The Civil Procedure (Amendment No.3) Rules 2024 will enter into force, on 1st October 2024 and contains amendments in respect of the following:

• Part 1 – Overriding objective: to promote the use of alternative dispute resolution.  This is following the court of appeal decision in the Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil (2023).
• Part 2 - Application and Interpretation of the Rules: to remove the distinction between a Master or District Judge on the one hand and a ‘judge’ on the other.
• Part 3 relating to Court Management Powers and Part 44 relating to general rules about costs to provide that, where a claim is struck out under Rule 3.7A1 (non-payment of a trial fee), the claimant will be liable for the defendants costs in accordance with Rule 44.9(1) which is amended to provide that where the claim is one to which Part 27 (small claims track) or Part 45 (fixed recoverable costs) would otherwise apply, the costs shall be determined in accordance with those parts.
• Part 7 (the claim form) to correct a cross reference between Rules 7.1A and 7.1B.  This relates to claims against Welsh public bodies to be forwarded to issue or to be issued and heard in Wales.
• Part 26 which relates to case management at the preliminary stage by inserting additional words in Rule 26.15(assignment within the fast track), Table 1, complexity band 3 (e) to better distinguish other claims for a sum of money from ‘defended debt claims’ in complexity band 1 (b).
• Part 28 which relates to the Fast and Intermediate Track to remove the now superseded cross references in Rules 28.7 and 28.14 – both subsections state the matters to be dealt with by directions include:

            a)   Disclosure of documents

            b)   Service of witness statements; and

            c) Expert evidence

• Part 45 to provide for the recoverability of VAT in addition to fixed recoverable costs under Rules 45.8, 45.15A, 45.48 and 45.48 and 45.51, as well as the new section x.
• Part 52 relating to appeals to insert a new rule 52.3B providing for a deadline for seeking permission from the court of appeal to appeal to the supreme court, the deadline being 28 days after the date of the decision of the court of appeal or such longer period as the court of appeal orders.
• Part 62 relating to arbitration claims to update a cross reference.
• Insert a new Part 68 to make provision on relation to references to higher courts and related interventions pursuant to Section 6A to 6C of the EU(W)A 2018 concerning assimilated case law.
• Part 73 relating to charging orders, stop orders and stop notices to make is possible for any Designated Civil judge to consent to the exercise by legal advisers of specified jurisdiction of the court under Part 73, by substituting ‘relevant Designated Civil Judge’ for ‘Designated Civil Judge of Greater Manchester.
• Part 77 to introduce a requirement for applications for Serious Crime Prevention orders under the Serious Crimes Act 2007 to be made to the Administrative Court.
• Part 81 which relates to applications and proceedings relating to contempt of court to add Rule 81.4 which requires a committal application to give information to a respondent about their rights including the right to silence and the risk of the court drawing adverse inferences from that silence if that right is exercised.
• Part 83 (write and warrants – general provisions) to clarify the operation of the notice of eviction procedure in rule 83.8A in relation to further notices of eviction following a previous failure to affect an entire eviction.