Guidance

Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure 2020

The Attorney General’s revised Guidelines on Disclosure will come into force on 31 December 2020.

Applies to England and Wales

Documents

Details

These Guidelines are issued by the Attorney General for investigators, prosecutors and defence practitioners on the application of the disclosure regime contained in the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (‘CPIA’) Code of Practice Order 2020.

These Guidelines replace the existing Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure issued in 2013 and the Supplementary Guidelines on Digital Material issued in 2013, which is an annex to the general guidelines. The Guidelines are intended to operate alongside the Judicial Protocol on the Disclosure of Unused Material in Criminal Cases.

The Guidelines outline the high level principles which should be followed when the disclosure regime is applied throughout England and Wales. They are not designed to be an unequivocal statement of the law at any one time, nor are they a substitute for a thorough understanding of the relevant legislation, codes of practice, case law and procedure.

The Attorney General’s revised Guidelines on Disclosure will come into force on 31 December 2020.

Published 1 December 2020
Last updated 18 December 2020 + show all updates
  1. Updated with a revised version of the Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure, which removes reference to the Judicial Protocol on the Disclosure of Unused Material in Criminal Cases.

  2. First published.