House of Commons Amendments

House of Commons

Session 2006 - 07
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
202

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

(a)
to the Criminal Assets Bureau in Ireland (“the CAB”) for the purpose of

enabling or assisting the CAB to exercise any of its functions in

connection with any matter within subsection (3); or

(b)
to any specified public authority (in the United Kingdom or elsewhere)—

(i)
for the purpose of enabling or assisting the public authority to

exercise any of its functions in connection with any matter within

subsection (3); or

(ii)
(if the specifying order so provides) for the purpose of enabling

or assisting the public authority to exercise any of its functions

in connection with any matter within that subsection that is

specified, or of a description specified, in the order.

(3)
The matters within this subsection are—

(a)
the identification of proceeds of crime;

(b)
the bringing of civil proceedings for enforcement purposes in relation to

proceeds of crime; and

(c)
the taking of other action in relation to proceeds of crime.

(4)
Information disclosed in accordance with subsection (2) must not be further

disclosed except—

(a)
in connection with the exercise of any of the functions of the CAB or a

specified public authority in connection with any matter within

subsection (3) (or, in a subsection (2)(b)(ii) case, any such matter as is

mentioned there); and

(b)
with the consent of the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs or an

authorised officer of the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs.

(5)
For the purposes of this section any consent or authorisation may be general or

specific.

(6)
If a person in the United Kingdom discloses, in contravention of subsection (4),

any revenue and customs information relating to a person whose identity—

(a)
is specified in the disclosure; or

(b)
can be deduced from it;


section 19 of the 2005 Act (wrongful disclosure) applies in relation to that

disclosure as it applies in relation to a disclosure of such information in

contravention of section 20(9) of that Act.

(7)
Any reference in this section to a disclosure to the CAB or a specified public

authority is a reference to a disclosure to such person, or to persons of such

description, as may be specified in relation to the CAB or the public authority (as

the case may be).

(8)
Nothing in this section authorises any disclosure of information which—

(a)
contravenes the Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29); or

(b)
is prohibited by Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act

2000 (c. 23).

(9)
In this section—

“the 2005 Act” means the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act

2005 (c. 11);

“assets” means property of any description, wherever situated;

“civil proceedings” means civil proceedings of whatever nature and

whether brought in the United Kingdom or elsewhere;

“Commissioners of Revenue and Customs” means the Commissioners for

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs;

“enforcement purposes”, in relation to the proceeds of crime, means with a

view to—

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
203

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

(a)
recovering, forfeiting or freezing assets constituting proceeds of

crime; or

(b)
otherwise depriving persons (to any extent) of, or of access to,

such assets or the benefit of such assets;

“functions” includes powers, duties and objectives, and references to the

exercise of functions include the pursuit of objectives;

“proceeds of crime” means assets derived, or suspected to be derived,

directly or indirectly from criminal conduct (wherever occurring);

“public authority” means any body or person discharging functions of a

public nature;

“revenue and customs information relating to a person” has the meaning

given by section 19(2) of the 2005 Act;

“specified” means specified in an order made by the Treasury; and

“the specifying order”, in relation to a specified public authority, means the

order specifying the authority for the purposes of this section.’.

Powers to wind up: supplementary

Mr Vernon Coaker

NC15

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Secretary of State may by order make such modifications as he considers

appropriate to the application of—

(a)
the Insolvency Act 1986 (c. 45) by virtue of section 28(2); or

(b)
the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/2405 (N.I.19))

by virtue of section 29(2).

(2)
Any modifications made by virtue of subsection (1) are in addition to the

modifications made by section 28(3) and (4) or (as the case may be) section 29(3)

and (4).

(3)
The Secretary of State may by order make such consequential or supplementary

provision, applying with or without modifications any provision made by or

under an enactment, as he considers appropriate in connection with section 28(2)

to (4) or 29(2) to (4).

(4)
An order made by virtue of section 28(5) or (6), section 29(5) or (6) or subsection

(1) above may, in particular, contain consequential or supplementary provision

applying, with or without modifications, any provision made by or under an

enactment.’.

Providers of information society services

Mr Vernon Coaker

NC16

To move the following Clause:—

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
204

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

‘(1)
A serious crime prevention order may not include terms which restrict the

freedom of a service provider who is established in an EEA state other than the

United Kingdom to provide information society services in relation to an EEA

state unless the conditions in subsections (2) and (3) are met.

