The Judicial College has recently published its updated guidance Reporting Restrictions in the Criminal Courts.

The guidance replaces the previous version which was last revised in May 2016. Since then, the law relating to reporting restrictions has evolved. As set out in the guidance, the law is drawn from a number of statutory sources as well as the common law and human rights principles.

Numerous recent authorities cited in the guidance demonstrate that reporting restrictions are a complex and easily misunderstood area of law. The recent judgments arising from appeals from reporting restriction issues demonstrate that lawyers, judges and journalists often struggle with understanding and applying the law correctly. The prevalence of judgments arising from reporting restrictions and contempt cases makes the updated guidance all the more timely.

Lawyers can be forgiven for finding the black letter law in this area difficult to navigate. There are also sometimes cases where there is no clear answer, or because there are difficult balancing decisions between the principles of open justice and privacy rights. However, lawyers cannot be forgiven for failing to read this helpful guidance.

This guidance will be useful for criminal lawyers (and particularly those who have significant youth practice), media lawyers and journalists. As criminal penalties (or a contempt) can arise from an innocent misunderstanding of the reporting restrictions regimes, those who report or comment on cases before the criminal courts would benefit from re-familiarising themselves with the relevant provisions in order to ensure that they do not fall foul of the law they are reporting on.

The section that deals with the anonymity for complainants of sexual offences under Section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, a frequently misunderstood and misapplied area of law, is particularly helpful.

Whilst the guidance is admirably clear, the underlying law underpinning the reporting remains less so. There will no doubt be further challenges to the reporting restriction regime which will continue to vex lawyers and the courts. By then, it will be time for new guidance.

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