Disclosure

Prosecution disclosure

Prosecution disclosure is fundamental in an adversarial criminal justice system where the power to investigate lies with the police and other enforcement bodies. The regime for disclosure is contained in the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA 1996) with relevant procedural requirements set out in Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 (CrimPR 2025), SI 2025/909, Pts 8, 9 and 15 and the Criminal Practice Directions.

CPIA 1996 imposes a statutory framework on the common law rules. It sets out the disclosure duties of the prosecution and the defence. This legislation has been supplemented by disclosure guidelines, including the Attorney General's Guidelines on Disclosure (the A-G's Guidelines), the CPIA 1996 Code of Practice, and by protocols from the judiciary such as the Control and management of heavy fraud and other complex criminal cases—Criminal Procedure Rules (the Fraud Protocol) for use in long and complex trials and in cases involving lots of digital material. See Practice Note: Prosecuting fraud offences—the Fraud Protocol which explains the Fraud Protocol as it applies in heavy fraud and complex criminal cases.

When a criminal prosecution is commenced in