A new EIN Citation tool now appears on the left, and at the top, of all country reports and cases on EIN. It makes it very quick and easy to create a country information evidence schedule to comply with the new November 2024 Practice Direction of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal. This brief guide will show you how.
The new Practice Direction requires brevity in country information for Tribunal bundles. It states:
“10.6. Parties relying on material within country guidance decisions or additional country background information must include a country information evidence schedule ('the country schedule') within the bundle. The country schedule must:
(a) contain the country guidance paragraph references and/or extracts of additional country background information relied upon by reference to each disputed issue;
(b) not exceed 12 pages; and
(c) include the relevant hyper-link to the additional country background information source document.”
Written permission is required to rely upon a country schedule exceeding 12 pages. It is now important to more carefully read background country information reports so that you can identify and copy the relevant extract(s) for your bundle.
You can use the EIN Citation tool to quickly and easily create a concise country information evidence schedule. The Citation tool button appears on the left of the screen between the Bundle and Print buttons.
When viewing a country report or case that you wish to copy an extract from for your bundle, select the text that you want to copy and then simply click the Citation button on the left-hand side of the screen:
You will be notified that the copying was successful:
Switch to your word processor, such as Microsoft Word, and paste. The citation will show it is an extract and will contain the full details of the report, including the hyperlink to the source document on EIN. The full text of your selected extract will be automatically included beneath the citation:
Remember that if you are selecting text on EIN, you'll need to make sure your content bundles 'excerpt mode' is off, as explained here, to avoid the dialog appearing.
Note that if you have not selected any text on the page when you click the Citation button, you will just copy the citation:
You can then manually copy and paste any extract(s) from the report to your word processor document as required.
The Citation button on the toolbar at the top of cases and country reports will also perform the same function. Click the Citation button and tick the checkbox to Add 'Extract from:' prefix. Click the Copy citation button:
Paste your extract(s) to your Word processor, and then repeat as necessary with other country reports on EIN to build up your concise country schedule. If you want to use the Bundle-Maker to create your bundle, give your schedule a Word 'Heading 1' format title such as 'Country Information Evidence Schedule' and add it to your bundle:
To comply with the Tribunal's requirements, make sure you set the paragraph line spacing in Word to 1.5 lines and make sure your font is 12 points or larger. You may also want to add some styling to the 'Extract from: …' headers to make it easier for the judge to see which extract is which:
The Citation tool can add automatically add a border if you tick the Add border to 'Extract from:…' checkbox, which can be found by clicking the Citation button on the toolbar at the top of cases and country reports. You only need to tick this once and your choice will be remembered on your device. It will apply whenever you use the Citation tool button:
If you are taking multiple extracts from a single case or report, you can manually copy the further extracts and paste beneath your original extract. You can separate the extracts with a … or […]:
Note that the judiciary and many Home Office Presenting Officers have access to EIN and will be able to access the links for the full report/case (in addition, from 6 November we have added a unique code to citation link addresses that provides the future possibility for accessing a plain, printer-friendly copy of the full report/case without signing in, should this be needed - do let us know if there are any access problems for the judiciary or Home Office).
As this is a new requirement from the Tribunal, please send any suggestions for improvements to support@ein.org.uk.