Commentary on Sections Part 1: Serious Crime Prevention Orders.General Section 5: Type of provision that may be made by orders
27.This section contains examples of the types of provisions that a serious crime prevention order might include, but does not limit the flexibility of the court, provided for by section 1(3), to impose such provisions as it thinks appropriate for the purposes of protecting the public by preventing, restricting or disrupting the subject’s involvement in serious crime. Subsection (2) sets out that the order may require that the subject of the order does or does not do something outside England and Wales or Northern Ireland, provided that the provision prevents, restricts or disrupts involvement by the respondent in serious crime in England and Wales or Northern Ireland.
28.Subsection (3) sets out examples of possible prohibitions, restrictions or requirements which might be placed on an individual (including partners in a partnership) by an order. These prohibitions, restrictions or requirements might relate to, for example, a person’s travel, financial dealings or the people with whom he is allowed to associate.
29.Subsection (4) provides similar examples of prohibitions, restrictions or requirements which might be imposed on bodies corporate, partnerships and unincorporated associations. These prohibitions, restrictions or requirements might relate to, for example, the provision of goods and services, the way in which that body conducts its financial dealings or its employment of staff.
30.Subsection (5) allows the details of how questions are to be answered, information provided or documents produced to be left by the court to the discretion of a law enforcement officer. The subsection provides that where the terms of an order contain a requirement relating to the answering of questions or the provision of information, a law enforcement officer specified or described in the order may specify the following elements of how that requirement of the order should be complied with: the timing (including within a period or at a frequency); the location, the form and manner; and to which law enforcement officer or description of law enforcement officer the information or answers are to be provided.  The same is true in relation to the production of a document, except that there is no provision for specifying the form in which it should be produced, as the form of a document will be determined by the way the information it contains is recorded and the provisions of subsections (7) and (8).
31.Subsection (6) expressly states that any prohibitions, restrictions or requirements which are imposed as terms of an order on an individual may be in relation to an individual’s private dwelling. This would, for example, enable the court to include a term in an order which placed a prohibition, restriction or requirement on where an individual was able to reside provided, in the circumstances of the case, such a term would meet the test in section 1(1)(b) and would be proportionate.
32.Subsection (7) defines the terms ‘document’, ‘law enforcement officer’ and ‘premises’. The definition of law enforcement officer includes a reference to a member of the staff of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (“SOCA”) who is for the time being designated under section 43 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (c. 15). Under section 43 a member of the staff of SOCA can be designated with the powers of a constable, the customs powers of an officer of Revenue and Customs or the powers of an immigration officer. Only a member of the staff of SOCA who has been designated with the powers of a constable would be able to exercise these powers because these are not customs powers or immigration officers’ powers. Also included within this definition are officers of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and members of the Serious Fraud Office. Subsection (8) provides that any document which is produced must be rendered in legible form.