The Magistrates’ Courts (Detention and Forfeiture of Seized Cash) (Amendment) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2010
These Rules amend the Magistrates’ Courts (Detention and Forfeiture of Seized Cash) Rules (Northern Ireland) 2003 [S.R. 2003 No.17] (‘the principal Rules’) to take account of amendments made to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (‘the 2002 Act’), by the Policing and Crime Act 2009.Rule 2(1) inserts new Rule 7A into the principal Rules to prescribe the procedure for an application to set aside forfeiture under section 297E of the 2002 Act.New Rule 7A(1) provides that an application to set aside forfeiture shall be in writing and lodged with the clerk of petty sessions for the district in which the cash was seized.New Rule 7A(2) prescribes the categories of persons to which the clerk of petty sessions must provide a copy of the application to set aside forfeiture.New Rule 7A(3) provides that the clerk of petty sessions shall fix a date for the hearing of the application, not less than seven days from the date on which the application was received, and shall notify the applicant and any other person required to be notified of the date of the hearing.New Rule 7A(4) provides that a direction for the release of cash made under section 297F shall be in Form 4, and shall require that the cash shall be released within seven days from the date of the direction, or other period as agreed by the applicant, except where an application for forfeiture under section 298(4) of the 2002 Act has yet to be concluded.Rule 2(2)(a) amends Form 2 of the principal Rules (Order/Further Order for Continued Detention of Seized Cash) to substitute the reference to the maximum duration of the order from three months to six months.Rule 2(2)(b) amends Form 4 of the principal Rules so that it can be used for a direction for the release of cash subject to a forfeiture notice under section 297F(2) of the 2002 Act.