These rules come into force on 10 December 2001.

In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires,—

In any judgment, order, direction, or other document forming part of any proceeding, unless the context otherwise requires, working day has the meaning given by subclause (1).

These rules apply to—

These rules also apply to steps that are incidental to appeals referred to in subclause (1) (including applications made to the court for leave to appeal in relation to those appeals).

On its own initiative or on the application of a party, the court or a Judge of the court may direct, authorise, or accept a departure from these rules for reasons of urgency or for any other reason.

The forms set out in the Schedule, or forms to the same effect, must be used in all appropriate cases.

Any submissions filed under these rules must—

An application for leave to appeal (other than by a prosecutor) to which Part 6 of the Act applies must be made by notice of application for leave to appeal in—

An application for leave to appeal by a prosecutor must be made by notice of application for leave to appeal in form 3.

A respondent who is served with a notice of application for leave to appeal must, within 5 working days of service of that notice, file and serve on the applicant a reply memorandum.

The respondent’s reply memorandum must state—

As soon as the reply memorandum is filed or the time for filing the reply memorandum has passed, the Registrar must refer the application for leave to appeal to a Judge for case management.

The Judge may determine—

The Judge need not give reasons for the determination under subclause (2).

If rules 21 to 25 apply to the proposed appeal, the Judge may, when making a determination under subclause (2) or following that determination, make the initial decision on the mode of hearing in terms of rule 23(1).

This rule applies where—

The applicant need not file a notice of appeal.

If the appeal is to be an oral appeal, the Registrar must allocate a fixture for it in accordance with rule 26 and the appeal proceeds in accordance with the provisions relating to oral appeals.

If the appeal is to be an appeal on the papers, the appeal proceeds in accordance with the provisions relating to appeals on the papers.

This rule applies where an application for leave to appeal is to be heard on the papers and separately from the proposed appeal.

The provisions of these rules relating to appeals and applications that are heard on the papers apply with any necessary modifications.

If the court decides to give leave to appeal, the court or a Judge must, when leave is given or subsequently, decide whether the appeal is to be heard as an oral appeal or as an appeal on the papers.

This rule applies where an application for leave to appeal is to be heard orally and separately from the proposed appeal.

The provisions of these rules relating to appeals and applications to be heard orally apply with any necessary modifications.

Despite rule 27, each party’s written submissions must not exceed 5 pages, unless a Judge permits longer submissions.

Despite rule 27, the applicant must provide his or her written submissions to the court and to the respondent no less than 10 working days before the hearing date.

Despite rule 27, the respondent must provide his or her written submissions to the court and to the applicant no less than 5 working days before the hearing date.

Oral submissions made at the hearing of an application for leave to appeal may not exceed—

Subclause (6) is subject to any contrary direction given in a particular case by a Judge.

When an application for leave to appeal is to be determined by the court simultaneously with the appeal, the parties must, in their written submissions on the merits of the appeal, also address the question whether leave to appeal should be granted.

If the court is required to give reasons under section 340 of the Act for its determination of an application for leave to appeal, those reasons may be stated briefly and in general terms.

A prosecutor appeal must be made by notice of appeal in form 4.

A general appeal must be made by notice of appeal in form 5.

A bail appeal (other than by a prosecutor) must be made by notice of appeal in form 6.

An extended supervision order appeal must,—

A notice of appeal or notice of application for leave to appeal may include either or both of the following:

The appellant must sign a notice of appeal or a notice of application for leave to appeal unless—

An appellant who is unable to write must affix his or her mark on the notice in the presence of a witness who must also sign the notice.

A notice required to be signed by an appellant who contends that the appellant was not responsible for his or her actions on the ground that he or she was insane at the relevant time may be signed by the appellant’s lawyer or by any other person authorised to act on the appellant’s behalf.

A notice or other document required to be signed by an appellant that is a body corporate may be signed on its behalf by a duly authorised agent of the body corporate.

A notice or other document required to be signed by—

A person appeals by filing in the Registry a notice of appeal or a notice of application for leave to appeal (as the case requires).

An appeal is brought, or an application for leave to appeal is made, when the notice of appeal or the notice of application for leave to appeal, as the case may be, is received in the Registry.

The Registrar is responsible for effecting service of notices of appeal and notices of application for leave to appeal.

An appellant who seeks an extension of time within which to appeal, or to apply for leave to appeal, may include an application for an extension of time within his or her notice of appeal, or his or her notice of application for leave to appeal, by completing the relevant part of the form.

