Trading with the Enemy Act

7 Collection of enemy debts and custody of enemy property. U.K.

(1) With a view to preventing the payment of money to enemies and of preserving enemy property in contemplation of arrangements to be made at the conclusion of peace, the Board of Trade may appoint custodians of enemy property for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively, and may by order—

(a) require the payment to the prescribed custodian of money which would, but for the existence of a state of war, be payable to or for the benefit of a person who is an enemy, or which would, but for the provisions of section four or section five of this Act, be payable to any other person;

(b) vest in the prescribed custodian such enemy property as may be prescribed, or provide for, and regulate, the vesting in that custodian of such enemy property as may be prescribed;

(c) vest in the prescribed custodian the right to transfer such other enemy property as may be prescribed, being enemy property which has not been, and is not required by the order to be, vested in the custodian;

(d) confer and impose on the custodians and on any other person such rights, powers, duties and liabilities as may be prescribed as respects—

(i) property which has been, or is required to be, vested in a custodian by or under the order,

(ii) property of which the right of transfer has been, or is required to be, so vested,

(iii) any other enemy property which has not been, and is not required to be, so vested, or

(iv) money which has been, or is by the order required to be, paid to a custodian;

(e) require the payment of the prescribed fees to the custodians in respect of such matters as may be prescribed and regulate the collection of and accounting for such fees;

(f) require any person to furnish to the custodian such returns, accounts and other information and to produce such documents, as the custodian considers necessary for the discharge of his functions under the order;

and any such order may contain such incidental and supplementary provisions as appear to the Board of Trade to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the order.

(2) Where any requirement or direction with respect to any money or property is addressed to any person by a custodian and accompanied by a certificate of the custodian that the money or property is money or property to which an order under this section applies, the certificate shall be evidence of the facts stated therein, and if that person complies with the requirement or direction, he shall not be liable to any action or other legal proceeding by reason only of such compliance.

(3) Where, in pursuance of an order made under this section,—

(a) any money is paid to a custodian,

(b) any property, or the right to transfer any property, is vested in a custodian, or

(c) a direction is given to any person by a custodian in relation to any property which appears to the custodian to be property to which the order applies,

neither the payment, vesting or direction nor any proceedings in consequence thereof shall be invalidated or affected by reason only that at a material time—

(i) some person who was or might have been interested in the money or property, and who was an enemy or an enemy subject, had died or had ceased to be an enemy or an enemy subject, or

(ii) some person who was so interested, and who was believed by the custodian to be an enemy or an enemy subject, was not an enemy or an enemy subject.

(4) Any order under this section shall have effect notwithstanding anything in any Act passed before this Act.

(5) If any person pays any debt, or deals with any property, to which any order under this section applies, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the order, he shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding [F1 level 3 on the standard scale] or to both such imprisonment and such fine; and the payment or dealing shall be void.

(6) If any person, without reasonable cause, fails to produce or furnish, in accordance with the requirements of an order under this section, any document or information which he is required under the order to produce or furnish, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for every day on which the default continues.

(7) All fees received by any custodian by virtue of an order under this section shall be paid into the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.

(8) In this section—

(a) the expression “enemy property” means any property for the time being belonging to or held or managed on behalf of an enemy or an enemy subject;

(b) the expression “property” means real or personal property, and includes any estate or interest in real or personal property, any negotiable instrument, debt, or other chose in action, and any other right or interest, whether in possession or not; and

(c) the expression “prescribed” means prescribed by an order made under this section.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 38, 46, (S.) Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 21, SIF 39:1), ss. 289F, 289G and (N.I.) by 1984/703 (N.I. 3), arts. 5, 6

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 s. 7 applied by Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953 (c. 47), Sch. 2 para 9.

C2 s. 7(1) extended by Emergency Laws (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1953 (c. 47), Sch. 2 para. 6 and Foreign Compensation Act 1969 (c. 20), s. 1