Amendments To The BVI Civil Procedure Rules Series – Part Two

Our second piece on the updated Civil Procedure Rules (the "Amended CPR") focuses on some of the Court's case management powers regarding conducting a hearing in public or private, inspection of documents, and the Electronic Litigation Portal Filing and Service Procedure, all of which have been revised.

Public v Private Hearings

Under the current regime, the Court has discretion to determine whether any matter (except for a trial) may be conducted "in chambers", meaning a private hearing or in open court, accessible to the public. Any proceeding can be heard in private with the consent of the parties.

Under the Amended CPR, the Court retains its discretion to hear a matter in private or public, but with the express clarification that any hearing which takes place in chambers will be treated as a hearing that took place in public, unless the court orders otherwise. The Amended CPR 2.7 lists mandatory circumstances in which a hearing is deemed to have taken