Consultation on new Privy Council Rules

On 15 April 2024, the Registrar of the Privy Council launched a formal Consultation on proposed revisions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Rules.

The proposed new rules have two main aims:

• 1. To reflect the introduction in late 2024 of a new online case management portal for the use of parties and their lawyers; and
• 2. To reflect current practice in the Privy Council Practice Directions, in particular changes prompted by Covid-19 restrictions, including the greater use of electronic documents.

The proposed Rules not only enable the use of the online case management portal and greater use of electronic documents, but also propose sweeping changes to the timetable and procedure for progressing appeals. The proposed rules also incorporate the new early review of merits procedure introduced in February 2024.

The old rules will continue to apply for all existing appeals commenced before the new rules come into force.

Here at Blake Morgan we have attended a meeting with the Registrar and Lord Briggs to discuss and feed back on the proposals. We are putting together a response to the Consultation before the deadline of 17 May using our extensive experience of Privy Council appeals from multiple jurisdictions.

The Consultation document has been provided to practitioners, members of the judiciary, court staff, law societies, bar associations and ministries of justice across jurisdictions served by the Privy Council and responses are welcomed.

The Consultation document is available online here. The deadline for responses to the Consultation is 17 May 2024.