Disclosure (Civil)

CPR 31.6 defines the scope of the duty precisely: "standard disclosure requires a party to disclose only-" the documents on which the party relies, the documents which adversely affect their own case, adversely affect another party's case, or support another party's case, together with any documents a relevant practice direction requires. Disclosure itself is a distinct step from inspection: CPR 31.2 provides that "a party discloses a document by stating that the document exists or has existed", while the separate right to see the document - inspection - is governed by CPR 31.3, subject to exceptions such as the document no longer being in the disclosing party's control or being protected by a right or duty to withhold it. The duty is not a one-off exercise: CPR 31.11 provides that "any duty of disclosure continues until the proceedings are concluded", so a party must keep disclosing relevant documents that come to its notice as litigation progresses, not merely at the outset.

The mechanics of standard disclosure are set out in CPR 31.10: each party serves a list of documents in the prescribed form, accompanied by a disclosure statement in which the party sets out the extent of the search made and certifies that it understands, and has carried out, its duty to disclose. Once a document has been disclosed, the counterparty's right to see it comes with its own timetable: CPR 31.15 provides that "the party who disclosed the document must permit inspection not more than 7 days after the date on which he received the notice" requesting it, and must supply a copy within the same seven-day window if the requesting party undertakes to pay reasonable copying costs. Non-compliance carries a direct sanction at trial: under CPR 31.21, "a party may not rely on any document which he fails to disclose or in respect of which he fails to permit inspection unless the court gives permission."