The Ministry of Justice has launched a 12-month pilot scheme to monitor applications for privacy injunctions
It will gather together and publish, in anonymised form, information about applications for injunctions where s 12 of the Human Rights Act 1998—freedom of expression—is engaged.
The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, has issued Practice Direction 51F, which came into force on 1 August, to provide for the scheme.
It applies to any civil proceedings in the High Court or Court of Appeal in which the court “considers an application for an injunction prohibiting the publication of private or confidential information, the continuation of such an injunction, or an appeal against the refusal of such an injunction”.
The scheme does not apply to proceedings covered by the Family Procedure Rules 2010, immigration or asylum proceedings, or proceedings which raise issues of national security.
It was originally proposed by Lord Neuberger’s super-injunction committee in May. Lord Neuberger has also published the final practice guidance for interim non-disclosure orders, which was originally published in a draft annexed to the super-injunction committee’s report.
