Court reporting restrictions rules about to change

Media organisations will be given a right to be heard before court orders imposing reporting restrictions are made, under new civil court rules in force from next month.

An Act of Sederunt, which will come into force on 1 April 2015, amends the Rules of the Court of Session and the Sheriff Court Rules in respect of orders restricting the reporting of proceedings.

Present rules concerning the arrangements for notifying the media of reporting restrictions relate only to orders made under s 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981. The changes, which follow a review by Lord Woolman and Sheriff Principal Lockhart and the decision of the UK Supreme Court in A v BBC Scotland, will extend the current rules to all instances where the court is considering making an order restricting reporting.

In addition, the rules will be modified to provide that an order is not made, or does not become final, until the media have had an opportunity to be heard, through the use of interim orders. Where an interim order is made, interested parties will be notified via email and have two days to make written representations to the court.

Where representations are lodged a hearing will be fixed, but if no representations are lodged the clerk will put the interim order before the court in chambers so that it may resume consideration of whether to make an order. If no order is made, the court must recall the interim order.

Where an order has been made, interested persons will again be notified via email and the making of the order will appear on the Scottish Court Service web page. Any person aggrieved by the making of the order may at any time apply for the revocation or variation of the order. 

The changes are contained in the Act of Sederunt (Rules of the Court of Session and Sheriff Court Rules Amendment No 3) (Reporting Restrictions) 2015.