Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 (Designation of Participating Countries) (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Order 2009

The Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 streamlined and modernised the United Kingdom’s mutual legal assistance relations with the rest of the world. Today, in an effort to further improve international co-operation, we are seeking to designate Switzerland, Iceland and Norway for the purpose of various sections of that Act. The order reflects the fact that the European Union has concluded two agreements with other states: on 26 October 2004, a co-operation agreement against fraud was signed between Switzerland and the European Union, and on 19 December 2003, the European Union concluded an agreement with Norway and Iceland allowing them to accede to certain articles of the 2001 mutual legal assistance convention and its protocol. As a result, it is now necessary for the United Kingdom to delegate these countries as participating countries for certain sections of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003. Designation of the three countries for the purpose of Sections 32, 35 and 43 to 45 of that Act will allow for requests for locating bank accounts and providing banking information relating to criminal investigations to be executed in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and for such requests to be made to Norway, Iceland or Switzerland by the United Kingdom. Norway and Iceland will also be designated under Sections 31, 47, 48 and Paragraph 15 of Schedule 2 to the Crime (International Co-operation) Act. This will allow the United Kingdom to execute requests for witnesses to be heard by telephone in criminal proceedings and allow for prisoners in the requesting country to be temporarily transferred to the requested country to help with domestic investigations.