(1)
The commercial panel of the High Court from which Judges may be selected to hear and determine commercial proceedings is established and may operate subject to this section.
(2)
The Governor-General may, by Order in Council made on the recommendation of the Attorney-General after consultation with the Chief Justice and the Chief High Court Judge,—
specify a commencement date for the operation of the commercial panel:
specify the types of proceedings that may be assigned to the commercial panel:
if the Governor-General considers it necessary, provide for the commercial panel to cease its operations on or from a specified date.
(3)
The Chief High Court Judge, in consultation with the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice, may establish other panels of High Court Judges for the purposes of dealing with proceedings other than commercial proceedings.
(4)
The Chief High Court Judge may determine how many High Court Judges are to be on the commercial panel or any other panel and assign Judges to the panels.
(5)
The Chief High Court Judge may decide the basis on which cases are to be distributed as between Judges on the commercial panel or another panel and Judges who are not on any panel.
(6)
A party may nominate that the party’s case be dealt with by a Judge on a panel and the Chief High Court Judge may assign to the case a Judge or Judges from a panel.
(7)
An order under this section is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).
Section 19(7): inserted, on 28 October 2021, by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).