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16 Extension of statutory search powers in England and Wales and Northern | |
Ireland | |
(1) Part 2 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (c. 60) (powers of entry, | |
search and seizure) is to have effect as if references to serious arrestable | |
offences in section 8 of, and Schedule 1 to, that Act included any conduct | 5 |
which— | |
(a) constitutes an offence under the law of a country outside the United | |
Kingdom, and | |
(b) would, if it occurred in England and Wales, constitute a serious | |
arrestable offence. | 10 |
(2) But an application for a warrant or order by virtue of subsection (1) may be | |
made only— | |
(a) in pursuance of a direction given under section 13, or | |
(b) if it is an application for a warrant or order under section 8 of, or | |
Schedule 1 to, that Act by a constable for the purposes of an | 15 |
investigation by an international joint investigation team of which he is | |
a member. | |
(3) Part 3 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. | |
1989/ 1341 (N.I.12)) (powers of entry, search and seizure) is to have effect as if | |
references to serious arrestable offences in Article 10 of, and Schedule 1 to, that | 20 |
Order included any conduct which— | |
(a) constitutes an offence under the law of a country outside the United | |
Kingdom, and | |
(b) would, if it occurred in Northern Ireland, constitute a serious arrestable | |
offence. | 25 |
(4) But an application for a warrant or order by virtue of subsection (3) may be | |
made only— | |
(a) in pursuance of a direction given under section 13, or | |
(b) if it is an application for a warrant or order under Article 10 of, or | |
Schedule 1 to, that Order, by a constable for the purposes of an | 30 |
investigation by an international joint investigation team of which he is | |
a member. | |
(5) In this section, “international joint investigation team” has the meaning given | |
by section 88(7) of the Police Act 1996 (c. 16). | |
17 Warrants in England and Wales or Northern Ireland | 35 |
(1) A justice of the peace may issue a warrant under this section if he is satisfied, | |
on an application made by a constable, that the following conditions are met. | |
(2) But an application for a warrant under subsection (1) may be made only in | |
pursuance of a direction given under section 13. | |
(3) The conditions are that— | 40 |
(a) criminal proceedings have been instituted against a person in a country | |
outside the United Kingdom or a person has been arrested in the course | |
of a criminal investigation carried on there, | |
(b) the conduct constituting the offence which is the subject of the | |
proceedings or investigation would, if it occurred in England and | 45 |
Wales or (as the case may be) Northern Ireland, constitute an arrestable | |
offence, and | |
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(c) there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that there is on premises in | |
England and Wales or (as the case may be) Northern Ireland occupied | |
or controlled by that person evidence relating to the offence. | |
“Arrestable offence” has the same meaning as in the Police and Criminal | |
Evidence Act 1984 (c. 60) or (as the case may be) the Police and Criminal | 5 |
Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/ 1341 (N.I.12)). | |
(4) A warrant under this section may authorise a constable— | |
(a) to enter the premises in question and search the premises to the extent | |
reasonably required for the purpose of discovering any evidence | |
relating to the offence, | 10 |
(b) to seize and retain any evidence for which he is authorised to search. | |
18 Warrants in Scotland | |
(1) If, on an application made by the procurator fiscal, it appears to the sheriff— | |
(a) that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence under | |
the law of a country outside the United Kingdom has been committed, | 15 |
and | |
(b) that the conduct constituting the offence would, if it occurred in | |
Scotland, constitute an offence punishable by imprisonment, | |
the sheriff has the like power to grant warrant authorising entry, search and | |
seizure by any constable or customs officer as he has under section 134 of the | 20 |
Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 (c. 46) in respect of any offence | |
punishable at common law in Scotland. | |
(2) But an application for a warrant by virtue of subsection (1) may be made | |
only— | |
(a) in pursuance of a direction given under section 13, or | 25 |
(b) if it is an application made at the request of an international joint | |
investigation team for the purposes of their investigation. | |
“International joint investigation team” has the meaning given by section 39(6) | |
of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (c. 77). | |
19 Seized evidence | 30 |
(1) Any evidence seized by a constable under or by virtue of section 16, 17 or 18 is | |
to be sent to the court or authority which made the request for assistance or to | |
the territorial authority for forwarding to that court or authority. | |
(2) So far as may be necessary in order to comply with the request for assistance— | |
(a) where the evidence consists of a document, the original or a copy is to | 35 |
be sent, and | |
(b) where the evidence consists of any other article, the article itself or a | |
description, photograph or other representation of it is to be sent. | |
(3) This section does not apply to evidence seized under or by virtue of section | |
16(2)(b) or (4)(b) or 18(2)(b). | 40 |
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Overseas freezing orders | |
20 Overseas freezing orders | |
(1) Section 21 applies where an overseas freezing order made by a court or | |
authority in a participating country is received from the court or authority | |
which made or confirmed the order by the territorial authority for the part of | 5 |
the United Kingdom in which the evidence to which the order relates is | |
situated. | |
(2) An overseas freezing order is an order— | |
(a) for protecting, pending its transfer to the participating country, | |
evidence which is in the United Kingdom and may be used in any | 10 |
proceedings or investigation in the participating country, and | |
(b) in respect of which the following requirements of this section are met. | |
(3) The order must have been made by— | |
(a) a court exercising criminal jurisdiction in the country, | |
(b) a prosecuting authority in the country, | 15 |
(c) any other authority in the country which appears to the territorial | |
authority to have the function of making such orders. | |
(4) The order must relate to— | |
(a) criminal proceedings instituted in the participating country in respect | |
of a listed offence, or | 20 |
(b) a criminal investigation being carried on there into such an offence. | |
(5) The order must be accompanied by a certificate which gives the specified | |
information; but a certificate may be treated as giving any specified | |
