RULES BOARD FOR COURTS OF LAW
	The Rules Board for Courts of Law ("the Rules Board") is an independent statutory body which was established by the Rules Board for Courts of Law Act 107 of 1985 ("the Act") to review the rules of court and to make, amend or repeal rules, subject to the approval of the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. The Chairperson of the Rules Board is Justice B E Nkabinde who was appointed with effect from 17 May 2005 for a period of five years. The Chairperson's term of office will expire on 17 May 2010. The other members of the Rules Board were appointed with effect from 16 June 2003 for a period of three years. Their term of office expired on 16 June 2006. Nominations have been submitted to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development for appointment of members for a further period of time. Section 9 of the Act provides for the establishment of a secretariat to the Board which is to perform the work incidental to the performance by the Board of its functions. The secretariat provides secretarial and administrative support to the Board. The secretariat also conducts research into the rules of court. The Rules Board secretariat is located in the Branch: Legislative and Constitutional Development. The Rules Board considers representations from users of the Rules for amendments of the Rules. A consultative process is followed before the Rules Board makes a decision to amend a Rule. After the Rules Board approves the amendment of a particular rule, the amended rule is forwarded to the Minister for approval as required by section 6(1) of the Act. After the Minister approves the amendment, the amendment is published in the Government Gazette and thereafter tabled in parliament. Since 2004, the Rules Board has approved amendments to a number of Rules. The Rules Board has also been mandated by a number of recent Acts to draw new rules. The Rules Board is considering amendments to a number of rules. The Rules Board invites comment on the following proposed amendments to the Rules of Court by 30 September 2006:
	Magistrate Court Rules Rule 2(2) Rule 9 Rule 12(1) Rule 12(5) Rule 14	Rule 49 Rule 55 Rule 56 Rule 56A
	In addition to responding to representations for amendments to the Rules received from users, the secretariat has compiled project plans for a comprehensive review of the Rules of Court. Research in regard to the projects was assigned to the secretariat's researchers in December 2005. The projects are as follows: Review of Attorney's fees; The closing date for comment on the discussion document is 30 September; The researcher is Sandra Govender, email address sangovender@justice.gov.za Review of Sheriff's fees. The researcher is Koleka Beja, email address KBeja@justice.gov.za. Review and harmonisation of the High Court and Magistrate's Court Rules; This project has been assigned to two researchers who are presently conducting comparative research and preparing discussion documents on two topics, viz Commencement of proceedings - The researcher is Moses Setshedi, email address MoSetshedi@justice.gov.za; and Service of process - The researcher is Nkosinathi Maseko, email address NMaseko@justice.gov.za.