The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Amendment) Order 1996

Statutory Instruments

1996 No. 2878

CRIMINAL LAW, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Amendment) Order 1996

Made

19th November 1996

Laid before Parliament

29th November 1996

Coming into force

1st January 1997

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, the 19th day of November 1996

Present,

The Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council

Her Majesty, in exercise of the powers conferred upon Her by section 9 of the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990(1), is pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, as follows:

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Amendment) Order 1996 and shall come into force on 1st January 1997.

(2) In this Order “the principal Order” means—

(a) in relation to England and Wales, the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) Order 1991(2); and

(b) in relation to Northern Ireland, the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Northern Ireland) Order 1991(3).

2.  In article 12(1)(e) of the principal Order, after the word “made” there shall be inserted the words “or to be made”.

3.  Schedule 1 to the principal Order (which defines the institution of proceedings for the purposes of article 2(5) of that Order) shall be amended as follows—

(a) after the entry relating to Bermuda there shall be inserted the following—

“Bolivia

when a warrant is issued by a competent judge or an order to institute proceedings, containing the preventive annotation of property liable to registration or the bank deposit of the monies, assets and property of the accused;”

(b) after the entry relating to the Cayman Islands, there shall be inserted the following—

“Chile

when an application for a decision from the competent judicial authority is made”;”

(c) after the entry relating to Gibraltar, there shall be inserted the following—

“Grenada

(a) when an information is laid before a justice of the peace; (b) when a person is charged with an offence; (c) when a bill of indictment is preferred;”

(d) after the entry relating to Panama, there shall be inserted the following—

“Paraguay

when a judge orders the restraint of property and a preventative detention order is made

Romania

(a) when the start of a penal pursuit is ordered; (b) when penal proceedings start in respect of an offender;”

(e) after the entry relating to Switzerland, there shall be inserted the following—

“Thailand	when a court or the Asset Examination Committee issues a restraint order
Ukraine	when a criminal case is brought;”

(f) the entry relating to United Mexican States shall be deleted and replaced by the following—

“United Mexican States

(a) when criminal proceedings are instituted by a judicial authority; (b) when the Ministerio Publico has established that there is probable cause to suspect that a person has committed an offence.”

4.  Schedule 2 to the principal Order shall be amended as follows:

(a) there shall be inserted at the appropriate places in alphabetical order, the entries for the countries and territories specified in Schedule 1 to this Order (including, in the case of Thailand, the appropriate authority specified);

(b) the entries for Macedonia and Yugoslavia shall be deleted; and

(c) in respect of the countries and territories listed in Schedule 2 to this Order (being countries and territories already designated under Schedule 2 to the principal Order) there shall be inserted, opposite the entries in Schedule 2 to the principal Order the appropriate authorities specified in Schedule 2 to this Order.

5.  Schedule 3 to the principal Order shall be amended by the insertion at the appropriate places in alphabetical order of the entries for the countries and territories specified in Schedule 3 to this Order (including where so specified the appropriate authority for a country or territory).

N. H. Nicholls

Clerk of the Privy Council

Article 4

SCHEDULE 1 DESIGNATED COUNTRIES—DRUG TRAFFICKING OFFENCES

Designated Country	Appropriate Authority
Algeria
Belgium
Belize
Cape Verde
Chad
Cuba
Ethiopia
Gambia
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Jamaica
Kyrgyzstan
Lesotho
Lithuania
Macedonia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Malawi
Mali
Malta
Moldova
Norway
Poland
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sao Tome and Principe
Sierra Leone
Swaziland
Tajikistan
Thailand	The Attorney General or a person designated by him
Trinidad and Tobago
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Turks and Caicos Islands
Uzbekistan
Yemen
Yugoslavia, The Federal Republic of

Article 4

SCHEDULE 2 COUNTRIES PREVIOUSLY DESIGNATED—DRUG TRAFFICKING OFFENCES INSERTION OF APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY

Designated Country	Appropriate Authority
Bolivia	Secretaria Nacional de Defensa Social del Ministerio de Gobierno
Chile	Ministerio del Interior
Grenada	The Ministry of External Affairs
Paraguay	National Anti-Drugs Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic (SENAD)
Romania	The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice
Ukraine	The Office of the General Prosecutor and the Ministry of Justice

Article 5

SCHEDULE 3 DESIGNATED COUNTRIES—OTHER OFFENCES

Designated Country	Appropriate Authority
Finland
Lithuania
Norway
Romania	The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice
Thailand	The Attorney General or a person designated by him
Ukraine	The Office of the General Prosecutor and the Ministry of Justice
United Mexican States	The Office of the Attorney General

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which comes into force on 1st January 1997, amends the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/1463) and the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/1464). These provide for the enforcement in England and Wales and Northern Ireland of orders made by a court in a designated country or territory for the forfeiture and destruction or other disposal of property used or intended to be used in connection with the commission of a drug trafficking offence. The powers in each of the 1991 Orders also apply to proceedings which have been, or are to be, instituted in a designated country or territory and may result in such an order being made there. The orders were extended by the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 (Enforcement of Overseas Forfeiture Orders) (Amendment) Order 1993 (S.I. 1993/1791) to include offences corresponding to indictable offences to which Part VI of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33) applies and corresponding offences under the law of Northern Ireland.

This Order makes amendments in respect of the countries and territories to which the 1991 Orders apply. The further countries and territories designated for drug trafficking offences are listed in Schedule 1 and those designated for other offences are listed at Schedule 3. Article 4(b) and Schedule 2 inserts the “appropriate authority” in respect of countries previously designated for drug trafficking offences.

Article 2 of the Order also amends article 12(1)(e) of the 1991 Orders. The effect of this amendment is that a certificate issued by or on behalf of an appropriate authority of a designated country, which states that an order to be made by a court in that country will be for the forfeiture and destruction or the forfeiture and other disposal of anything in respect of which an offence has been committed or which was used in connection with the commission of such an offence, shall, in proceedings in the High Court, be admissible as evidence of the facts stated.

(1)

1990 c. 5; section 9 was amended by section 21 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 (c. 36) and by section 14 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1995 (c. 11).

(2)

S.I. 1991/1463, amended by S.I. 1992/1721, 1993/1791, 1993/3148 and 1994/1640.

(3)

S.I. 1991/1464, amended by S.I. 1992/1721, 1993/1791, 1993/3148 and 1994/1640.