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Mutual legal assistance (MLA) is a method of cooperation between states for obtaining assistance in the investigation or prosecution of criminal offences. MLA is generally used for obtaining material that cannot be obtained on a police cooperation basis, particularly enquiries that require coercive means.

Requests are made by a formal international Letter of Request (LOR). In civil law jurisdictions these are also referred to as Commission Rogatoire. This assistance is usually requested by courts or prosecutors and is also referred to as judicial cooperation.

Requesting MLA from the UK

The UK provides a wide range of assistance.

The Home Office has produced detailed MLA guidelines, which are translated into French, Portuguese, Polish, Spanish and Turkish, for foreign authorities who wish to make a MLA request to the UK.

Where to send your requests

In the UK central authorities coordinate MLA requests.

MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The UK Central Authority (UKCA) coordinates MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, except for tax and fiscal customs criminal matters which are coordinated by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Information on making MLA requests relating to tax and fiscal customs matters is set out below.

The UKCA encourages requests by email, via secure channels of communication, to UKCA-ILOR@homeoffice.gov.uk.

For requests relating to road traffic offences only, contact UKCA-RoadTrafficOffences@homeoffice.gov.uk.

For requests relating to asset forfeiture and confiscation only, contact UKCA-AFC@homeoffice.gov.uk.

For requests relating to atrocity or war crimes only, contact: UKCA-AtrocityCrimes@homeoffice.gov.uk.

The UKCA can provide a secure Egress link to enable transmission of electronic documents to the UKCA which cannot be emailed. Please see our guide to using Egress (PDF, 285 KB, 3 pages).

Where sending requests by email or through a secure Egress link is not possible, and if physical transmission is necessary, requests can be sent to the following postal address, ensuring these are clearly marked as Asset Forfeiture and Confiscation, Road Traffic Offences, War Crimes or MLA, as applicable:

MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland relating to tax and fiscal customs matters

MLA requests of a tax and fiscal customs nature should be sent to HM Revenue and Customs:

Telephone: +44 (0)3000 586324

Email: mla@hmrc.gov.uk

All MLA requests relating to Scotland

Requests seeking assistance solely from Scotland should be sent directly to the Crown Office in Edinburgh (unless the treaty states that requests should be sent to the Home Office).

Telephone: +44 (0)131 243 8152

Fax: +44 (0)131 243 8153

Email: coicu@copfs.gov.uk

Restraint and confiscation

Requests for assistance in relation to restraint and confiscation should be made under the provisions of Title XI of Part 3 of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement using the forms at Annex LAW-8.

Requests for cooperation under this part of the Agreement should be sent to the following central authorities:

For England, Wales and Northern Ireland

UK Central AuthorityEmail: UKCA-AFC@homeoffice.gov.uk

For tax matters and fiscal customs matters in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland

HM Revenue and Customs Email: mla@hmrc.gov.uk

For Scotland

International Cooperation Unit, Crown OfficeEmail: coicu@copfs.gov.uk

Service of process/procedural documents

Direct transmission of procedural documents

Procedural documents may be sent directly by the requesting authority to the persons in the UK to whom they are addressed. Procedural documents should always be posted, unless this is not legally possible under the domestic law of the requesting authority.

Requests for service of process/procedural documents

A request may be made to the UK Central Authority or the Crown Office for the service of procedural documents (for example, a summons or judgment) issued by a court or authority in that state in relation to criminal proceedings.

HMRC is not a central authority for the purposes of the service of documents.

To enable service to take place please ensure the return date for summonses is at least 6 weeks from the date of receipt in the UK Central Authority to enable service to take place, otherwise the papers will be returned to the requesting state.

Transfer of Proceedings

The UK is not a signatory to the European Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters and has a reservation under Article 21 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Requests for transfer of proceedings will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Further information can be found in the MLA guidelines.

Requests for the exchange of criminal records

EU Member States are able to exchange criminal record information directly with the United Kingdom via the UKs Criminal Record Information System (UK-CRIS).

Title IX in Part 3 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for the exchange of criminal records data between the UK and individual EU Member States through a shared infrastructure, supplementing Articles 13 and 22(2) of the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocols.

The arrangements include streamlined and time-limited processes for exchanging criminal records information and specify that information can be exchanged for crime prevention and safeguarding purposes. Shared technical infrastructure is also in place meaning requests can still be made by EU Member States via ECRIS.

The UK has declared that the central authority to which requests for conviction information should be made is the ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) the UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records. As such, European Union Member States should send requests for criminal records to ACRO as they did under the previous agreement.

Civil cases

Requests for mutual legal assistance to the UK relating to international civil and family law matters are dealt with separately. Further information can be found in the MLA guidelines.

Requests for civil asset recovery

Request

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