Small change for CPR

District Judge Michael Walker surveys the latest update of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998

The 31st update of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) came into force on 1 April 2003.

It is not on a par with bumper updates of the past, but is in the main limited to the introduction of a new section II of part 54 (now renamed 'Judicial review and statutory review') setting out rules relating to applications to the High Court under section 101(2) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002.

That is the section which provides that a party to an application to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal for permission to appeal against an adjudicator's determination may apply to the High Court for a review of the tribunal's decision on the grounds that the tribunal made an error of law.

Immigration practitioners will no doubt consider the new rules 54.21-54.27 in more detail.

In essence, an application under section 101(2) must be made to the Administrative Court by filing an application notice not later than 14 days after the applicant is deemed to have received notice of the tribunal's decision.

Rule 54.22 sets out the content of the application notice.

Subsequent rules deal with time limits, service of the application, its determination, service of the order and (of course) costs.

Practice Direction 52 (Appeals) suffers yet another change.

Paragraph 21.7 has been rewritten to deal with appeals from the Immigration Appeal Tribunal to the Court of Appeal on a point of law under section 103(1) of the Act.

The appellant's notice must be filed at the Court of Appeal within 28 days after the appellant is served with written notice of the tribunal's decision to grant or refuse permission to appeal.

The new paragraph also deals with service points.

District Judge Walker sits at Wandsworth County Court and is a contributor to Jordan's Civil Court Service