Our office took part in the online seminar for the new civil procedure rules which took place on the 22 of September 2021.
The new Civil Procedure Rules amount to an overhaul of the current rules in place. The new rules form part of the efforts underway for the reform of the administration of justice.
The rules are expected to come into force in the near future and remain to be tested in practice. As a way of an example of a positive change, among others, is the scheduling of hearing dates as per rule 37.6 as per the Online Conference 3 March 2021 Report:
”The provision in rule 37.6 is also indicative, according to which the dates of the hearing are consecutive, i.e. “day in – day out”, which of course presupposes a proper planning of the hearing of the case between the lawyers and the court. The current practice of setting a case for a hearing is to have one day allocated every 2-3 months and if the hearing needs to continue over 10-15 days, this results sometimes in the continuation of hearings over two or three years. This will not be allowed under the new Rule”
