Section 35: Director not appointed as enforcement authority
76.Section 35 explains how confiscation orders are to be enforced where the magistrates’ court is the enforcement authority. As at present, the order will be treated as a Crown Court fine and enforced, as is a Crown Court fine, by the use of the magistrates’ court’s fine enforcement powers, as set out in Part 3 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 but subject to some modifications. One of the main features of treating the order as a Crown Court fine is that the Crown Court, where it makes a confiscation order, is required to set a term of imprisonment in default of payment. The maximum default term that may be imposed is determined by the amount payable under the confiscation order. The maximum default term applicable to a particular confiscation order varies from 7 days, for an amount not exceeding £200 to, at the other end of the scale, ten years for an amount exceeding £1 million.