A notice (other than for a bail appeal) that is given out of time must be treated as if it contains an application for extension of time.

If a ground of appeal is that there was a miscarriage of justice because of the conduct of the appellant’s lawyer at the trial or sentencing (trial lawyer), particulars of the conduct concerned must be given in—

The appellant must, within 30 working days after filing the notice of appeal, file and serve on the prosecutor any affidavits that relate to the ground of appeal.

The prosecutor must file and serve any affidavit in reply within 15 working days after the service of the appellant’s affidavit.

A party who wishes to cross-examine a deponent who has sworn an affidavit on behalf of the other party must, within 15 working days after service of the affidavit, file and serve on the other party a notice of cross-examination specifying the deponent the party wishes to cross-examine.

A party on whom a notice is served under subclause (4) must—

If the appellant wishes to waive privilege under section 65 of the Evidence Act 2006 in respect of communications between the appellant and trial lawyer, the appellant must, within 30 working days after filing the notice of appeal, provide to the prosecutor a written waiver of privilege in respect of all communications of that kind.

If a ground of appeal is that there was a miscarriage of justice because further evidence has become available since the trial, particulars of the further evidence must be set out in—

The appellant must, within 30 working days of filing the notice of appeal, file and serve on the prosecutor any affidavits that relate to the ground of appeal.

The affidavits must—

The prosecutor must file and serve any affidavit in reply within 15 working days after service of the appellant’s affidavit.

This rule applies if, in an appeal based on a ground described in rule 12A or 12B, an affidavit is filed on behalf of a party (party A) and served on the other party (party B).

If party B requires the deponent who has sworn the affidavit to give his or her evidence orally, party B must, within 15 working days of service of the affidavit, file and serve on party A a notice (an oral evidence notice) stating that requirement.

If party B consents to the deponent giving his or her evidence in chief by the affidavit but requires the deponent to be cross-examined, party B must, within 15 working days of service of the affidavit, file and serve on party A a notice (a cross-examination notice) stating that requirement.

If party A is served with an oral evidence notice or a cross-examination notice, party A must—

If party B does not serve an oral evidence notice with respect to the affidavit, party A may assume that party B consents to the deponent giving his or her evidence by the affidavit.

If a ground of appeal is that the sentence imposed on the appellant was not appropriate because of disparity with a sentence imposed on a co-offender, that ground of appeal must be stated in the notice of appeal.

The references to a notice of appeal in rules 12A, 12B, and 12C include references to a notice of application for leave to appeal if leave is sought for a second appeal under 1 or more of the following sections of the Act:

On receiving a notice of appeal for a general appeal, the Registrar must obtain for the use of the court the documents required by section 323(2) of the Act, namely, all documents, exhibits, and other things that appear necessary for the proper determination of the appeal.

The documents obtained under subclause (1) form the preliminary case on appeal for the use of the court and must be given to—

If a notice of appeal states in accordance with rule 12C that a ground of appeal is disparity of sentence, the Registrar must obtain, for the use of the court, documents relevant to the sentence imposed on the appellant’s co-offender, including—

The Registrar must include the material specified in subclause (4) in the preliminary case on appeal or, if the preliminary case on appeal has been prepared, in a supplementary case on appeal.

The material is—

The preliminary case on appeal, together with any supplementary case on appeal, constitutes the final case on appeal for a general appeal.

The parties’ lawyers must ensure that all material relevant to the appeal has been included in the final case on appeal.

On receiving a notice of appeal (other than for a general appeal) or notice of application for leave to appeal, the Registrar must obtain for the use of the court the material relevant to the decision or ruling under appeal.

On receiving an application for extension of time under rule 11 or a form having that effect under rule 12, the Registrar must comply with rule 13 (in the case of a general appeal) or rule 14 (in the case of any other appeal or application for leave to appeal), and the relevant rule applies with the necessary modifications.

A Judge of the trial court may direct that a document, exhibit, or other thing be delivered out of the trial court to any person the Judge considers entitled to delivery, and the Judge may make delivery subject to any conditions he or she thinks fit.

However, subclause (1) does not apply to property that could be made subject to an order under section 377 of the Act (which relates to orders for the restitution of property).

In any proceeding to which Part 6 of the Act applies, the Registrar must, if the Court of Appeal or a Judge of the Court of Appeal so directs, request the Judge of the trial court to provide the Court of Appeal with a report in writing setting out his or her opinion about the case generally or about any particular point arising in the proceeding.