(2)
The condition in this subsection is that the court concerned considers that the

terms—

(a)
are necessary for the objective of protecting the public by preventing,

restricting or disrupting involvement in—

(i)
in the case of an order in England and Wales, serious crime in

England and Wales; and

(ii)
in the case of an order in Northern Ireland, serious crime in

Northern Ireland;

(b)
relate to an information society service which prejudices that objective or

presents a serious and grave risk of prejudice to it; and

(c)
are proportionate to that objective.

(3)
The conditions in this subsection are that—

(a)
a law enforcement officer has requested the EEA state in which the

service provider is established to take measures which the law

enforcement officer considers to be of equivalent effect under the law of

the EEA state to the terms and the EEA state has failed to take the

measures; and

(b)
a law enforcement officer has notified the Commission of the European

Communities and the EEA state of—

(i)
the intention to seek an order containing the terms; and

(ii)
the terms.

(4)
It does not matter for the purposes of subsection (3) whether the request or

notification is made before or after the making of the application for the order.

(5)
A serious crime prevention order may not include terms which impose liabilities

on service providers of intermediary services so far as the imposition of those

liabilities would result in a contravention of Article 12, 13 or 14 of the E-

Commerce Directive (various protections for service providers of intermediary

services).

(6)
A serious crime prevention order may not include terms which impose a general

obligation on service providers of intermediary services covered by Articles 12,

13 and 14 of the E-Commerce Directive—

(a)
to monitor the information which they transmit or store when providing

those services; or

(b)
actively to seek facts or circumstances indicating illegal activity when

providing those services.

(7)
For the purposes of this section—

(a)
a service provider is established in a particular EEA state if he effectively

pursues an economic activity using a fixed establishment in that EEA

state for an indefinite period and he is a national of an EEA state or a

company or firm mentioned in Article 48 of the EEC Treaty;

(b)
the presence or use in a particular place of equipment or other technical

means of providing an information society service does not, of itself,

constitute the establishment of a service provider;

(c)
where it cannot be determined from which of a number of establishments

a given information society service is provided, that service is to be

regarded as provided from the establishment where the service provider

has the centre of his activities relating to the service;


and references to a person being established in an EEA state are to be read

accordingly.

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
205

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

(8)
In this section—

“the E-Commerce Directive” means Directive 2000/31/EC of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of

information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the

Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce);

“information society services”—

(c)
has the meaning given in Article 2(a) of the E-Commerce

Directive (which refers to Article 1(2) of Directive 98/34/EC of

the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998

laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the

field of technical standards and regulations); and

(d)
is summarised in recital 17 of the E-Commerce Directive as

covering “any service normally provided for remuneration, at a

distance, by means of electronic equipment for the processing

(including digital compression) and storage of data, and at the

individual request of a recipient of a service”;

“intermediary services” means an information society service which—

(e)
consists in the provision of access to a communication network

or the transmission in a communication network of information

provided by a recipient of the service;

(f)
consists in the transmission in a communication network of

information which—

(i)
is provided by a recipient of the service; and

(ii)
is the subject of automatic, intermediate and temporary

storage which is solely for the purpose of making the

onward transmission of the information to other

recipients of the service at their request more efficient;

or

(g)
consists in the storage of information provided by a recipient of

the service;

“recipient”, in relation to a service, means any person who, for professional

ends or otherwise, uses an information society service, in particular for

the purposes of seeking information or making it accessible; and

“service provider” means a person providing an information society service.

(9)
For the purposes of paragraph (a) of the definition of “intermediary services”, the

provision of access to a communication network and the transmission of

information in a communication network includes the automatic, intermediate

and transient storage of the information transmitted so far as the storage is for the

sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the network.

(10)
Subsection (9) does not apply if the information is stored for longer than is

reasonably necessary for the transmission.’.

Powers for prosecutors to appear in cash recovery proceedings

Mr Vernon Coaker

NC17

To move the following Clause:—

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
206

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

‘(1)
After section 302 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (c. 29) (recovery of cash in

summary proceedings: compensation) insert—

“302A
Powers for prosecutors to appear in proceedings

(1)
The Director of Public Prosecutions or the Director of Public

Prosecutions for Northern Ireland may appear for a constable in

proceedings under this Chapter if the Director—

(a)
is asked by, or on behalf of, a constable to do so, and

(b)
considers it appropriate to do so.

