Clause 3 - General requirements for service of process
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
2:30 pm
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
The situation seems clear to me. I must admit that I did not spend the entire lunch break examining clause 3(3), but I will do as the hon. Gentleman suggests and re-examine the matter. I only hope that it does not dominate our proceedings on Report, which will set the House of Commons alight in no uncertain terms.
We are dealing with when proceedings in a court in England, Wales or Northern Ireland lead to the application for the process to be issued to someone abroad. In those circumstances, the person who is asking the court to do that must inform the court whether he knows that there is a problem with language and must provide the court with a translation. That puts a responsibility on the people from whom the requests originate. It gives the court the opportunity to get to know the facts and to ensure that the notice being served is in an appropriate language. That has not been problematical in the past 13 years, and the provision is a lift from existing legislation. I will do as the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome says, but I am not sure that anything fruitful will come of it.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 3 ordered to stand part of the Bill.