Policy background Amendments to the Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 ("COPO Act") grants law enforcement agencies and prosecuting authorities the power to apply for and obtain electronic data directly from service providers (those who create, process, communicate or store electronic data) to support criminal investigations and prosecutions. Such orders may be used only when permitted under an international co-operation arrangement between the UK and the country where the subject of the order is located. Each request will be subject to scrutiny in UK courts, mirroring the existing safeguards and tests already in place for domestic powers to obtain investigatory and evidential material.
	The COPO Act addresses the constraints of existing domestic court orders and the limits of Mutual Legal Assistance ("MLA") in being able to compel the production of electronic data from another jurisdiction quickly. The COPO Act does this by creating a new overseas production order which has extra-territorial effect, meaning that these orders are granted by UK courts exerting jurisdiction over evidence and persons outside the UK. This jurisdiction may be asserted only where an international co-operation arrangement to which the UK is a party permits this to happen and has been designated for the purposes of the Act. An international co-operation arrangement will be in the form of a treaty with another country or countries, and will relate (in whole or part) to the provision of assistance in connection with the investigation or prosecution of offences. The COPO Act reflects the anticipated framework required to implement such international agreements in future.
	Work on implementing the COPO Act, which came into force on 9 October 2019, for England, Wales and Scotland and 22 February 2021 for Northern Ireland, identified the need to make a number of amendments to allow the Act to work more effectively. Section 51 and Schedule 5 amend the COPO Act, in particular, to:
allow law enforcement officers and prosecutors to seek and receive associated or connected communications data attached to content of communications; and
allow the Secretary of State and Lord Advocate to delegate the service of an overseas production order where it might be more expedient for an appropriate body to take on this function.