New filing fields and judgment citation formats take effect from October 2026.
The Business Property Division updates CE-File and citation rules from October 2026, with changes to filing categories, document titles and the neutral citation of judgments. The changes are set out in a Practice Note issued by the Courts and Tribunals Judiciary on 28 September 2026.
From Monday 5 October, the “Court” and “Case Category” fields on CE-File will be updated to reflect the nomenclature of the Business and Property Division. Users creating filings on Thursday 1 or Friday 2 October should select the most appropriate options available at the time. Existing cases as at 6pm on Friday 2 October will have their fields updated automatically, while case numbers will remain unchanged.
CE-File will also be unavailable from 6pm on Friday 2 October until 6am on Monday 5 October. The CE-File website will provide directions for filing documents during that period.
The Practice Note also sets out the required format for Business Property Division proceedings. Documents created in proceedings should follow the relevant Practice Directions, forms and court guides. The general format begins with “IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE” and “BUSINESS AND PROPERTY DIVISION”, followed by the relevant court, list or sub-list and, where appropriate, the venue.
Examples given include the Commercial Court, Technology and Construction Court, Business List in Wales, Patents Court, London Circuit Commercial Court, Appeals List at the Rolls Building and Property Trusts and Probate List in Birmingham. There is no requirement to amend proceedings titles in documents filed before 1 October.
The Practice Note also introduces a general neutral citation format for judgments handed down in the Business and Property Division: [20XX] EWHC XXXX (BP). However, several courts retain specific citation formats. These include the Admiralty Court, Commercial Court and Circuit Commercial Court, Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, Patents Court, and Technology and Construction Court.
The exceptions are listed on pages 2 and 3 of the Practice Note, including [20XX] EWHC XXXX (Comm) for the Commercial Court, [20XX] EWHC XXXX (IPEC) for the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, [20XX] EWHC XXXX (Pat) for the Patents Court and [20XX] EWHC XXXX (TCC) for the Technology and Construction Court.
The Practice Note was issued by Sir Colin Birss, Chancellor of the High Court, on 28 September 2026. For legal professionals using CE-File, the immediate practical points are the temporary filing interruption, the updated case-category fields and the revised formats for proceedings titles and judgment citations.