TNAG-1921-FCO40-2726-Mutual-legal-assistance-between-the-UK-and-Hong-Kong-1989 — Page 36

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(iii)

(iv)

It would be necessary to make available facilities for the transmission and service of summonses or other documents. At present authorities abroad may serve summonses etc on people in this country but they are obliged to do this via their own missions in the United Kingdom.

It would be necessary to take powers both to transfer temporarily persons in custody in the United Kingdom who are needed as witnesses abroad, and to hold in legal custody persons in custody abroad who are transferred here for the same reason.

12. If the precedent of extradition law is followed, the legislation would also indicate the grounds on which assistance may or must be refused. Article 2 of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance provides that assistance may be refused if the request concerns a political offence or an offence connected with a political offence, or a fiscal offence. It is also possible for the requested State to refuse to execute requests if this will be likely to prejudice the sovereignty, security, ordre public or other of its essential interests. Paragraph 7 of the Commonwealth Scheme contains further optional grounds for refusal, which include

(a) the absence of double criminality (ie there is no equivalent offence in the law of the country whose assistance is sought);

(b) that the offence in question is an exclusively military law offence;

(c) double jeopardy;

(d) that the request would lead to the persecution of a person on account of his race, religion, nationality or political opinions; and

(e) that the execution of the request would require action which would not be available to the enforcement authorities in the requested country.

The extent to which these reasons for the refusal of assistance should be embodied in a United Kingdom statute is a matter for consideration. For example, a strict adherence to a double criminality rule would not seem to be entirely necessary where powers of compulsion were not involved. Legislation on the political offences exception would, as at present, necessarily have to take account of the United Kingdom's position under the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism under which serious violent offences are not regarded as political offences in respect of either extradition or mutual assistance requests from other Convention countries.

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Central authorities

13. All recent mutual assistance arrangements provide for the existence of a central authority or liaison point in each participating state.

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