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A | |
Bill | |
[AS AMENDED IN STANDING COMMITTEE A] | |
To | |
Make provision for furthering co-operation with other countries in respect of criminal | |
proceedings and investigations; to extend jurisdiction to deal with terrorist acts or | |
threats outside the United Kingdom; to amend section 5 of the Forgery and | |
Counterfeiting Act 1981 and make corresponding provision in relation to Scotland; | |
and for connected purposes. | |
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and | |
consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present | |
Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:— | |
Part 1 | |
Mutual assistance in criminal matters | |
Chapter 1 | |
Mutual service of process etc. | |
Service of overseas process in the UK | 5 |
1 Service of overseas process | |
(1) The power conferred by subsection (3) is exercisable where the Secretary of | |
State receives any process or other document to which this section applies from | |
the government of, or other authority in, a country outside the United | |
Kingdom, together with a request for the process or document to be served on | 10 |
a person in the United Kingdom. | |
(2) This section applies— | |
(a) to any process issued or made in that country for the purposes of | |
criminal proceedings, | |
(b) to any document issued or made by an administrative authority in that | 15 |
country in administrative proceedings, | |
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(c) to any process issued or made for the purposes of any proceedings on | |
an appeal before a court in that country against a decision in | |
administrative proceedings, | |
(d) to any document issued or made by an authority in that country for the | |
purposes of clemency proceedings. | 5 |
(3) The Secretary of State may cause the process or document to be served by post | |
or, if the request is for personal service, direct the chief officer of police for the | |
area in which that person appears to be to cause it to be personally served on | |
him. | |
(4) In relation to any process or document to be served in Scotland, references in | 10 |
this section to the Secretary of State are to be read as references to the Lord | |
Advocate. | |
2 Service of overseas process: supplementary | |
(1) Subsections (2) and (3) apply to any process served in a part of the United | |
Kingdom by virtue of section 1 requiring a person to appear as a party or | 15 |
attend as a witness. | |
(2) No obligation under the law of that part to comply with the process is imposed | |
by virtue of its service. | |
(3) The process must be accompanied by a notice— | |
(a) stating the effect of subsection (2), | 20 |
(b) indicating that the person on whom it is served may wish to seek advice | |
as to the possible consequences of his failing to comply with the process | |
under the law of the country where it was issued or made, and | |
(c) indicating that under that law he may not be accorded the same rights | |
and privileges as a witness as would be accorded to him in proceedings | 25 |
in the part of the United Kingdom in which the process is served. | |
(4) Where a chief officer of police causes any process or document to be served | |
under section 1, he must at once— | |
(a) tell the Secretary of State (or, as the case may be, the Lord Advocate) | |
when and how it was served, and | 30 |
(b) (if possible) provide him with a receipt signed by the person on whom | |
it was served. | |
(5) Where the chief officer of police is unable to cause any process or document to | |
be served as directed, he must at once inform the Secretary of State (or, as the | |
case may be, the Lord Advocate) of that fact and of the reason. | 35 |
Service of UK process abroad | |
3 General requirements for service of process | |
(1) This section applies to any process issued or made for the purposes of criminal | |
proceedings by a court in England and Wales or Northern Ireland. | |
(2) The process may be issued or made in spite of the fact that the person on whom | 40 |
it is to be served is outside the United Kingdom. | |
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(3) Where the process is to be served outside the United Kingdom and the person | |
at whose request it is issued or made believes that the person on whom it is to | |
be served does not understand English, he must— | |
(a) inform the court of that fact, and | |
(b) provide the court with a copy of the process, or of so much of it as is | 5 |
material, translated into an appropriate language. | |
(4) Process served outside the United Kingdom requiring a person to appear as a | |
party or attend as a witness— | |
(a) must not include notice of a penalty, | |
(b) must be accompanied by a notice giving any information required to be | 10 |
given by rules of court. | |
(5) If process requiring a person to appear as a party or attend as a witness is | |
served outside the United Kingdom, no obligation to comply with the process | |
under the law of the part of the United Kingdom in which the process is issued | |
or made is imposed by virtue of the service. | 15 |
(6) Accordingly, failure to comply with the process does not constitute contempt | |
of court and is not a ground for issuing a warrant to secure the attendance of | |
the person in question. | |
(7) But the process may subsequently be served on the person in question in the | |
United Kingdom (with the usual consequences for non-compliance). | 20 |
4 Service of process otherwise than by post | |
(1) Process to which section 3 applies may, instead of being served by post, be | |
served on a person outside the United Kingdom in accordance with | |
arrangements made by the Secretary of State. | |
(2) But where the person is in a participating country, the process may be served | 25 |
in accordance with those arrangements only if one of the following conditions | |
is met. | |
(3) The conditions are— | |
(a) that the correct address of the person is unknown, | |
(b) that it has not been possible to serve the process by post, | 30 |
