New rules for Privy Council appeals

• The New Rules and accompanying Practice Directions of the JCPC are now in force. 

• All JCPC appeals filed on or after 2 December 2024 will be subject to the New Rules. 

• Parties who anticipate filing an appeal should ensure that they are registered on the new JCPC Portal. 

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the "JCPC") has introduced updated Rules and Practice Directions (the "New Rules"), which came into force on 2 December 2024, together with an updated website and case management portal (the "Portal"). 

The JCPC is the highest court of appeal for 32 jurisdictions, including Bermuda, BVI, Jersey, Guernsey, and the Cayman Islands.

The New Rules apply to all appeals filed with the JCPC on or after 2 December 2024, including applications for permission to appeal. 

Key Changes 

1. Any appeals filed prior to 2 December 2024 will continue to be governed by the Judicial Committee (Appellate Jurisdiction) Rules 2009 and will not utilise the Portal system.

2. All new appeals will now undergo a case management procedure, part of which will be a review of all appeals filed "as of right" for the purpose of determining whether the appeal seeks to overturn concurrent findings of fact by lower courts, which ordinarily will not be entertained in accordance with the Board's decision in Devi v Roy. Such appeals will be listed for a short case management hearing, where the appeal may be dismissed.

3. Whilst the Notice of Appeal is required to be served on a respondent using a non-Portal method (eg by hand, email, post etc.), service of all documents thereafter will be conducted via the Portal. In this regard, parties will receive an email notification when a document is uploaded to the Portal. A document is taken to be served on a party on the day the Portal email alert is sent, provided that the email alert is sent during the office hours of the JCPC Registry. 

4. All communications between parties, or a party and the JCPC Registry, will be conducted via the Portal. Confidential "channels" will be available on the Portal for sensitive communications.

5. Once all Notices of Acknowledgement, Cross-appeals and/or Interventions have been filed, the appeal will be listed. Accordingly, the listing of an appeal will take place much sooner than was previously the case and prior to the filing of the Record and Statement of Facts and Issues.

6. All parties to an appeal will be able to sign-up to the Portal (limited to three user-accounts per party), which will track the progress of the case. It is envisioned that the new JCPC website and Portal will interact on a mutual and automated basis. For example, once the parties receive a notification via the Portal that an appeal has been listed, such information may simultaneously be published on the JCPC website. 

7. Appeal documents, such as a Written Case, will be automatically subject to publication on the JCPC website, unless an application for the prevention of publication is made in advance.