Costa Kypre introduces the new kid on the e-disclosure block: Practice Direction 31B
There have been a number of cases recently which have highlighted the potential pitfalls if electronic disclosure is not approached in a systematic and collaborative fashion. The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) that tackle the disclosure of electronic documents have been amended, to try and ensure parties involved in a disclosure exercise consider all angles and confer with any other parties from an early stage in the process, to avoid any unnecessary disputes later down the line which can be costly to resolve.
The CPR have been amended by means of a revised practice direction on electronic disclosure. The amended section is Pt 31B which came into force last Friday (1 October 2010).
One of the key features of the amended CPR is the incorporation of an electronic disclosure questionnaire, which encourages parties to provide information about documents they hold in electronic form which are to be disclosed and details of their electronic storage systems.
The new practice direction deals with the same topics that appeared in the old practice