(2)
The Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions may appear for the

Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs or an officer of

Revenue and Customs in proceedings under this Chapter if the

Director—

(a)
is asked by, or on behalf of, the Commissioners for Her

Majesty’s Revenue and Customs or (as the case may be) an

officer of Revenue and Customs to do so, and

(b)
considers it appropriate to do so.

(3)
The Directors may charge fees for the provision of services under this

section.”

(2)
After section 2C(3) of that Act (prosecuting authorities) (as inserted by Schedule

8 to this Act) insert—

“(3A)
Subsection (3) does not apply to the functions of the Director of Public

Prosecutions, the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland

and the Director of Revenue and Customs Prosecutions under section

302A.”’.

(3)
After section 38(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005

(c. 11) (conduct of prosecutions on behalf of the Office) insert—

“(1A)
An individual who is not a member of the Office may be appointed by the

Director to appear in—

(a)
specified proceedings, or

(b)
a specified class or description of proceedings,


in which the Director or a Prosecutor would otherwise appear by virtue

of section 302A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (c. 29) (cash recovery

proceedings).”

(4)
After section 39(1) of that Act (designation of non-legal staff) insert—

“(1A)
The Director may designate a member of the Office to appear in—

(a)
specified proceedings, or

(b)
a specified class or description of proceedings,


in which the Director or a Prosecutor would otherwise appear by virtue

of section 302A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (c. 29) (cash recovery

proceedings).”’.

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
207

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

Exempted data

Mr Jeremy Browne

NC1

To move the following Clause:—

‘Nothing in this Part authorises—

(a)
the disclosure of data contained in—

(i)
the National Identity Register (as defined in the Identity Cards

Act 2006 (c. 15)), or

(ii)
any database established pursuant to section 12 of the Children

Act 2004 (c. 31) (information databases), or

(b)
the use of such data in data matching exercises.’.

Review of orders

Mr Jeremy Browne

nc2

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The relevant applicant authority shall inform the High Court in England and

Wales of any change in circumstance which may entitle the person who is subject

to the order to apply for a variation or discharge.

(2)
The relevant applicant authority shall inform the High Court in Northern Ireland

of any change in circumstance which may entitle the person who is subject to the

order to apply for a variation or discharge.’.

Review of orders (No. 2)

Mr Jeremy Browne

nc3

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
On the expiration of an order the court shall make a new order to the same or

similar effect if—

(a)
on the presentation by the applicant authority of new evidence not used

as the basis for the original order; and

(b)
after a review has been undertaken by the Director of Public Prosecutions

of the possibility of criminal prosecution;


the court has reasonable grounds to believe that the making of the order would

protect the public by preventing, restricting or disrupting involvement, by the

person who is the subject of the order, in serious crime in England and Wales.’.

Public Bill Committee: 10th July 2007
208

Serious Crime Bill [Lords], continued

Restrictions relating to renewal of orders

Mr Jeremy Browne

nc4

To move the following Clause:—

‘A person who has been the subject of an order under section 1 may not be the

subject of a second order in the absence of a criminal conviction.’.

Central record of serious crime prevention orders

James Brokenshire

Mr Crispin Blunt

NC5

To move the following Clause:—

‘A detailed central record shall be kept of every order made, varied or discharged

under Part 1.’.

Review of serious crime prevention orders

James Brokenshire

Mr Crispin Blunt

NC6

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
The Secretary of State must appoint a person (“the independent reviewer”) to

conduct an independent review of the operation of this Part.

(2)
In conducting a review under subsection (1) above the independent reviewer shall

have regard to the desirability of minimising the use of serious crime prevention

orders except where they are necessary to protect the public by preventing,

restricting or disrupting involvement in serious crime in circumstances where

prosecutions cannot otherwise be pursued.

(3)
The independent reviewer must send the Secretary of State a report on the

outcome of a review under subsection (1) before the end of a period of 12 months

beginning with the day on which this Act is passed, and before the end of each

subsequent period of 12 months beginning with the day on which the first report

was sent to the Secretary of State.

(4)
The Secretary of State must lay before Parliament a copy of each report received

under subsection (3) above.’.