Consultation outcome

Consultation on draft Code of Practice issued by the Attorney General under Section 377A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

• From: Attorney General's Office
• Published: 28 March 2023
• Last updated: 22 January 2024 — See all updates

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This consultation has concluded

Detail of outcome

The Code of Practice approved by Parliament is available

A response to the consultation can be found in the draft Explanatory Memorandum that accompanies the draft Statutory Instrument that will bring the revised Code of Practice into effect.

The draft Statutory Instrument and draft Explanatory Memorandum are available here. The draft Code of Practice is available here.

The documents were laid in Parliament on 22 January 2024 and will be debated as part of Parliamentary procedure.

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Original consultation

Summary

Consultation on amendments made to the Attorney General’s Code of Practice issued under section 377A the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA).

This consultation ran from
11:30am on 28 March 2023 to 5pm on 20 June 2023

Consultation description

This consultation seeks views on amendments to the Code of Practice issued by the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland under section 377A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). The Code provides guidance for prosecutors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the exercise of the investigation powers in Chapter 2 Part 8 of POCA. The Code will replace earlier codes issued under section 377A of POCA.

This Code needs to be updated to reflect possible changes made to POCA by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (ECCT Bill). Subject to its commencement, the ECCT Bill will make amendments to the existing criminal powers under parts 2 to 4 of POCA and introduce new civil forfeiture powers under part 5 of POCA to increase the recovery of cryptoassets.

The Home Office has published a consultation in tandem with this one, which seeks views on five codes issued by the Home Secretary under POCA.

POCA provides that when a Code of Practice is revised, the relevant authorities must prepare and publish a draft, they must consider any representations made and modify the Codes as appropriate, and they must lay the Codes before Parliament for approval.

Documents

Draft Code of Practice issued under Section 377A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

PDF, 596 KB, 63 pages

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Consultation on amendments to the Code or Practice issued under Section 377A of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

PDF, 118 KB, 10 pages

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Published 28 March 2023
Last updated 22 January 2024 + show all updates

1. 22 January 2024

   GOV.UK has been amended to reflect amendments to the Attorney General's POCA Code of practice

2. 28 March 2023

   First published.