Drug Trafficking Offences (Designated Countries and Territories) Order (S.I. 65/1996) (Revised Edition 2013)

Summary

This is a Virgin Islands statutory instrument made under the Drug Trafficking Offences Act. It designates specified foreign countries and territories (listed in Schedule 1) for the purpose of recognising and enforcing external confiscation orders relating to drug trafficking proceeds, and sets out how the Act applies, with modifications, to proceedings and orders from those designated countries.

• Designation: Schedule 1 lists over a hundred designated countries and territories, in many cases naming the 'appropriate authority' in that country for mutual legal assistance purposes.
• Evidence rules: Sets out how orders, judgments, and certificates from courts or authorities in designated countries are proved and admitted as evidence in Virgin Islands High Court proceedings.
• Confiscation order satisfaction: Provides that a Virgin Islands confiscation order is reduced by the value of property recovered abroad under a request sent by the Governor to a designated country's appropriate authority.
• Currency conversion: Establishes exchange rate rules for converting foreign currency amounts recovered or registered under external confiscation orders into United States dollars.
• Modified Act text: Schedule 2 sets out the Drug Trafficking Offences Act as modified for application to designated countries, and an appendix specifies, country by country, the point at which criminal proceedings are treated as instituted.

The instrument is primarily a procedural and evidentiary framework for courts, the Governor, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Commissioner of Customs when handling cross-border drug trafficking confiscation matters, rather than a compliance document imposing ongoing duties on licensed financial service providers. It does not set out filing deadlines or recurring reporting requirements for private entities.