to the circumstances in which a United Kingdom court may not compel the
giving of evidence requested by an overseas court. These circumstances
are where a requirement as described in subsection (1) (a) is made other-
wise than for the purpose of civil or criminal proceedings which have been
instituted in the overseas country; or where it is made wholly or mainly
for the purpose of obtaining discovery of documents in such proceedings.
9.
Subsection (4) contains provisions parallel to those of Clause 1(5).
It provides that directions given under subsection (1) may be either gene-
ral or special, and may prohibit compliance with any requirement 'either
absolutely or subject to conditions specified in the directions. General
directions issued under subsection (1) are required to be published in such
manner as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate..
10.
The sub-
Subsection (5) deals with the case where the provisions of the clause
may be otherwise inapplicable because an overseas authority merely requests
a person or persons in the UK for the production of documents or the pro-
vision of information falling short of a requirement supported by the national
law of the country from which it comes. The subsection provides that for
the purposes of Clause 2 the making of a request or demand is to be treated
as the imposition of a requirement if a requirement to the same effect
could be or could have been imposed in the same circumstances.
section also deals with the case where a person amenable to the jursidiction
of an overseas country requests information from a person within the United
Kingdom pursuant to a requirement of a court in an overseas country. The
subsection particularly has in mind the case of a request coming from a
holding company overseas to its subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Any
request or demand for the supply of a document or information which is
addressed to a person in the United Kingdom pursuant to the requirement of
a court, tribunal or authority of an overseas country is to be treated as