Commentary on Sections Part 8: Investigations Production orders Section 350: Government departments
509.This section extends the scope of a production order to cover material held by an authorised government department and is similar to previous powers in section 93J(11) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 59(11) of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 and Article 54(11) of the Proceeds of Crime (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 [SI 1996 No. 1299 (NI 9)]. In addition, in order to reflect the effect of devolution in Northern Ireland under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, provision is made to ensure that Northern Ireland departments are, for the purposes of this section, treated as government departments.