Power of a designated public prosecutor to make or validate a European investigation order
7.—(1) If it appears to a designated public prosecutor—
(a)that an offence has been committed or that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, and
(b)proceedings have been instituted in respect of the offence in question or it is being investigated,
the prosecutor may make an order under this regulation.
(2) A designated public prosecutor in England and Wales and Northern Ireland may, at the request of a designated investigating authority, validate an order under this regulation where it appears to the prosecutor that the conditions in paragraph (1) are satisfied.
(3) An order under this regulation is an order specifying one or more investigative measures to be carried out in a participating State (“the executing State”) for the purpose of obtaining evidence for use either in the investigation or the proceedings in question or both.
(4) But an order under this regulation may only be made or validated if it appears to the designated public prosecutor that—
(a)it is necessary and proportionate to make or validate the order for the purposes of the investigation or proceedings in question;
(b)the investigative measures to be specified in the order could lawfully have been ordered or undertaken under the same conditions in a similar domestic case (see regulation 11), and
(c)where the order is for an investigative measure in relation to which specific provision is made in Chapter 2 of this Part, any conditions imposed by virtue of such provision are satisfied.