Commentary on Sections Part 5: Civil Recovery of the Proceeds etc. of Unlawful Conduct Miscellaneous Section 287: Financial threshold
400.Subsection (1) provides that the enforcement authority may not take proceedings for a recovery order unless it reasonably believes that the total value of the recoverable property is not less than an amount to be specified in an order. This ensures that civil recovery will not be used in minor or trivial cases. The order will be made by the Secretary of State following consultation with Scottish Ministers (subsection (2)). The threshold applies only at the time the enforcement authority starts proceedings, or applies for an interim receiving order or interim administration order (subsection (3)). As long as the threshold is observed at the start of the proceedings, it will not matter if for example the Director subsequently discontinues proceedings in respect of certain property and the value of the remaining property is less than the amount specified in the order. The proceedings will be able to continue (subsection (4)).