The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2011

Made: 24th February 2011

Coming into operation: 25th March 2011

The County Court Rules Committee makes the following Rules in exercise of the powers conferred by Article 47 of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980[^f00001].

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1

These Rules may be cited as the County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2011 and shall come into operation on 25th March 2011.

2

In these Rules, a reference to an Order, rule, Appendix or Form is a reference to that Order, rule, Appendix or Form so numbered in the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981[^f00002].

Amendments to the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981

3

The County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 are amended as follows:—

• (1) In Order 14—

• (a) after the heading, insert—

• (b) after rule 11, insert the new rules set out in Schedule 1.

• (2) In Order 40, after rule 17, insert the new rules set out in Schedule 2.

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 2

Signed

The undersigned members of the County Court Rules Committee certify these Rules and submit them to the Department of Justice.

T.A Burgess — A E Wells — Barry Valentine — Dorcas Crawford — B.J Stewart

Dated 22nd February 2011

In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 47(4) of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 and after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice, I allow these Rules which shall come into operation on 25th March 2011.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 24th February 2011

David Ford — Minister of Justice

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Rules)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Rules amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 (S.R. 1981 No. 225) (“the principal Rules”) to—

• enable the transposition of article 5 (recourse to mediation), article 6 (enforceability of agreements resulting from mediation) and article 7 (confidentiality of mediation) of Directive 2008/52/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2008 on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters (“the Directive”); and

• provide for a general power for the Judge to adjourn proceedings or extend the time for compliance with a court order or a provision in the principal Rules in order to facilitate the parties using a mediation process.

In particular, Schedule 1 to the Rules sets out a new Part II of Order 14, which makes provision for a general power to adjourn for mediation (rule 13) and provides that any application to the Judge for such an order is to be made by notice of motion (rule 14) and made not later than 56 days before the date on which the proceedings are first listed for hearing (rule 15).

Schedule 2 to the Rules sets out the new Part VI of Order 40, which pertains to the Directive and includes provision on the scope of the part and interpretation (rule 18), rules in relation to article 6 of the Directive (rules 19 and 20) and rules in relation to article 7 of the Directive (rules 21 and 22).

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 1980/397 (N.I.3) to which the most recent relevant amendment was made by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 (c.4)

[^f00002]: S.R 1981 No. 225 to which the most recent amendments were made by S.R. 2010 No. 115

[^f00003]: OJ No. L136, 24.05.2008