(a) at or as soon as practicable after the engagement of an expert as a
witness, whether to give oral evidence or to provide a report for use as
evidence, the person engaging the expert must provide the expert with a copy
of the code, and
(b) unless an expert witness's report contains an
acknowledgment by the expert witness that he or she has read the code and
agrees to be bound by it--
(i) service of the report by the party who engaged
the expert witness is not valid service for the purposes of the rules or of
any order or practice note, and
(ii) the report is not to be admitted into
evidence, and
(c) oral evidence is not to be received from an expert witness
unless--
(i) he or she has acknowledged in writing, whether in a report
relating to the proposed evidence or otherwise in relation to the proceedings,
that he or she has read the code and agrees to be bound by it, and
(ii) a
copy of the acknowledgment has been served on all parties affected by the
evidence.
(4) If an expert witness furnishes to the engaging party a
supplementary report, including any report indicating that the expert witness
has changed his or her opinion on a material matter expressed in an earlier
report by the expert witness--
(a) the engaging party must forthwith serve the
supplementary report on all parties on whom the engaging party has served the
earlier report, and
(b) the earlier report must not be used in
the proceedings by the engaging party, or by any party in the same interest as
the engaging party on the question to which the earlier report relates, unless
paragraph (a) is complied with.
(5) This rule does not apply to an expert
engaged before this rule commences.
