Guidance

Mutual legal assistance

Information for competent authorities abroad (and in the UK) about obtaining evidence within the UK (or abroad) to assist in criminal investigations or proceedings.

From:
Home Office
Published
26 March 2013
Last updated
21 May 2024 — See all updates

Mutual legal assistance (MLA) is a method of cooperation between states for obtaining assistance in the investigation or prosecution of criminal offences. MLA is generally used for obtaining material that cannot be obtained on a police cooperation basis, particularly enquiries that require coercive means.

Requests are made by a formal international Letter of Request (LOR). In civil law jurisdictions these are also referred to as ‘Commission Rogatoire’. This assistance is usually requested by courts or prosecutors and is also referred to as ‘judicial cooperation’.

Requesting MLA from the UK

The UK provides a wide range of assistance.

The Home Office has produced detailed MLA guidelines, which are translated into Albanian, Bosnian, French, Gulf Arabic, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish for authorities outside of the UK who wish to make a MLA request to the UK. The Home Office has also produced instructional guidance to assist with drafting MLA requests from EU member states.

Where to send your requests

In the UK central authorities coordinate MLA requests.

MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The UK Central Authority (UKCA) coordinates MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, except for tax and fiscal customs criminal matters which are coordinated by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Information on making MLA requests relating to tax and fiscal customs matters is set out below.

All requests should be sent to the UKCA through the Submit a mutual legal assistance request service. Using the online service reduces the risk of delays, as it collects all the information we need to consider and carry out your request.

If you are unable to use the online service, you can email your request to:

The UKCA can provide a secure Egress link to send electronic documents to the UKCA which cannot be emailed. Please see our guide to using Egress (PDF, 285 KB, 3 pages).

It takes longer to submit a new request by post than through the online service. However, if requests cannot be submitted online or by email, you can post them to us. They should be marked as either Asset Forfeiture and Confiscation, Road Traffic Offences, War Crimes or MLA, and sent to:

UK Central Authority
Public Safety Group
Home Office
6th Floor, Fry Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland relating to tax and fiscal customs matters

MLA requests of a tax and fiscal customs nature should be sent to HM Revenue and Customs:

Criminal Law Advisory Team
HM Revenue & Customs
Solicitors Office
8th floor
Westfield Avenue
Stratford
London
E20 1HZ

Telephone: +44 (0)3000 586324

Email: mla@hmrc.gov.uk

All MLA requests relating to Scotland

Requests seeking assistance solely from Scotland should be sent directly to the Crown Office in Edinburgh (unless the treaty states that requests should be sent to the Home Office).

International Co-operation Unit
Crown Office
25 Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1LA

Telephone: +44 (0)131 243 8152

Fax: +44 (0)131 243 8153

Email: coicu@copfs.gov.uk

Restraint and confiscation

For England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Requests should be sent to the UKCA through the Submit a mutual legal assistance request service. Using the online service reduces the risk of delays, as it collects all the information we need to consider and carry out your request.

If you can’t use the service, email your request to UKCA-AFC@homeoffice.gov.uk, using the forms at Annex LAW-8 of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

For tax matters and fiscal customs matters in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland

HM Revenue and Customs Email: mla@hmrc.gov.uk

For Scotland

International Cooperation Unit, Crown Office Email: coicu@copfs.gov.uk

Service of process/procedural documents

Direct transmission of procedural documents

Procedural documents may be sent directly by the requesting authority to the persons in the UK to whom they are addressed. Procedural documents should always be posted, unless this is not legally possible under the domestic law of the requesting authority.

Requests for service of process/procedural documents

A request may be made to the UK Central Authority or the Crown Office for the service of procedural documents (for example, a summons or judgment) issued by a court or authority in that state in relation to criminal proceedings.

HMRC is not a central authority for the purposes of the service of documents.

To enable service to take place please ensure the return date for summonses is at least 6 weeks from the date of receipt in the UK Central Authority to enable service to take place, otherwise the papers will be returned to the requesting state.

Transfer of Proceedings

The UK is not a signatory to the European Convention on the Transfer of Proceedings in Criminal Matters and has a reservation under Article 21 of the Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.

Requests for transfer of proceedings will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Further information can be found in the MLA guidelines.

Requests for the exchange of criminal records

EU Member States are able to exchange criminal record information directly with the United Kingdom via the UK’s Criminal Record Information System (UK-CRIS).

Title IX in Part 3 of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement provides for the exchange of criminal records data between the UK and individual EU Member States through a shared infrastructure, supplementing Articles 13 and 22(2) of the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters and its Additional Protocols.

The arrangements include streamlined and time-limited processes for exchanging criminal records information and specify that information can be exchanged for crime prevention and safeguarding purposes. Shared technical infrastructure is also in place meaning requests can still be made by EU Member States via ECRIS.

The UK has declared that the central authority to which requests for conviction information should be made is the ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) – the UK Central Authority for the Exchange of Criminal Records. As such, European Union Member States should send requests for criminal records to ACRO as they did under the previous agreement.

Civil cases

Requests for mutual legal assistance to the UK relating to international civil and family law matters are dealt with separately. Further information can be found in the MLA guidelines.

Requests for civil asset recovery

Requests for the restraint or recovery of assets on a non-conviction (civil) basis (for example where it has not been possible to secure a conviction) can be made through MLA channels. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and related legislation provides a suite of investigative powers to enable agencies in the UK to secure evidence for the purposes of civil asset recovery.

This legislation also permits the UK to assist overseas authorities who request formal assistance for non-conviction based restraint and recovery. Requests for such assistance should be sent to the relevant central authority.

Obtaining MLA from overseas

MLA requests from the UK for evidence must be issued by a court or a designated prosecuting authority. A court may issue requests on behalf of the defence once proceedings have been instituted.