(c) that there are good reasons for thinking that service by post will not be | |
effective or is inappropriate. | |
5 General requirements for effecting Scottish citation etc. | |
(1) This section applies to any citation for the purposes of criminal proceedings in | |
Scotland and to any document issued there for such purposes by the | 35 |
prosecutor or by the court. | |
(2) The citation may proceed or document be issued in spite of the fact that the | |
person against whom it is to be effected or on whom it is to be served is outside | |
the United Kingdom. | |
(3) Where— | 40 |
(a) citation or issue is by the prosecutor, | |
(b) the citation is to be effected or the document issued is to be served | |
outside the United Kingdom, and | |
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(c) the prosecutor believes that the person against whom it is to be effected | |
or on whom it is to be served does not understand English, | |
the citation or document must be accompanied by a translation of it (or, in the | |
case of a document, by a translation of so much of it as is material) in an | |
appropriate language. | 5 |
(4) Where— | |
(a) citation or issue is by the court, | |
(b) the citation is to be effected or the document issued is to be served | |
outside the United Kingdom, and | |
(c) the person at whose request that is to happen believes that the person | 10 |
against whom it is to be effected or on whom it is to be served does not | |
understand English, | |
he must inform the court of that fact, and provide the court with a copy of the | |
citation or document (or, in the case of a document, so much of it as is material) | |
translated into an appropriate language. | 15 |
(5) A citation effected outside the United Kingdom— | |
(a) must not include notice of a penalty, | |
(b) must be accompanied by a notice giving any information required to be | |
given by rules of court. | |
(6) If a citation is effected outside the United Kingdom, no obligation under the | 20 |
law of Scotland to comply with the citation is imposed by virtue of its being so | |
effected. | |
(7) Accordingly, failure to comply with the citation does not constitute contempt | |
of court and is not a ground for issuing a warrant to secure the attendance of | |
the person in question or for imposing any penalty. | 25 |
(8) But the citation may subsequently be effected against the person in question in | |
the United Kingdom (with the usual consequences for non-compliance). | |
6 Effecting Scottish citation etc. otherwise than by post | |
(1) A citation or document to which section 5 applies may, instead of being | |
effected or served by post, be effected against or served on a person outside the | 30 |
United Kingdom in accordance with arrangements made by the Lord | |
Advocate. | |
(2) But where the person is in a participating country, the citation may be effected | |
or document served in accordance with those arrangements only if one of the | |
following conditions is met. | 35 |
(3) The conditions are— | |
(a) that the correct address of the person is unknown, | |
(b) that it has not been possible to effect the citation or serve the document | |
by post, | |
(c) that there are good reasons for thinking that citation or (as the case may | 40 |
be) service by post will not be effective or is inappropriate. | |
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Chapter 2 | |
Mutual provision of evidence | |
Assistance in obtaining evidence abroad | |
7 Requests for assistance in obtaining evidence abroad | |
(1) If it appears to a judicial authority in the United Kingdom on an application | 5 |
made by a person mentioned in subsection (3)— | |
(a) that an offence has been committed or that there are reasonable | |
grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, and | |
(b) that proceedings in respect of the offence have been instituted or that | |
the offence is being investigated, | 10 |
the judicial authority may request assistance under this section. | |
(2) The assistance that may be requested under this section is assistance in | |
obtaining outside the United Kingdom any evidence specified in the request | |
for use in the proceedings or investigation. | |
(3) The application may be made— | 15 |
(a) in relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland, by a | |
prosecuting authority, | |
(b) in relation to Scotland, by the Lord Advocate or a procurator fiscal, | |
(c) where proceedings have been instituted, by the person charged in those | |
proceedings. | 20 |
(4) The judicial authorities are— | |
(a) in relation to England and Wales, any judge or justice of the peace, | |
(b) in relation to Scotland, any judge of the High Court or sheriff, | |
(c) in relation to Northern Ireland, any judge or resident magistrate. | |
(5) In relation to England and Wales or Northern Ireland, a designated | 25 |
prosecuting authority may itself request assistance under this section if— | |
(a) it appears to the authority that an offence has been committed or that | |
there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been | |
committed, and | |
(b) the authority has instituted proceedings in respect of the offence in | 30 |
question or it is being investigated. | |
“Designated” means designated by an order made by the Secretary of State. | |
(6) In relation to Scotland, the Lord Advocate or a procurator fiscal may himself | |
request assistance under this section if it appears to him— | |
(a) that an offence has been committed or that there are reasonable | 35 |
grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, and | |
(b) that proceedings in respect of the offence have been instituted or that | |
the offence is being investigated. | |
(7) If a request for assistance under this section is made in reliance on Article 2 of | |
the 2001 Protocol (requests for information on banking transactions) in | 40 |
connection with the investigation of an offence, the request must state the | |
grounds on which the person making the request considers the evidence | |
specified in it to be relevant for the purposes of the investigation. | |
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