A bill has been published setting out the way in which the Rules of Online Procedure will be drafted and to establish an online Rules Committee.
· Courts and Tribunals (Online Procedure)
The Bill provides that:
Rules for an online procedure in courts and tribunals
For proceedings of a specified kind, there are to be procedural rules which—
(a) must require that kind of proceedings, or one or more aspects of that
kind of proceedings, to be initiated by electronic means; 5
(b) may authorise or require that kind of proceedings, or one or more aspects of that kind of proceedings, to be conducted, progressed or disposed of by electronic means;
(c) may authorise or require the parties to that kind of proceedings (and
their representatives) to participate in hearings, including the hearing 10 at which the proceedings are disposed of, by electronic means;
and are otherwise to govern the practice and procedure to be followed in that kind of proceedings.
The rules are to be called Online Procedure Rules.
Power to make Online Procedure Rules is to be exercised with a view to 15 securing—
(a) that practice and procedure under the rules are accessible and fair,
(b) that the rules are both simple and simply expressed,
(c) that disputes may be resolved quickly and efficiently under the rules,
and 20
(d) that the rules support the use of innovative methods of resolving disputes.