information which is not given in it if the territorial authority has the | |
information in question. | 25 |
(6) The certificate must— | |
(a) be signed by or on behalf of the court or authority which made or | |
confirmed the order, | |
(b) include a statement as to the accuracy of the information given in it, | |
(c) if it is not in English, include a translation of it into English (or, if | 30 |
appropriate, Welsh). | |
The signature may be an electronic signature. | |
(7) The order must be accompanied by a request for the evidence to be sent to a | |
court or authority mentioned in section 13(2), unless the certificate indicates | |
when such a request is expected to be made. | 35 |
(8) References below in this Chapter to an overseas freezing order include its | |
accompanying certificate. | |
21 Considering the order | |
(1) In relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland, where this section | |
applies the Secretary of State must— | 40 |
(a) by a notice nominate a court in England and Wales or (as the case may | |
be) Northern Ireland to give effect to the overseas freezing order, | |
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(b) send a copy of the overseas freezing order to the nominated court and | |
to the chief officer of police for the area in which the evidence is | |
situated, | |
(c) tell the chief officer which court has been nominated. | |
(2) In relation to Scotland, where this section applies the Lord Advocate must— | 5 |
(a) by a notice nominate a sheriff to give effect to the overseas freezing | |
order, | |
(b) send a copy of the overseas freezing order to the sheriff and to the | |
procurator fiscal. | |
In relation to Scotland, references below in this section and in sections 22 to 25 | 10 |
to the nominated court are to be read as references to the nominated sheriff. | |
(3) The nominated court is to consider the overseas freezing order on its own | |
initiative within a period prescribed by rules of court. | |
(4) Before giving effect to the overseas freezing order, the nominated court must | |
give the chief officer of police or (as the case may be) the procurator fiscal an | 15 |
opportunity to be heard. | |
(5) The court may decide not to give effect to the overseas freezing order only if, | |
in its opinion, one of the following conditions is met. | |
(6) The first condition is that, if the person whose conduct is in question were | |
charged in the participating country with the offence to which the overseas | 20 |
freezing order relates or in the United Kingdom with a corresponding offence, | |
he would be entitled to be discharged under any rule of law relating to | |
previous acquittal or conviction. | |
(7) The second condition is that giving effect to the overseas freezing order would | |
be incompatible with any of the Convention rights (within the meaning of the | 25 |
Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42)). | |
22 Giving effect to the order | |
(1) The nominated court is to give effect to the overseas freezing order by issuing | |
a warrant authorising a constable— | |
(a) to enter the premises to which the overseas freezing order relates and | 30 |
search the premises to the extent reasonably required for the purpose | |
of discovering any evidence to which the order relates, and | |
(b) to seize and retain any evidence for which he is authorised to search. | |
(2) But, in relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland, so far as the | |
overseas freezing order relates to excluded material or special procedure | 35 |
material the court is to give effect to the order by making a production order. | |
(3) A production order is an order for the person who appears to the court to be in | |
possession of the material to produce it to a constable before the end of the | |
period of seven days beginning with the date of the production order or such | |
longer period as the production order may specify. | 40 |
(4) The constable may take away any material produced to him under a | |
production order; and the material is to be treated for the purposes of section | |
21 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (c. 60) or (as the case may be) | |
Article 23 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 | |
(S.I. 1989/ 1341 (N.I.12)) (access and copying) as if it had been seized by the | 45 |
constable. | |
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(5) If a person fails to comply with a production order, the court may (whether or | |
not it deals with the matter as a contempt of court) issue a warrant under | |
subsection (1) in respect of the material to which the production order relates. | |
(6) Section 409 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (c. 29) (jurisdiction of sheriff) has | |
effect for the purposes of subsection (1) as if that subsection were included in | 5 |
Chapter 3 of Part 8 of that Act. | |
23 Postponed effect | |
(1) The nominated court may postpone giving effect to an overseas freezing order | |
in respect of any evidence— | |
(a) in order to avoid prejudicing a criminal investigation which is taking | 10 |
place in the United Kingdom, or | |
(b) if, under an order made by a court in criminal proceedings in the | |
United Kingdom, the evidence may not be removed from the United | |
Kingdom. | |
24 Evidence seized under the order | 15 |
(1) Any evidence seized by or produced to the constable under section 22 is to be | |
retained by him until he is given a notice under subsection (2) or authorised to | |
release it under section 25. | |
(2) If— | |
(a) the overseas freezing order was accompanied by a request for the | 20 |
evidence to be sent to a court or authority mentioned in section 13(2), or | |
(b) the territorial authority subsequently receives such a request, | |
the territorial authority may by notice require the constable to send the | |
evidence to the court or authority that made the request. | |
25 Release of evidence held under the order | 25 |
(1) On an application made by a person mentioned below, the nominated court | |
may authorise the release of any evidence retained by a constable under section | |
24 if, in its opinion— | |
(a) the condition in section 21(6) or (7) is met, or | |
(b) the overseas freezing order has ceased to have effect in the participating | 30 |
country. | |
(2) In relation to England and Wales and Northern Ireland, the persons are— | |
(a) the chief officer of police to whom a copy of the order was sent, | |
(b) the constable, | |
(c) any other person affected by the order. | 35 |
(3) In relation to Scotland, the persons are— | |
(a) the procurator fiscal to whom a copy of the order was sent, | |
(b) any other person affected by the order. | |
(4) If the territorial authority decides not to give a notice under section 24(2) in | |
respect of any evidence retained by a constable under that section, the | 40 |
authority must give the constable a notice authorising him to release the | |
evidence. | |
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