Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 201-.

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A decision made 23 July 2010 regarding: Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 201-.

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2010-0052
Decision Summary Title :	Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201-		Date of Decision Summary:	11 June 2010
Decision Summary Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Report - Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201-		Date of Written Report:	11 June 2010
Written Report Author:	Executive Officer Home Affairs		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201-
Decision(s): The Minister approved the draft Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201-. The draft Law would come into force 7 days after it is registered.
Reason(s) for Decision: Having authority to be able to apply for either financial information or an account monitoring order under Schedule 2 of the Drug Trafficking Offences (Jersey) Law, 1988 will be beneficial for the Customs and Immigration Service when running Customs operations. It is appropriate that an Assistant Director in the Customs and Immigration Service, who is an equivalent rank to a Police Chief Inspector, should have the authority to apply for such orders under the Law.
Resource Implications: There are no additional financial or manpower implications arising from this decision.
Action required: The Executive Officer, Home Affairs to request the Greffier of the States to arrange for the draft Law to be lodged ‘au Greffe’ for debate in due course.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No. 3) (Jersey) Law 201-.

Drug Trafficking Offences (Amendment No.3) (Jersey) Law 201-

Report

The purpose of this draft Law is to amend the Drug Trafficking Offences (Jersey) Law, 1988 to enable an officer of at least the rank of Assistant Director in the Customs and Immigration Service to apply by order for customer financial information, or account monitoring orders, during the course of a Customs investigation.

Article 44A, paragraphs (1) and (2) of the Drug Trafficking Offences (Jersey) Law, 1988 states:

“Financial information and monitoring

(1) Part 1 of Schedule 2 shall have effect in respect of the obtaining of financial information.

(2) Part 2 of Schedule 2 shall have effect in respect of account monitoring orders.”

Article 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 2, as currently in force, sets out who may apply for an order under the schedule and states:

“An order under this Part of this Schedule may be made on the application of a police officer of at least the rank of chief inspector”.

Article 2(2) of Part 2 of Schedule 2, as currently in force, sets out who may apply for information for an account monitoring order and states:

“The description of information specified in an application for an account monitoring order may be varied by the police officer who applied for the order or another police officer of at least the rank of chief inspector”.

There are specific references to customs officers in the interpretation section of the Law, as currently drafted, as well as at Articles 40AA and 40B. However, those references do not extend to giving an officer in the Customs and Immigration Service, of an equivalent rank to a police inspector, the authority to apply for an order under Schedule 2 of the Law.

During the course of Customs operations there are occasions when such financial information would be extremely beneficial. Accordingly, it is deemed appropriate for an officer within the Customs and Immigration Service of an equivalent rank to a chief inspector, or above, to be able to apply for such orders. The equivalent of a Chief Inspector in the States of Jersey Police is an Assistant Director in the Customs and Immigration Service.

Financial and manpower implications

There are no financial or manpower implications for the States arising from this amendment.