The Federal Court Rules 2011 will apply to all Federal Court proceedings commencing after 1 August 2011.

Although the new Federal Court Rules 2011 have been redrafted, there remains a substantial comparability with the current Federal Court Rules, which will be repealed with the commencement of the new Rules on 1 August 2011. The commentary to the Federal Court Rules 2011 will be written as the decisions of the Federal Court applying the new Rules begin to be handed down.  While retaining a high degree of comparability, there will be differences in terminology between the two sets of Rules and future commentary will discuss any significant issues that may arise from these differences.

The existing commentary to the former Federal Court Rules will be retained in the service. For our paper subscribers, a separate binder will be issued with the August 2011 update, which will be sent out in the first week of August. The new volume will be entitled Federal Court Rules (1979) and will be supplied so that the Rules and commentary may be retained for future reference.

The new Rules and associated Forms will be issued to subscribers in the first week of August. Along with this new material, we are publishing a comparative table and introductory commentary to make subscribers aware of the changes and make the new Rules easier to navigate and provide an efficient means of referencing the former Rules during the transition.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Catherine Roberts, Product Manager - General Law: catherine.roberts@thomsonreuters.com or (02) 8587 7327.