House of Commons Public Bill Committee Proceedings

House of Commons

Session 2006 - 07
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Other Bills before Parliament

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 10th July 2007
46

Serious Crime Bill-[ [], continued

(b)
ought to be disposed of before its value diminishes.”

(4)
After section 199(8) of that Act (opportunity for persons to make representations

before powers conferred on enforcement receivers to manage or otherwise deal

with property: Northern Ireland) insert—

“(8A)
Subsection (8), so far as relating to the power mentioned in subsection

(2)(b), does not apply to property which—

(a)
is perishable; or

(b)
ought to be disposed of before its value diminishes.”’.

Disclosure of information by Revenue and Customs

Mr Vernon Coaker

Clause added  nc14

To move the following Clause:—

‘(1)
This section applies to information held as mentioned in section 18(1) of the

Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (c. 11) (confidentiality).

(2)
Information to which this section applies may be disclosed by or with the

authority of the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs—

(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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 10th July 2007
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Serious Crime Bill-[ [], continued

(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—

(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

Clause added  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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 10th July 2007
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Serious Crime Bill-[ [], continued

(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

Clause added  NC16

To move the following Clause:—

‘(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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 10th July 2007
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Serious Crime Bill-[ [], continued

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.

(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

Public Bill Committee Proceedings: 10th July 2007
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Serious Crime Bill-[ [], continued

(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

Clause added  NC17

To move the following Clause:—

‘(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—