Recording of proceedings from abroad

[register]

The recording of proceedings without permission of the court is banned in the UK and it is a criminal offence according to Section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925 and Section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981

However, if the hearing took place remotely in a foreign country far away how can this prohibition be enforced because the jurisdiction is different and UK law does not apply to foreign countries and the offender does not live in the jurisdiction?

The proceedings could be a witness giving evidence from abroad or a full hearing being conducted from abroad

[atticus]

Are you talking about proceedings in a UK court?

[register]

Yes, in the Scotish Employment Tribunal

[atticus]

then don't do it.

[dslippy]

There have been cases on similar international zoom hearings. As Atti says, if it is before a UK court then it is an offence, and the court has easy remedies if the offending party still seeks somethiong from the court.
It is slightly complicated because remote hearing systems can have some recording element as part of the inherent process.
Do not play around with this.

[register]

I am in the UK and I do not have any intention to record the hearing. However, the other party is a foreign country very far away from the UK.
The issue is that if the other party records the hearing the offence would have taken place in a foreign country where UK law does not apply. Therefore, there could be an issue of whether or not something has been committed which is illegal in both countries.

Moreover, the offending party resides in a foreign country and the issue is how a British court will prosecute this offending party in this foreign country,
The issue is complicated by the fact that the other party resides in a country which is very far away from the UK which is not a democracy and where transparency and rule of the law is not the same as in the UK.

The situation is made worse by the fact that it is a several days hearing and not only a witness giving evidence from abroad

Nothing prevents the other party to come to the UK to conduct this hearing in the UK.

Hence, I would like to know if in these circumstances the Employment Tribunal has a duty to request that the other party come to the UK to conduct this hearing in the jurisdiction of the UK

Can you provide me with examples of precedents cases concerning this same issue of recording UK proceedings in a foreign country?

[register]

There is also the issue that the hearing will not be conducted from an embassy , a consulate or a tribunal abroad

[dslippy]

I fail to see why this should make such a big difference to you.
There would be no realistic expectation that a tribunal would order the witness to attend here in person to prevail against such a risk.

[atticus]

Do you have any reason to believe that the other party will ignore all the various warnings?

[register]

I feel uncomfortable with the possibility of a video of myself being in country far away about which I would not have any control.

I do not ask that the British tribunal order a witness living abroad to attend a hearing in the UK because what I would like is that the British tribunal decides that this hearing will take place in the UK and it will be up to the Respondent to decide if he comes to the UK to attend this hearing or be represented at this hearing in the UK

The reason why the others party may ignore the warnings and record the hearing from abroad is because he risks nothing if he record it because UK court will not be able to prosecute him abroad.

I have issued a claim in the British Employment Tribunal about something which happened in the UK against a Respondent which address is in the UK so I can maybe expect that the full hearing will be conducted entirely from the UK to be sure that no video of my me will be made abroad

[register]

It is important to say that the Respondent itself which is a company is located in the UK but its representative which is its director is located abroad so it should be up to the Respondent to choose a representative who is in the UK

[register]

Previously the Respondent had a representative in the UK but it has changed it by a new representative i.e. its director which is located in a foreign country.

Hence, the only reason why the Respondent wants that the hearing is conducted from this foreign country is because its new representative is located in this foreign country but the Respondent itself is located in the UK and not in this foreign country. Hence, the Respondent should choose a new representative which is located in the same country as it

[register]

I would like to know also if there could be an issue with the quality of the communication if the Respondent's representative is in the other side of the world?