Explanatory note

This note is not part of the rules, but is intended to indicate their general effect.

These rules, which come into force on 24 May 2010, amend the High Court Rules.

Rule 4 replaces Schedule 2 of the High Court Rules with a new schedule. Schedule 2 facilitates the making of costs awards by setting daily recovery rates for different categories of proceedings. Under the High Court Rules, awards of costs are determined on the basis of applying the appropriate daily recovery rate for the particular category of proceeding to the time allocated by Schedule 3 for each step in the proceeding. There are 3 categories. The new Schedule 2 increases the daily recovery rate for Category 1 proceedings from $1,070 to $1,250, for Category 2 proceedings from $1,600 to $1,880, and for Category 3 proceedings from $2,370 to $2,780.

Rule 5 is a transitional rule relating to the recovery of costs. The rule provides that the changes to costs made by these rules apply to proceedings commenced after these rules take effect. In the case of proceedings commenced before these rules take effect,—

• the previous provisions will apply to steps taken in the proceedings before these rules take effect:

• the new provisions will apply to steps taken in the proceedings after these rules take effect.