# The Armed Forces (Review of Search and Seizure) Order 2003, Article 4: Powers and duties of a judicial officer on review


(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the judicial officer shall adopt such procedures at the review as he sees fit.
(2) The judicial officer shall, if representations are made by a relevant person, take those representations into account.
(3) If in relation to—
(a) any part of the seized property, or
(b) the whole of the seized property
the judicial officer is satisfied that it is subject to legal privilege he shall order the return or disposal, in a case within sub-paragraph (a), of that part or, in a case within sub-paragraph (b), of the whole of the seized property.
(4) Subject to paragraph (3), if in relation to—
(a) any part of the seized property, or
(b) the whole of the seized property
the judicial officer is satisfied as to any of the grounds mentioned in paragraph (5), he shall order the return or disposal, in a case within sub-paragraph (a), of that part or, in a case within sub-paragraph (b), of the whole of the seized property unless he is satisfied that it would be in the interests of justice to permit retention of that part or the whole of the property.
(5) The grounds referred to in paragraph (4) are—
(a) that the authorising officer did not have reasonable grounds for believing that an offence to which section 5 of the Act applies had been committed;
(b) in respect of material seized in exercise or purported exercise of the power in section 7(3) of the Act, that the material—
(i) is not of substantial value to the investigation in respect of which the search was authorised,
(ii) is not likely to be relevant evidence, or
(iii) is excluded material or special procedure material;
(c) that at the time at which the authorising officer authorised the search none of the conditions specified in section 5(4) of the Act applied;
(d) that the premises searched were not premises mentioned in sub-paragraphs (i) or (ii) of section 7(1)(a) of the Act;
(e) that the authorising officer did not have reasonable grounds for believing that the conditions mentioned in section 7(1)(b) of the Act were satisfied;
(f) where the authorising officer authorised a member of Her Majesty’s forces other than a service policeman to enter and search premises, that the condition mentioned in either paragraph (a) or (b) of section 7(2) of the Act was not satisfied;
(g) in respect of material seized in purported exercise of the general power of seizure, that the grounds for a valid exercise of that power did not exist;
(h) that there has been a breach of any applicable Code issued under section 113 of the 1984 Act;
(i) that the authorising officer did not request a judicial officer to undertake a review as soon as practicable.
(6) Where the judicial officer orders the return or disposal of seized property in accordance with paragraph (3) or (4), he may give such directions as he sees fit in connection with the return or disposal of the property.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/2272/article/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/armed-forces-review-of-search-and-seizure-order-2003/article-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.