ICC Judges amend the Regulations of the Court

On 6 December 2016, the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted amendments to seven of the Regulations of the Court during their thirty-fifth plenary session. These amendments aim to improve efficiency by allowing all parties and participants in proceedings before the Court to have increased clarity on a range of procedural matters.

The amendments are technical in nature, concerning page limits, time limits and other procedural issues. These amendment proposals were placed before a plenary session of the judges by the Court's Advisory Committee on Legal Texts, which consists of three judges (one from each Division), one representative from the Office of the Prosecutor, one representative from the Registry and one representative of counsel included in the Court's list of counsel.

The judges of the Court adopted the following amendments. Regulation 20(2) was amended to state expressly that Chambers must make public the reasons for ordering that certain hearings be heard in private session, as was already expressly stated in respect of closed sessions. Regulation 24(5) was amended to clarify the permitted scope of a reply. The amendment to regulation 33(1)(d) clarified the time by which documents due on a specific date must be filed with the Registry. Regulation 34 has been modified to amend certain time limits and procedures in relation to responses and leave to reply to responses. Regulation 36 has been modified to introduce certain specifications concerning the format of documents and the calculation of page limits. Regulation 38 has been expanded to include a number of additional documents and the applicable page limits have been modified. Regulation 44(1) has been clarified to reflect practice by which a Chamber has discretion to allow the introduction of expert evidence from persons who are not on the list of experts maintained by the Registry.

Pursuant to article 52(3) of the Rome Statute, these amendments took effect upon their adoption. The amendments to the Regulations of the Court will be circulated to States Parties for comments. If within six months from circulation, there are no objections from a majority of States Parties, the amendments shall remain in force.

Regulations of the Court: English, Français

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].

You can also follow the Court's activities on YouTube and Twitter.