Criminal Procedure Rules affect all criminal courts in England and Wales – magistrates’ courts, the Crown Court and the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) -and provide the framework for the running of a criminal trial.
Since 2005, the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee has made these rules for the criminal courts in England and Wales. The Criminal Procedure Rules 2010 came into force in April and now they have been amended to provide for the following additions and revisions:

New procedure rules about :
  * trial timetables; and
  * applications for witnesses to give evidence by ‘live’ link.

Simplified rules about:
  * warrants for arrest, detention or imprisonment;
  * sentencing procedures in special cases;
  * breach, revocation and amendment of community and other orders;
  * enforcement of fines and other orders for payment; and
  * road traffic penalties.

The rules include cross-references to relevant legislation, in particular measures recently, or likely soon to be, brought into force.
The Statutory Instrument setting out these changes, the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2010, was laid in Parliament on 28 July 2010. The new rules will come into force on 4 October, amending The Criminal Procedure Rules 2010. To see the full text of the Statutory Instrument, go to:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20101921_en_1
The ‘Guide for Court Users, Staff and Practitioners’ can be found at:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/docs/guide-criminal-procedure-amendment-rules-2010-0810.pdf