Territorial Extent Commentary on Sections Confiscation: assets held by defendant and other Section 4: Enforcement receivers
31.This section amends section 51 of POCA, which sets out the powers a court can confer on an enforcement receiver. Such powers include the power to realise property, but this is accompanied by a requirement to afford persons with an interest in the property a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the court. New section 51(8B) extends this right on third parties to make representations to the court in certain circumstances where a determination has been made under new section 10A. Given that interested third parties will generally have been afforded an opportunity to make representations to the court prior to it making a determination under new section 10A, the amendments to section 51 of POCA do not, as a rule, allow further representations to be made at the enforcement stage. However, new section 51(8B) enables an affected person to make representations to the court which appointed the receiver where he or she was not given a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the Crown Court before it made its determination, or where the court considers that the determination made under new section 10A would result in a serious risk of injustice to the person. This provision affords an opportunity for an interested third party to make representations in circumstances where their interest in the property only came to light after the Crown Court had made its original determination under new section 10A. Subject to the court’s consideration of any such representations and to the outcome of any appeal (as provided for in section 3), a determination made by the court under new section 10A is binding on a receiver.