A scheme to widen public access to documents put before the court will get under way on 1 January, the judiciary announced today. The access to public domain documents pilot had originally been planned to begin in the commercial court this month. However the Gazette understands the start was delayed partly because of the change in lord chancellor and partly because of lawyers' concerns.
The new two-year pilot, aimed at advancing the principle of open justice in the civil courts, will initially be launched in the Commercial Court and London Circuit Commercial Court of the King’s Bench Division and the Financial List (Commercial Court and Chancery Division), Lady Justice Cockerill announced today. It will give non-parties online access to some public domain documents from trials or hearings, for example skeleton arguments or witness statements. These will be available via the CE File court filing system.
Widening public access to court documents has been on the agenda of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee since Lady Hale’s 2019 Supreme Court judgment in Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring. A new practice direction, 51ZH – Access to Public Domain Documents, states that a party that has produced any document which becomes a public domain document, including skeleton arguments, witness statements and expert reports, must file that document on CE-File website under the relevant designations to allow access by anyone, including non-parties.
Courts will have the power to restrict access through a file management order, but if parties request this they must do so in writing, giving notice to other parties.
Announcing the start date, Lady Justice Cockerill said: 'The announcement of the pilot marks a positive step forward and will encourage greater understanding of both the courts and the cases that are heard within them.'
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