other issue, over which neither we nor the CCTA have any control, is to do with location, especially if you are based in London. The CCTA has noticed that the performance and download times in London are much more variable and frequently slower than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. This is a simple function of loads on the Internet generally.
ADDITIONS AND AMENDMENTS
CURRENT VERSIONS
The current versions (including the latest set of additions and amendments) now available are:
ZIP FORMAT
The following (including the latest set of additions and amendments) are available in Zip format:
| HTML | Word 6 | ||
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If you have any questions about ZIP formatting we recommend you contact your IT adviser.
PAPER COPIES
Paper copies of the Rules (ISBN 011 3801173), including the monthly updating service, may be ordered through The Stationery Office, tel: 0345-023 474.
COMMENTARIES
On the following websites you will find generally useful commentaries on the Civil Procedure Rules and although some of them were not too flattering about this site (in its earlier form) we're happy to overlook that!
Please note that no responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of the Lord Chancellor for any errors, omissions, or misleading statements on these websites or on any site to which they may connect. No mention of any organisation, company or individual, whether on these websites or on other sites to which they are linked imply any approval or warranty as to the standing and capability of any such organisations, company or individual on the part of the Department.
E-MAIL QUERIES
Any queries or comments you may have about the contents of rules and
practice directions should be sent to:
civiljustice-lcdhq@btinternet.com
Comments about the website should be sent to:
comments@lcdhq.btinternet.com