Courts are prepared to use more imaginative ways to access and share information, says Ian Mann
In Rockall v DEFRA [2007] EWHC 614 (Admin), [2007] All ER (D) 358 (Mar) the Divisional Court was asked to decide two fundamentally important issues about when proceedings for regulatory offences are as a matter of law “instituted” in the magistrates’ court.
The resolution of these issues affects the way in which magistrates’ courts accept the initiating process for all prosecutions and when time stops in relation to limitation. Interestingly, the case has potentially signalled the green light for the future imaginative use of systems of electronic service and even joint electronic access to remote servers to be effected without the need for further procedural rules.
FAX SERVICE
The first issue was whether or not service of an information commencing regulatory proceedings by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) pursuant to the Forestry Act 1967 (FoA 1967) could be lawfully served by fax. The appellant contended that in the absence of detailed provision for service by fax in the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR), such as