The Registrar must disclose the report—

To enable a Judge to prepare the report, the Registrar must provide the Judge with any document concerning the proceeding and in the Registrar’s possession if the Judge requests the document or the Court of Appeal or a Judge of the court directs the Registrar to provide the document.

If the court orders the examination of witnesses to be conducted otherwise than before the court, the examination must, subject to any special directions the court may give, be conducted so far as is practicable in the same manner as the examination of witnesses by an examiner under rule 9.20 of the High Court Rules 2016.

The parties or their lawyers are entitled to be present at, and take part in, the examination of any witness.

The Registrar may issue a writ of subpoena in the name of the court if the court makes an order under section 335(2)(a) or (b) of the Act to secure the attendance of a person as a witness either before—

In this rule, authorities bundle means a bundle of authorities and legislation on which a party relies.

This rule applies whenever written submissions are filed, whether for the purpose of an appeal on the papers or of an oral appeal.

At the time a party provides his or her submissions to the court, he or she must also provide to the court,—

An authorities bundle must contain—

Rules 22 to 25 (mode of hearing) and rules 29 to 32 (appeals on the papers) apply to all appeals except bail appeals.

A party’s initial submissions on the mode of hearing must be set out in the notice of appeal or notice of application for leave to appeal.

The initial decision on the mode of hearing of an appeal must be made by the court or Judge in accordance with section 329 of the Act (which enables the court or Judge to have regard to the criteria set out in section 329(2) of the Act).

The court may, at any time, either on its own initiative or on the application of any party, change the mode of hearing of a particular appeal to an oral hearing in accordance with section 329 of the Act.

The Registrar must notify the parties of a decision to deal with an appeal just on the basis of written material and the reasons for the decision (as required by section 329(5) of the Act).

If a party to an appeal wishes the court to reconsider a decision under section 329 of the Act on the mode of hearing, the party may include further submissions on this matter in written submissions on the merits under rule 29.

This rule applies to oral appeals.

The Registrar must allocate a fixture for every oral appeal.

Notice of the time and place fixed for the hearing must be given by the Registrar to—

This rule applies to oral appeals.

The appellant must provide full written submissions on the appeal.

The appellant must provide his or her written submissions to the court and to the respondent no less than 15 working days before the hearing date.

The respondent must provide his or her written submissions to the court and to the appellant no less than 10 working days before the hearing date.

In the case of an extended supervision order appeal to which this rule applies, a victim who wishes to make written submissions to the court must provide them to the court no less than 15 working days before the hearing date.

If the victim also wishes to appear and make oral submissions at the hearing, he or she must, in accordance with subclause (4C), apply for the court’s leave to appear and make oral submissions.

The victim must apply for the court’s leave in a separate letter that—

The Registrar must serve on the prosecutor and the offender to whom the appeal relates a copy of—

Subclause (4D) is subject to section 107W of the Parole Act 2002 and, accordingly, the Registrar must delete any information that discloses the current address or contact details of the victim from the copy of any documents to be served on the offender under that subclause.

If the appeal is to be heard by 3 Judges, 4 copies of the submissions must be provided for court use.

If the appeal is to be heard by 5 Judges, 6 copies of the submissions must be provided for court use.

A party who wishes to exercise the right of reply in an appeal that is to be heard as an oral appeal must exercise that right orally at the hearing.

This rule applies to appeals on the papers.

In this rule, appointed period means a period appointed under subclause (4) and, when used in subclause (9), includes a period appointed under subclause (7)(a).

For the purposes of this rule,—

The Registrar must appoint a period of no less than 20 working days within which submissions may be made—

Notice of the appointed period must be given by the Registrar to—

The Registrar must send to the respondent a copy of all written submissions received by the court from the appellant and, if applicable, from the victim, within the appointed period, and the respondent may make written submissions within—

Subclause (6) is subject to section 107W of the Parole Act 2002 in so far as it relates to written submissions from the victim and, accordingly, the Registrar must delete any information that discloses the current address or contact details of the victim from the copy of those submissions to be served on the respondent under that subclause if the respondent is the offender.

A copy of all written submissions received by the court from the respondent within the applicable period stated in subclause (6) must be sent by the Registrar to the appellant, and—

Each party must file in the court—

The court must not begin hearing an appeal on the papers until all the periods prescribed or directed under rule 29 have expired.

A hearing of an appeal on the papers under section 331 of the Act must be conducted by 3 Judges and may take the form of each Judge separately considering the relevant materials (including any written submissions) before the Judges arrive at their decision.

