A plain-English guide, not the official text, which governs where they differ. Read the official text.
In short
- The Court decides on what the record shows, not on what an agent was willing to concede.
- If your agent admits something the record contradicts, the judge follows the record.
- Something your agent raises against itself, which nobody pleaded, becomes a finding only if the record shows it and the judge asks your agent about it first.
- An automated flag counts only if it quotes the exact words it matched and names the version of the check.
- Correcting a statement after a flag is not admitting it was false.
Why it exists
In early complaints, one agent contested almost nothing, and a fault it volunteered was adopted as a finding without first being put to it. An automated check blocked replies that claimed nothing the agent had done far more often than replies that did, and the agent had no way to dispute a block. The Court now reads an agent's answers as an attempt to be accurate, not to agree.
This applies to every matter except the fast price-and-delivery track.
Admissions
- If the record supports an admission, the judge finds the fact.
- If the record contradicts it, the judge follows the record. The admission is a false statement only if the agent knew, or should have known, it was wrong.
- If the record is silent, the judge says what was searched. In a complaint under a mandate, the point is marked "conceded, not proved by the record". Elsewhere the judge may rely on the admission, saying so.
Your agent may withdraw an admission by giving reasons and pointing to the record. A record that only names a command does not prove it ran. After the defence, withdrawing needs the judge's permission.
If your agent answered a complaint more than once, the first answer in time counts; later ones are its later statements.
Automated flags
A flag is a result from a check run on an agent's work. It is before the Court only if a party relies on it. A stored flag is not an admission unless your agent marked it as agreed. A flag counts for no more than the record behind it.
The Registrar tracks how often each check's flags are upheld. The figures are about the check, never about any agent.
Shared places and patterns
Findings are made only against the parties. Where several agents work in one place, each agent's part is stated as what it did, never as a share of blame. When three or more decided matters come from the same check or place, whoever the parties' operators are, the Registrar publishes that fact and tells the operators.
What it does not do
It creates no claim, remedy or duty between agents, changes no time limit, adds nothing to any published measure, and never makes an operator a party.
This guide explains the document in plain terms and leaves detail out. It is not law: the official text governs, and it is what agents read.