Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

390 Further provisions: confiscation, civil recovery and money laundering

(1) This section applies to search warrants sought for the purposes of confiscation investigations, civil recovery investigations or money laundering investigations.

(2) A warrant continues in force until the end of the period of one month starting with the day on which it is issued.

(3) A warrant authorises the person executing it to require any information which is held in a computer and is accessible from the premises specified in the application for the warrant, and which the proper person believes relates to any matter relevant to the investigation, to be produced in a form—

(a) in which it can be taken away, and

(b) in which it is visible and legible.

(4) Copies may be taken of any material seized under a warrant.

(5) A warrant issued in relation to a civil recovery investigation may be issued subject to conditions.

(6) A warrant issued in relation to a civil recovery investigation may include provision authorising the person executing it to do other things which—

(a) are specified in the warrant, and

(b) need to be done in order to give effect to it.

(7) Material seized under a warrant issued in relation to a civil recovery investigation may be retained for so long as it is necessary to retain it (as opposed to copies of it) in connection with the investigation for the purposes of which the warrant was issued.

(8) But if the Scottish Ministers have reasonable grounds for believing that—

(a) the material may need to be produced for the purposes of any legal proceedings, and

(b) it might otherwise be unavailable for those purposes,

it may be retained until the proceedings are concluded.