If the court, having considered any further submissions on the mode of hearing under rules 25 and 29(4), decides to change the mode of hearing, it must give its decision in accordance with section 329(5) of the Act.

If the court orders a hearing involving oral submissions,—

The submissions already filed constitute the written submissions for the hearing unless the court otherwise directs.

If the court, having considered any further submissions on the mode of hearing under rules 25 and 29(4), decides not to change the mode of hearing, it may give its decision on that matter at the same time as it gives its decision on the merits of the appeal or application.

An application by the Solicitor-General for leave to refer a question of law to the Court of Appeal under subpart 11 of Part 6 of the Act must be made by notice of application for leave in form 8.

An application for leave under subclause (1) must be accompanied by an explanatory memorandum.

The court may determine an application for leave under subclause (1) just on the basis of written material or by way of a hearing involving oral submissions.

If leave is granted,—

The court may—

A judgment that is delivered orally is given when a Judge or Judges deliver it in open court.

A judgment that is reserved may be delivered—

If subclause (3)(a) applies,—

If subclause (3)(b) applies,—

The Registrar must, if requested to do so by a party,—

The Registrar must immediately after the delivery time, or in the case of a judgment delivered orally as soon as practicable after the judgment is transcribed, post or send electronically a copy of the judgment to—

A failure by the Registrar to comply with subclause 4(b), 5(b), (6) or (7) does not affect the validity of the judgment or its delivery time.

A copy of the judgment signed by at least 1 Judge who was a member of the court that heard the appeal must be retained by the Registry.

This rule does not apply to minutes or procedural orders.

Whenever a Judge has exercised a power of the court and a party has the right to have that decision reviewed by the court, the Registrar must, at the same time as giving notice of the decision, inform that party of his or her right to have that decision reviewed by the court.

An application for review must be in writing and must be made within 10 working days after receipt of notification of the Judge’s decision.

Every judgment, minute, or direction must identify on the face of it the Judge or Judges who made the decision or minute or gave the direction.

An appellant may, at any time, abandon an appeal by filing in the Registry a notice advising that he or she—

The notice must be signed by—

If the notice is signed by the appellant personally, the appellant’s signature must be witnessed and the witness must add the witness’s address and description after the witness’s signature.

A notice abandoning an appeal may be in form 9.

This rule applies if, on the trial of a person entitled or given leave to appeal under the Act, an order for restitution of property has been made in the High Court.

Before any order is made by the Court of Appeal under section 352(4) of the Act, the following persons are entitled to be heard before the Court of Appeal:

The chief executive must, in relation to an extended supervision order appeal,—

A person who lawfully receives a fine paid by a person sentenced on conviction to payment of a fine must retain the fine until the Registrar of the trial court is notified of the Court of Appeal’s decision on any related appeal.

An appellant who is in custody in default of payment of a fine must be treated for the purposes of Part 6 of the Act and these rules as a person sentenced to imprisonment.

A Judge of the trial court may give any directions that he or she considers proper concerning—

The Registrar must keep a register, in any form he or she thinks fit, of all—

The register must be open for public inspection during the court’s ordinary office hours.

Notices may be given to the court by serving them by hand or by sending them to the Registrar, at his or her office, by mail or electronically.

A notice may be given to a party—

The performance of any duty imposed on any person under Part 6 of the Act or these rules may be enforced by order of the court.

Non-compliance by a party with these rules does not prevent that party from continuing to take part in the appeal if the court considers that the non-compliance was not wilful and that it may be waived or remedied by amendment or otherwise.

The court may, in any manner that it thinks fit,—

In any matter not expressly provided for by these rules, the court may give any direction that it thinks best calculated to carry out the purposes of Part 6 of the Act or the other relevant Act.

The court or a Judge may extend or shorten the time appointed by these rules, or fixed by any order, for doing any act or taking any proceeding or any step in a proceeding on any terms that the court or the Judge thinks just.

The court or a Judge may exercise a power conferred by subclause (1)—

This rule applies if—

The court or the Registrar may correct the judgment or order or the reasons for the judgment or order on—

The Registrar may correct the judgment or order or the reasons for the judgment or order in accordance with subclause (2) only if the judgment or order in question was made by the Registrar.

The Court of Appeal (Criminal) Rules 1997 (SR 1997/168) are revoked.

The revocation of any rule by subclause (1) does not affect the validity of any document made or thing done under that revoked rule.