Before August 2026

Disputes heard by interim panels

Before the Department existed, disagreements between member organisations were heard by interim panels that the members convened between themselves for each matter. There was no standing court, no common procedure and no published record of what had been decided, and a determination bound only the members who had agreed to accept it.

10 August 2026

Transition period opens

Member organisations began transferring their open matters and the records of the interim panels to the Department. A draft of the rules of procedure and five draft practice directions were circulated to members for comment on the same day.

28 August 2026

Comments on the draft rules close

Forty-six written comments were received from nineteen members. Fourteen changes were made to the draft, principally to the periods for service of documents and to the treatment of commercially confidential material.

5 September 2026

Transition period closes

In all, 168 matters were transferred from the interim panels. Of these 127 had been concluded and 41 remained open, together with 22 compliance notices and the records of every determination the panels had made.

6 September 2026

Department established

The Justice Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network is formally established and launches its official website at justice.gov.vin.

6 September 2026

Network Court constituted

The Network Court is constituted as the court of the Network, sitting in a General, Standards, Enforcement and Appeals Division, with jurisdiction over member disputes, enforcement applications, standards questions and appeals.

6 September 2026

Five tribunals brought into being

The Certification, Licensing, Data Protection, Procurement and Staff Tribunals are constituted to decide defined classes of matter at first instance, with an appeal to the Appeals Division of the Court.

6 September 2026

Rules made and the register opened

The Rules of the Network Court 2026 are made and five practice directions are issued. The register of decisions opens with the 127 transitional determinations of the interim panels.

6 September 2026

Dispute Resolution Service opens

The Service begins accepting referrals from members whose direct negotiations have not produced a settlement within 30 days, with a panel of 24 mediators in five sections.

14 September 2026

First sittings of the Court

The four divisions sit for the first time and Parts 1 to 7 of the rules come into force. The tribunals sit for the first time between 15 and 24 September 2026.

1 October 2026

Part 8 of the rules comes into force

Appeals from a tribunal to the Appeals Division, and applications for the review of a decision where a party was not served, are governed by Part 8 from that day.

31 March 2027

First review of the rules

The Department will review the rules in the light of the first six months of sittings and publish any proposed amendments in the Newsroom before they are made.