In the context of the disclosure process in civil litigation, in cases subject to Civil Procedure Rule (CPR) 31, Practice Direction (PD) 31A and PD 31B, physically looking at the original document.

When a party formally discloses a document in civil proceedings, by stating that it exists or has existed, its opponent has the right to inspect the document, subject to limited exceptions set out in CPR 31.3(1) (for example, if the document is no longer in the control of the party who disclosed it, or if the disclosing party has a right or duty to withhold inspection).

A party with the right to inspect a document must give the disclosing party written notice of its wish to inspect it. The disclosing party must permit inspection not more than seven days after receipt of the notice (CPR 31.15(b)).

A party who has a right to inspect a document may also request a copy and, if it undertakes to pay reasonable copying costs, the party who disclosed the document must provide a copy not more than seven days after the date on which it received the request (CPR 31.15(c)).

For more information on inspection of documents in the context of the disclosure process, see Practice notes, Disclosure: reviewing the opponent's documents and Disclosure: withholding disclosure and/or inspection.

For claims in the Business and Property Courts, PD 57AD ("Disclosure in the Business and Property Courts") does not expressly provide for inspection of original documents. This may reflect the fact that, increasingly, the documents disclosed will be electronic documents. PD 57AD.13.1(1) expressly requires electronic copies of disclosable electronic documents to be provided in the documents’ native format, in a manner which preserves metadata. However, in Emirates NBD Bank PJSC and another v Hassan Saadat-Yazdi and others [2023] EWHC 747 (Comm), in proceedings subject to PD 57AD, the judge confirmed that the court may order production of original documents for inspection (see Legal update, Claimant banks ordered to produce originals of disclosed documents for inspection and to produce information pursuant to Part 18 request (High Court)).

PD 57AD took effect on 1 October 2022, replacing what was PD 51U, and implementing, on a permanent basis, the procedures that applied, from 1 January 2019 until 1 October 2022, under the Disclosure Pilot Scheme.

For details of our materials on the approach to disclosure under PD 57AD, see Disclosure in the B&PCs toolkit.