Rules of the Network Court Made and Register of Decisions Opened

The Justice Department today made the Rules of the Network Court 2026, which govern proceedings in the Network Court and in the five tribunals of the Network. Parts 1 to 7 come into force on 14 September 2026, with the first sittings of the Court. Part 8, which deals with appeals and review, comes into force on 1 October 2026.

A draft of the rules was circulated to member organisations on 10 August 2026. Forty-six written comments were received from nineteen members before comments closed on 28 August, and fourteen changes were made to the draft, principally to the periods for service of documents and to the treatment of commercially confidential material. The rules are supplemented by five practice directions issued by the Registry.

The register of decisions also opened today. It carries every decision of the Court and of the tribunals, published within ten working days of the decision being given, together with the 127 determinations made by the interim panels during the transition period. Those determinations are recorded as transitional determinations and are of persuasive value only; they do not bind the Court or the tribunals.

A party may apply within five working days of a decision for the redaction of commercially confidential material before publication. The Registry decides the application and records in the register that a redaction has been made. The parts of the rules, the practice directions and the reference scheme of the register are set out on the Rules of Procedure and Decisions and the Register pages of this site.