This Practice Note provides guidance on conducting a reasonable search for standard disclosure under CPR 31.7. It answers the following key questions on disclosure under the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR): ‘What is standard disclosure?’, ‘What is a document?’ and ‘What is a reasonable search?’ in terms of meaning, relevance, reasonableness and control by reference to the overriding principles. The Practice Note also addresses specific problems with back up data, key word searches and metadata. Business and Property Court claims This Practice Note does not cover the provisions of the disclosure scheme operating in the Business and Property Courts. For further guidance on this, see: Disclosure Scheme (Business & Property Courts)—overview. Claims started on or after 1 October 2015 in the Business and Property Courts may be suitable for and/or be subject to one or both of the schemes operating under CPR PD 57AB, namely the shorter trials scheme and/or the flexible trials scheme. For more information on these schemes, see Practice Notes: Business and Property Courts—shorter trials scheme—Disclosure under the shorter trials scheme and

This Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Disclosure under CPR 31—introduction, or Disclosure Scheme (Business & Property Courts)—overview depending on which disclosure scheme is in operation in the court in which the claim is proceeding (for further guidance, see: Which disclosure rules apply to my claim—flowchart?). Term Definition Artificial Intelligence (AI) an artificial means of replicating thought processes of the human brain which can result in either extractive (summarising) or generative (creating) AI back-up tapes tapes which contain saved data. They are called 'back-up' because the information is copied onto the tapes and is available as a 'back-up'. Can also refer to any other method where data is regularly collected and stored separately for the purposes of risk management. See also incremental back-ups below bit and byte electronic data can be measured in bits, which refers to the space taken up. 8 bits = 1 byte. 1 byte is the equivalent of 1 character of text; 1024 bytes = 1 kilobyte clustering this type of search automatically identifies similar documents

This guidance covers issues relating to the collection and searching of electronic devices, involving questions around asking who is the controller of the device and, if not the litigating party, whether the controller can be compelled to hand it over to the party to the litigation. The means of searching data stored on a device and identifying whether its contents are subject to disclosure in the particular case, or protected on grounds of legal professional privilege or another exception, is critical. Third party rights in data are also considered. Why devices are potentially important in disclosure In Pipia v BGEO Group Ltd, Mrs Justice Cockerill was dealing with a question of whether a personal mobile phone belonging to a witness who had held a senior executive position in the defendant company could be required to be searched as part of the defendant’s disclosure obligations. She held that it could in the particular circumstances—see: Are any devices exempt from searching?—and explained in the course of her judgment why the contents of devices are seen as potentially valuable

This Practice Note explains the difference between disclosure and inspection and considers when the difference will matter. It reflects different methods of inspecting disclosed documents and asks who is entitled to carry out the inspection. It also refers to the different forms of restrictions that may be imposed by the court on inspection of disclosure. Finally, it addresses the withholding from production of documents in the public interest, either under a public immunity certificate or in a closed material procedure. The purpose of inspection Disclosure and inspection are distinct concepts which often run together because, in many cases, the disclosure of a document automatically leads to its being inspected by the other party to the litigation. It is rare to find that a party will disclose a document as being under its control but will object to the inspection of it under CPR 31.3 because it is either: • claiming a right or a duty to withhold the inspection of it, under CPR 31.3(1)(b), or • asserting in its disclosure statement that in its view it

The abandonment of all or part of a claim.

Dispute Resolution analysis: When a claim is discontinued, a claimant needs the court's permission to bring another claim against the same defendant if certain criteria are met. CPR 38.7 requires permission to be obtained where—a) the claimant discontinued the claim after the defendant filed a defence; and b) the claim arises out of the same or substantially the same facts as the discontinued claim. This judgment (in which permission was refused for the claimant to bring a third claim after discontinuing the previous two claims) sets out the grounds upon which the court will grant permission under CPR 38.7 and the factors it will consider. Written by Harriet Campbell, senior knowledge lawyer at Stephenson Harwood LLP.

Basis for valuing a scheme's liabilities that involves assuming that the scheme has discontinued and that the liabilities have to be secured through the purchase of annuities or deferred annuities.

For information about what deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) are and how they work, see Practice Note: Deferred prosecution agreements. When does a deferred prosecution agreement expire? A DPA usually expires on the date specified as a term of the agreement, unless it is terminated for breach. See Practice Note: Breach of a DPA. The SFO has published details of how the DPAs it has agreed to have been complied with. These can be located within the SFO’s website. Several DPAs agreed to date have built in flexibility by way of terms that allow for an early conclusion, if the financial penalties, costs and disgorgement of profits elements are complied with (see SFO Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Rolls-Royce and SFO Deferred Prosecution Agreement with Sarclad). For more information about the DPAs entered into to date, including operative periods, see Practice Note: DPAs entered into to date—tracker. A DPA is not to be treated as having expired if, on the expiry date specified in the DPA: • an application made by the prosecutor under paragraph 9 of Schedule 17 to

Note that CPR 38 (which deals with discontinuance) was amended with effect from 6 April 2023 by virtue of the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2023, SI 2023/105. Older authorities which are based on the pre-amendment version of CPR 38 will therefore have to be treated with caution and read in light of the amended provisions. What is 'discontinuance'? Discontinuance is the means by which a claimant can bring all or part of the proceedings it has instigated to an end by serving a formal notice of discontinuance. A claimant has a right to discontinue all or part of a claim at any time (CPR 38.2(1)). Discontinuance has specific cost consequences and therefore it may be important to determine on specific facts whether or not a claim has been discontinued. For an example of a case where the court held that a claimant had not discontinued a claim (which was important for costs purposes), see Dainford Navigation Inc v PDVDS Petroleo SA. In this case, the owners of two vessels had sought an application for the

Discontinuance or suspension of listing refers to the act of the Financial Conduct Authority which discontinues or suspends the listing of any securities if there exist special circumstances which preclude normal regular dealings in such securities.

A discontinuance valuation compares the realisable value of the scheme's assets on forced sale with the estimated cost of securing all current earned benefits, often with an insurance company.

ARCHIVED: This Precedent has been archived and is not maintained. STOP PRESS: As of 24 February 2025, the main provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) are in force. Procurements begun on or after this date must be carried out under PA 2023, whereas those begun under the previous legislation (the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016, the Concession Regulations 2016, and the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) must continue to be procured and managed under that legislation.