Courts and designated prosecuting authorities in the UK:

  • Magistrates’ Courts, the Crown Courts and the High Court
  • Attorney General for England and Wales
  • Director of Public Prosecutions and any Crown Prosecutor
  • Director and any designated member of the Serious Fraud Office
  • Environment Agency
  • Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills in respect of his function of investigating and prosecuting offences
  • Secretary of State for Health
  • Secretary of State for Transport
  • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  • District Courts and Sheriff Courts and the High Court of Justiciary
  • Lord Advocate of Scotland
  • Procurator Fiscal
  • Attorney General for Northern Ireland
  • Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland
  • Financial Services Authority
  • ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO)

Direct/indirect transmission

The designated authorities listed above are able to send MLA requests to the relevant judicial authority in countries that have implemented the relevant sections (Article 15) of the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance, without the request going through a central authority in the UK. However, direct transmission from the UK is not possible for:

  • requests for the transfer of a prisoner to appear in court or assist an investigation
  • requests for bank account monitoring or customer information
  • states where domestic legislation does not allow for it

Case-handling arrangements in the UK Central Authority

If accepted, a new request will be allocated to a caseworker who will write to the requesting authority to acknowledge receipt.

The caseworker will provide the UKCA reference number. This is specific to the individual case and should be quoted in all correspondence.

If the UKCA reference number is not known, please ensure sufficient details are provided to enable identification of the request. Please include the name of the subject of the request, the issuing authorities reference number and where applicable the operation name.

Please note that in the absence of a secure email link, the UKCA is unable to discuss personally identifiable details of a request by email.

Returns and referrals

If the UKCA considers that the letter of request does not contain enough information, it will either be returned to the requesting authority with the issues identified or a request for further information will be sent. When responding please ensure the identified issues raised by the UKCA have been addressed, and the UKCA reference number is provided.

Where appropriate, requests which should have been directed to HMRC or Crown Office and not the UKCA will be forwarded to them on behalf of the requesting authority.

Please note that failure to provide the fullest information possible in the letter of request may result in delays or in a request not being executed in whole or in part. Further details on where to send a MLA request and the required information can be found in the MLA guidelines.

The UKCA advises executing authorities to use the MLA Evidential Closing Report. When completed, this report will be sent to the relevant requesting authority together with the evidence gathered.

De minimis requests

The UK may refuse MLA requests considered de minimis. Information on the UK’s de minimis policy can be found in the MLA guidelines.

Number of MLA requests received

In the 2023 calendar year the UKCA received 5,955 requests for MLA and 1,439 requests for service of process.

Please note that all figures are from local management information and have not been quality assured to the level of published National Statistics. As such they should be treated as provisional and therefore subject to change.

Sending requests to the crown dependencies

The Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories each have their own legal systems, independent of the UK. MLA requests for the Crown Dependencies or the British Overseas Territories must be sent to the relevant Attorney General or equivalent. Do not send requests for the Crown Dependencies or British Overseas Territories to the Home Office.

The contact details for some of these are:

British Virgin Islands

Attorney General Chambers
Road Town
Tortola
British Virgin Islands
VG1110

Telephone: +1 284 468 2960

Email: AGC@gov.vg

Cayman Islands


5th Floor, Government Administration Building
133 Elgin Avenue, George Town
Box 104
Cayman Islands
Grand Cayman KY1-19000

Telephone: +1 (345) 244-2405

Email: agusers@gov.ky

Guernsey

HM Procureur
St James Chambers
St Peter Port
Guernsey
GY1 2PA

Email: law@gov.gg

Jersey

HM Attorney General
Law Officers' Department 
Morier House 
St Helier
Jersey
JE1 1DD

Email: law.officers@gov.je

Isle of Man

Attorney General's Chambers
Ground Floor
Belgravia House
Circular Road
Douglas
Isle of Man
IM1 1AE

Gibraltar

Requests from EU/Schengen states for Gibraltar should be sent to:

UK Government/Gibraltar Liaison Unit (UKGGLU)
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1H 2AH

Requests from non-EU/Schengen states for Gibraltar should be sent to:

Attorney General
Office of Criminal Prosecutions & Litigation
6 Floor NatWest House
57/63 Line Wall Road
Gibraltar
GX11 1AA

Telephone: +350 200 78882

Email: mla@gibraltar.gov.gi

Useful resources

Updates to this page

Published 26 March 2013
Last updated 21 May 2024 + show all updates

  1. Guidance updated.

  2. Added information on the launch of the online submission form.

  3. Updated Number of MLA requests received.

  4. Added contact details for Cayman Islands.

  5. Updated information on translated MLA guidelines and MLA requests contact details.

  6. Added email address for MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland relating to atrocity or war crimes.

  7. Updated: explanations of immediate post EU exit transition procedures deleted. New form template used by executing authorities added.

  8. Changes to reflect the introduction of a secure digital platform to facilitate the transmission of mutual legal assistance requests, a change to an office postal address and updated statistical information.

  9. Removing the phone number for the UK Central Authority as it's no longer available. Users are encouraged to use email instead.

  10. UKCA is now part of 'Public Safety Group', no longer an 'International Directorate'. HMRC is due to vacate Bush House and has advised correspondence should be sent to their 100 Parliament Street office.

  11. Updated the content due to the UK leaving the EU and the end of the transition period and new processes introduced. Contact details have also been updated where needed.

  12. Added guidance following end of EU transition.

  13. Guidance updated to include email address.

  14. Contact details and postal addresses updated.

  15. Guidance updated.

  16. MLA requests in England, Wales and Northern Ireland relating to tax and fiscal customs matters - address update

  17. Templates for EU freezing order certificates and EU confiscation order certificates published.

  18. First published.

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