Guidance as to the required approach to external requests for provisional measures from member states of the European Union.

(1) An external request, and the information contained in it, should always be carefully scrutinised by the Crown Court.

(2) In deciding whether to make a restraint order pursuant to such an external request the current required approach continues to be in substance the same as that required immediately before 2021.

(3) In deciding whether to make a restraint order the Crown Court must initially assess whether the first condition or second condition set out in article 7 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005 is satisfied.

(4) In deciding whether the relevant condition is satisfied and whether to make a restraint order the Crown Court should focus solely on the information provided with the external request.

(5) In deciding whether to exercise the power under article 8 of the 2005 Order to make a restraint order the Crown Court should aim to give effect to the policy and objectives of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (Treaty Series No 8) 2021, as well as to the “steer” given in article 46(2) of the 2005 Order itself.

(6) In deciding whether to make a restraint order the Crown Court is not (subject, for the avoidance of doubt, to the prior requirement to be satisfied by the external request as to the first condition or second condition in article 7) concerned with the substantive reasons for the making of the measure which is the subject of the request.

(7) On any subsequent application to discharge or vary a restraint order under article 9 the Crown Court again is not concerned with the substantive reasons for the making of such measure; and any substantive challenge to the measure (including any challenge as to its necessity and proportionality) should be raised by the affected party in the requesting state (para 40).