R (Superior Import/Export Ltd and Others) v The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and Another

Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court), [2017] EWHC 3172 (Admin), Lord Justice Gross and Mrs Justice Carr, 15 November; 11 December 2017

Powers of investigation - Search warrants - Issuance and execution of warrants - HM Revenue & Customs - Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 8 - Convention of 29 May 2000 relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union - Crime International Cooperation Act 2003, section 13 - Council Framework Decision on Joint Investigation Teams 2002/465/JHA.

The claimants challenged the lawfulness of three search warrants issued by a Justice of the Peace sitting at the Birmingham Magistrates' Court to Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs ("HMRC") under section 8 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 ("PACE") and the execution of those warrants by HMRC. The background to the application was a Joint Investigation Team ("JIT") agreement between the Crown Prosecution Service and HMRC on the one hand, and the Examining Magistrate in the Tribunal of Lille on the other. The JIT was established in accordance with article 13 of the Convention of 29 May 2000 relating to Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the member states of the European Union ("the Convention"). The warrants related to a criminal investigation concerning potential large-scale excise duty evasion involving illicit alcohol importation from the continent and the laundering of criminal funds, in which the sole director of the first claimant was a suspect.