Government ditches general pre-action protocol

The government has scrapped plans to introduce a general pre-action protocol for civil litigation after receiving negative responses from lawyers to a consultation paper.

Ministers had sought views on introducing a general pre-action protocol for use in disputes where no specific protocol exists.

Of the 103 responses, only 33% were in favour of a general protocol.

It was said that it would be too general and lead to confusion and unnecessary delay.

But the Lord Chancellor's Department said the concerns which led to the idea remained, and that it wanted parties to follow the general principles behind pre-action protocols.

'It has, therefore, been decided to explore how to build on the existing provisions within the Civil Procedure Rules to devise a mechanism that will not only provide a uniform process but will also underline the courts' powers and offer sanctions for non-compliance.' It also stressed the need to avoid a protocol for each area of litigation.

Simon Boon, a partner at City firm DLA and one of the respondents, praised the protocols already in place, but said: 'The paper seemed to be attempting to develop a "one size fits all" protocol, which is not really possible when dealing with a vast multitude of different claims.'

A Law Society spokeswoman said: 'Although we recognise that the proposed general pre-action protocol is too vague to be workable in practice, we urge practitioners to observe the basic principles even where a specialist protocol is not in place.'