The Federal Court has posted a discussion paper on proposed changes to the Federal Courts Rules regarding enforcement provisions, including issuing writs, garnishments and enforcement of domestic arbitral awards. The Rules Committee invites comments from counsel who use these rules.

The Discussion Paper (and Annex) were posted as a result of a Rules Committee subcommittee. The subcommittee identified the following issues and included recommended amendments to the Federal Courts Rules. The discussion paper invites comments from interested parties but no deadline appears to have been fixed.

(1) Should the process of writ renewal and the issuance of new writs be made an administrative procedure rather than a judicial one? (Rules 434-437)
(2) Should Rule 439(3) be amended by adding the words “any interested person” after the word “sheriff” so that both the creditor and the Sheriff are permitted to seek directions from the Court concerning enforcement issues? (Rule 439(3))
(3) Should garnishment procedures be administrative (e.g., requisition and issuance of a writ by the Registry upon certain conditions being fulfilled) rather than judicial (e.g. with the current show cause requirement)? (Rules 425, 449-457)
(4) Should Rule 426 be extended to allow the examination of third parties with leave of the Court ? (Rule 426)
(5) Should Rule 458 on Charging Orders be amended to allow charging orders against “moneys, currencies and other moveable assets”, and should the words “any beneficial” be added before the word interest in paragraph 458(1)(a)(i)? (Rule 458)
(6) Should the Rules be amended to allow for the enforcement of domestic arbitral awards? (Rules 326-334)
(7) Should Rule 326(a) be amended to reflect the renumbering of sections of a statute? (Rule 326(a))