The provisions of CPR PD 40E are mandatory. It is the personal responsibility of counsel and solicitors instructed in a case in which an embargoed draft judgment is provided to ensure that they are complied with. The purpose of the process is to enable the parties to make suggestions for the correction of errors, prepare submissions and agree orders on consequential matters and to prepare themselves for the publication of the judgment. The consequences of a breach of the embargo can be serious. It is not possible to generalise about the possible consequences as judgments will range, for example, from dealing with highly personal information in some cases to price-sensitive information in others. The court is rightly concerned to ensure that its judgments are only released into the public domain at an appropriate juncture and in an appropriate manner (paras 29–30).

It is not appropriate for persons in the clerks’ rooms or offices of barristers’ chambers to see the draft judgment or to be given a summary of its contents. Drafting press releases to publicise chambers is not a legitimate activity to undertake within the embargo. It should be sufficient for one named clerk to provide the link between the court and the barrister or barristers. Proper precautions and double-checks need to be in place in barristers’ chambers and solicitors’ offices to ensure that errors come to attention before the embargo is breached. In future, those who break embargoes can expect to find themselves the subject of contempt proceedings as envisaged in CPR PD 40E, para 2.8 (para 31).