Notice is hereby given that the County Court Rules Committee in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Article 47 of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 has made the following Rules and the Lord Chancellor in exercise of the powers conferred on him by Article 47(4) of the County Courts (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice has allowed them.

The County Court (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2006

These Rules amend the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 (“the principal Rules”) to:

•	implement the European Directive on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (Directive 2004/48/EC) by making provision for the court to make an interim order making the continuation of an alleged infringement of an intellectual property right subject to guarantees, by providing that where the court grants a remedy before the issue of proceedings, the remedy shall only be granted on terms providing for the issue of a civil bill and by amending the procedure relating to applications under the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988 and the Trade Marks Act 1994;
•	remove references to the Trade Marks Act 1938, which has now been repealed;
•	designate a list of securities in which the Accountant General may invest money paid into the county court by order of the court, in accordance with his powers under the Judicature (Northern Ireland) Act 1978;
•	facilitate the use of a generic, electronic seal in the county court;
•	uplift by 10.47% (rounded where appropriate) certain costs prescribed in the body of the principal Rules and the scale costs for solicitor and counsel prescribed in Appendix 2 of the principal Rules; and
•	provide for judicial discretion to increase costs in discrimination cases under specified statutory provisions, where the amount decreed or, in the case of a dismiss, claimed exceeds £15,000.

The amendments shall come into operation on 8 th January 2007

Copies of the Rules – Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland– 2006 No.521 may be obtained from The Stationery Office, 16 Arthur Street, BELFAST, BT1 4GD.