Commentary Schedule 2 – Seizure and forfeiture of terrorist publications Part 3 Subsections (1) to (4)
164.Subsection (1)amends the definition of “terrorist investigation” in the TACT to include investigation of the offences in Part 1 of this Act, other than sections 1 and 2. Subsection (2) amends section 117 of the TACT relating to consents to prosecutions. The amendment provides that, if it appears to the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland, that an offence to which the consent to prosecutions provisions in the TACT apply, has been carried out for a purpose wholly or partly connected with the affairs of a country other than the UK, prosecution will only proceed if the Attorney General, or, in Northern Ireland, the Advocate General for Northern Ireland, agrees with the DPP’s or the DPP for Northern Ireland’s decision to consent. The subsection also provides a transitional provision in relation to section 27(1) of the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002. Before that provision comes into force the Advocate General for Northern Ireland will not be in existence and so during that time the Attorney General for Northern Ireland must agree with the DPP for Northern Ireland instead. Subsection (3) amends the TACT to provide for supplemental powers of the courts in respect of forfeiture orders made under sections 54, 58 and 103 of that Act, entitling the courts to make any such provision as appears to be necessary for giving effect to forfeiture. Subsection (4) adds the offences in Part 1 of this Act to the list of Scheduled Offences in Schedule 9 to the TACT. These are offences in respect of which special procedures, such as trial without jury, apply in Northern Ireland.