IDG59000 - Sharing Information with Relevant Authorities for the purpose of part 5 and part 8 POCA 2002

S.436 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

s.436 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) provides a legal gateway for HMRC as a permitted person to disclose relevant information to a relevant authority listed in s.435 (4).

The relevant authorities that HMRC can disclose information to under s.436 for the purposes outlined above are as follows;

-the Director of the Serious Fraud Office;

- the Director of Public Prosecutions;

- the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland.

- the Financial Conduct Authority

HMRC can disclose information under this gateway for the purpose of the exercise of the relevant authority’s functions under, or in relation to, Part 5 or 8 of the POCA. Information requests for the purpose of part 5 will be for the purpose of civil recovery investigations and proceedings including recovery orders, property freezing orders, interim receiving orders and prohibitory property orders in Scotland. Requests under Part 8 of the POCA will be for the use of any investigation under Part 8 including production orders, disclosure orders, unexplained wealth orders, account monitoring orders, customer information orders and search and seizure warrants.

When you receive a request, you must ensure you clarify the precise purpose of the request, including;

  • the relevant section of part 5 or 8 of the POCA legislation which is being relied on
  • Sufficient detail of the relevant Order/Warrant/Application the information is being requested for; this to enable an assessment of the relevant and necessary material that HMRC can share with the relevant authority.

Under GDPR principles, you should ensure any disclosure of personal information is relevant, adequate but no more than the minimum necessary for the purpose of the request. Where personal information is shared for law enforcement purposes, you should also ensure this complies with the requirements on law enforcement processing in part 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you have any queries or concerns about disclosing information under this gateway, please sight your Security & Information Business Partner in the first instance, who can escalate the query for policy and legal input if needed.