england-and-wales legal-terms civil-procedure
in E&amp;W, what is the &quot;pre-action protocol&quot;?
<p>In <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/82942/statutes-of-limitations-and-the-pre-action-protocol/82962#82962">Statutes of limitations and the pre-action protocol (PAP)</a> it is stated that the &quot;pre-action protocol (PAP) must be completed before a case is brought to court in England-and-Wales. Just what is the &quot;pre-action protocol&quot; in E&amp;W, when is it required, and how long does it typically take?</p>

<p>The pre-action protocols are part of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) which governs proceedings in the County Court, High Court, and Court of Appeal (see <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part02#2.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Rule 2.1</a>).</p>
<p>They set out what the parties should do <em>before</em> initiating proceedings in court. Being practice directions, they are not rules, but you ignore them at your peril; failing to do so will not affect the outcome of your case but can have cost implications or, in the most severe cases, result in sanctions (see paragraphs 13 - 15 <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>).</p>
<p>There is a <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct" rel="nofollow noreferrer">general pre-action protocol</a> and a set of specific pre-action protocols for particular types of cases. If there is a specific protocol for your case, you follow that, otherwise you follow the general one (see <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct" rel="nofollow noreferrer">paragraph 2</a>).</p>
<p>The full list of specific pre-action protocols can be found <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>. Note that there is another list contained within the general pre-action protocol at <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#18.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">paragraph 18</a> but this list is not complete. This is rather unfortunate because paragraph 18 contains the phrase &quot;the table sets out the protocols currently in force&quot; and, below the table, &quot;Updated: Wednesday, 6 April 2022&quot; (which implies, incorrectly, that any older protocols not appearing in the table are not currently in force). I suggest using the first list.</p>
<p><strong>&quot;How long does it typically take?&quot;</strong></p>
<p>This varies depending on the protocol being followed. See for example paragraph 6 of the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#6.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">general protocol</a> which, without being prescriptive, suggests that a reasonable time for a defendant to respond to a pre-action letter is 14 days in a simple case and 3 months in a complex one.</p>
<p><strong>&quot;pre-action protocol (PAP) must be completed before a case is brought to court in England-and-Wales&quot;</strong></p>
<p>This is incorrect. Per <a href="https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/pd_pre-action_conduct#17.1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">paragraph 17</a> of the general pre-action protocol, if you are close to the limitation period, you can start proceedings and then apply for a stay to give you time to comply with the protocol.</p>
