85Procedure on receipt of certificate by designated officerE+W+N.I.
This section has no associated Explanatory Notes
(1)This section applies where the Lord Chancellor gives the designated officer for a local justice area—
[(a)a decision, or a certified copy of a decision, requiring payment of a financial penalty,
(b)a certificate requesting enforcement under the Framework Decision on financial penalties, and]
(c)a notice under section 84(4).
(2)The designated officer must refer the matter to a magistrates' court acting for that area.
(3)The magistrates' court must decide whether it is satisfied that any of the grounds for refusal apply (see section 91(2)).
(4)The designated officer must inform the Lord Chancellor of the decision of the magistrates' court.
[(4A)If the magistrates’ court is of the view that one or more of the grounds for refusal mentioned in paragraphs A1, 2A and 6 of Schedule 19 may apply, the designated officer for the magistrates’ court or the Lord Chancellor must, before the magistrates’ court takes a decision under subsection (3)—
(a)consult the competent authority or central authority concerned, and
(b)request the authority to supply without delay any further information required.]
(5)Subsection (6) applies unless the magistrates' court is satisfied that one or more of the grounds for refusal apply.
(6)The enactments specified in subsection (7) apply in relation to the financial penalty as if it were a sum adjudged to be paid by a conviction of the magistrates' court on the date when the court made the decision mentioned in subsection (4).
(7)The enactments specified in this subsection are—
(a)Part 3 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43) (satisfaction and enforcement);
(b)Schedules 5 and 6 to the Courts Act 2003 (c. 39) (collection of fines etc. and discharge of fines etc. by unpaid work);
(c)any subordinate legislation (within the meaning of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30)) made under the enactments specified in paragraphs (a) and (b).
[(7A)But any power of a magistrates’ court to impose a relevant alternative sanction in connection with a default in paying the financial penalty—
(a)may be exercised only if its exercise is authorised by the certificate, and
(b)is subject to any provision of the certificate specifying the maximum level of sanction that may be imposed.
(7B)“Any power of a magistrates’ court to impose a relevant alternative sanction” means any of the following powers conferred on a magistrates’ court by virtue of subsection (6)—
(a)the power under section 76 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 to issue a warrant committing a person to prison;
(b)the power under Schedule 6 to the Courts Act 2003 to make an order requiring a person to perform unpaid work;
(c)the power under section 300 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to order a person to comply with an unpaid work requirement, a curfew requirement or an attendance centre requirement;
(d)the power under section 301 of that Act to order a person to be disqualified for holding or obtaining a driving licence;
(e)the power under section 39 of this Act to order a person aged under 18 to comply with an unpaid work requirement, a curfew requirement or an attendance centre requirement.]
[(7C)If the person required to pay the financial penalty to which the certificate relates provides evidence that all or part of the penalty has been paid in any State, the designated officer for the magistrates’ court or the Lord Chancellor must—
(a)consult the competent authority or central authority concerned, and
(b)request the authority to supply without delay any further information required.]
[(8)If—
(a)the certificate requesting enforcement under the Framework Decision on financial penalties states that part of the financial penalty has been paid,
(b)the Lord Chancellor is informed, in accordance with Article 15(3) of that Decision, that all or part of the financial penalty has been paid, or
(c)the magistrates’ court is satisfied, having regard to evidence provided as mentioned in subsection (7C) and following consultation under that subsection, that all or part of the financial penalty has been paid in any State,
the references in subsections (6) and (7A) to the financial penalty are to be read as references to so much of the penalty as remains unpaid (and, accordingly, if none of the penalty remains unpaid, subsection (6) ceases to have effect in relation to the penalty).]
Textual Amendments
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
Commencement Information