Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003

13 Requests for assistance from overseas authorities

(1) Where a request for assistance in obtaining evidence in a part of the United Kingdom is received by the territorial authority for that part, the authority may—

(a) if the conditions in section 14 are met, arrange for the evidence to be obtained under section 15, or

(b) direct that a search warrant be applied for under or by virtue of section 16 or 17 or, in relation to evidence in Scotland, 18.

(2) The request for assistance may be made only by—

(a) a court exercising criminal jurisdiction, or a prosecuting authority, in a country outside the United Kingdom,

(b) any other authority in such a country which appears to the territorial authority to have the function of making such requests for assistance,

(c) any international authority mentioned in subsection (3).

(3) The international authorities are—

(a) the International Criminal Police Organisation,

(b) any other body or person competent to make a request of the kind to which this section applies under any provisions adopted under the Treaty on European Union.