Page last updated on Tuesday, November 15 2005 at 1215 UK

Proposed Part 33 of UK Criminal Procedure Rules

TKM takes a look at the proposed Part 33 of the Criminal Procedure Rules

The Civil Procedure Rules Committee, a division of the UK's Department for Constitutional Affairs, is keen to gain feedback on its proposals to introduce new rules governing the use of expert evidence in criminal trials.

Such rules already exist for civil cases under the well-established Part 35 of the Civil Procedure Rules. The new rules for criminal trials are intended to homogenise the expectations of expert witnesses and standardise the procedures by which expert evidence is compiled, considered and presented.

The proposed new rules include provision for pre-hearing discussions between experts instructed by opposing sides as well as potentially controversial powers for a Court to direct the use of a single joint expert by both parties.

The Committee has emphasised the rarity with which it expects a single joint expert to be instructed and its intention that this should only occur where the expert's conclusions are unlikely to be in dispute.

The Committee has invited feedback on the draft rules from a variety of professional sources and public bodies and hopes to review the proposal on December 15th 2005.

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